Edwards honored to represent Tribe through space law scholarship

Tribal member Kara Edwards says it is truly an honor to be chosen for the first Indigenous Space Law Scholarship at Ole Miss and that she is representing the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians on a global scale. 

“Someone could’ve been chosen from any other Native American Tribe in the whole world,” Edwards said. “There was an Australian student studying in my same field that heard about me through this and we’re in contact now. It really is an honor and I wouldn’t be here without the Tribe.” 

Edwards grew up in the Standing Pine Community and graduated from Leake Academy, and then Ole Miss. She is finishing her second year of law school at the University and plans to graduate next year. 

“After I finished my four years at Ole Miss, I took a gap year and worked as an intern for the Tribe’s Legal Defense Office, which acts as a public defender’s office for Tribal members,” Edwards said. “After that, I began law school.” 

Edwards said this scholarship, which she received on April 5, opens a lot of doors for her career. 

“There’s a lot of new upcoming legal issues that arise from this field,” she said. “Things like International law covering aviation and space industries, laws covering space exploration, environmental aspects of space and aviation activities, aircraft financing and leasing, and much more. This scholarship will condense my courses next year and make things more manageable.” 

Michelle Hanlon, co-director of the Center for Air and Space Law at Ole Miss, said the world is in need of space lawyers due to humanity being on the threshold of becoming a space-faring species, and on top of that, the indigenous community deserves representation and a direct voice in the future of humanity. 

She said more and more people are beginning to recognize that humanity relies on outer space assets for many things from GPS to weather to telecommunications, and the human relationship with space is about to change drastically as people look to space to help address the depletion of natural resources on Earth. 

“This is why I created a scholarship fund here at Ole Miss for the sole purpose of educating and training space lawyers from indigenous communities,” Hanlon said. “Ole Miss is home to the country’s oldest air and space law program, and it is only fitting that we break new ground with respect to space law.” 

Hanlon said as the university was determining how to select their first indigenous space lawyer, they also wanted to have an inaugural scholarship that benefited a Mississippian, and had the honor of meeting Tribal Chief Cyrus Ben and eventually, Edwards herself. 

“We are incredibly excited to bring new voices into this domain,” Hanlon said. “Kara will receive a scholarship that will cover her entire tuition for her Master’s program. As she finishes her JD, she will simultaneously earn her master of laws, also known as an LL.M. The value of this scholarship is more than $25,000, and we are very grateful to our donors. We encourage everyone to donate so Kara is not the only indigenous space lawyer in the world.” 

Allison Lewis, program manager for Air and Space Law at Ole Miss, said members of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians have a unique perspective and governance structure that lends itself to air and space law. 

“Our mission is to bring diversity to the air and space industry, and that’s how this all came about,” Lewis said.

For more information about Air and Space Law at Ole Miss, information about the scholarship, and ways to donate for future scholarships, visit www.airandspacelaw.olemiss.edu.