INDIANA, Pa. -- The fire marking the start of the Native American Awareness Event yesterday at Indiana University of Pennsylvania was started in the traditional manner -- with stones placed in a circle, starting from the east, on ground that had been blessed. The wood was stacked in a pyramid shape and sparked with a flint.

The two red fire extinguishers nearby weren't traditional, but they were still a good idea.

The blending of historic Native American culture with modern society is just one of the goals of IUP's Native American Awareness Council, which yesterday held its first event on a chilly campus hillside. The council intends to make the event an annual celebration of Native American heritage, culture and lifestyles.

The temperature may have kept the turnout down, and many of those attending -- some of them students who were required to be there -- gathered around the fire. But those present were treated to Native American dances by The Muddy Creek Singers, authentic Native American food, and exhibits showing artifacts and examples of Native American life.

The event was the idea of three IUP students -- Jennifer Soliday, Nicolas Posey and Bobbie Jo Zapor -- and was born last year out of adversity. For decades, the IUP team name was the Indians, a label that has become controversial in recent years. Last year, the university switched to the Crimson Hawks.

"I thought, let's take IUP back into a better light," said Ms. Soliday. "Let's do something positive and make something good out of this whole issue. Why don't we start celebrating the [Native American] Heritage Month?"

The university took her suggestion to the Council of Trustees, which, with the Office of Social Equity and Civic Engagement, has embraced the event.

But the event is not just a celebration of the past. It's an education about Native American society today.

"We need to [educate] future generations, even this generation, [and] let them see that Native Americans are still a viable part of this culture," Ms. Soliday said. "They are a part of our past, but they're also part of our future."

"The poverty on most reservations is horrible," said Mr. Posey, whose father was an Andaste. "Some of that's been alleviated recently with the opening of casinos ... but there's still extreme poverty there, which leads to alcoholism, family breakups. Essentially the same problems that you get in the inner cities."

Mr. Posey said most of the Native American population in Western Pennsylvania is made up of people who have come from other parts of the country.

"Pennsylvania's a hard place because Pennsylvania doesn't recognize the rights of any native peoples to have reservations or land of their own," he said. "There are no reservations at all."

Some Native Americans, he said, have been buying pieces of land in an attempt to preserve places of spiritual interest, "such as rock drawings, because the government hasn't been doing anything to protect them."

Dr. Kinorea "TwoFeather" Tigri, a traditional Cherokee who is a consultant and joined the effort this past summer, said it is appropriate that the event is taking place on a college campus because people need to learn that Native Americans played a big role in the history of Western Pennsylvania.

"We're helping students become aware, spanning a gap in their education," she said. "Because it's not being taught in the books."