Although students of American Indian heritage had participated in the Ittanaha Club for years, the group enjoyed a rekindled interest in the early 1970s.

Renamed the Native American Student Association on September 13, 1972, over 1,000 visitors turned out for the initial NASA-sponsored Indian Heritage Week, which included a pow-wow. That same fall, a counselor of Indian ancestry was hired with funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Nevertheless, much progress was needed since American Indian students only accounted for one percent of OSU’s student population at the time, although Oklahoma has the largest Native American population in the United States. 

OSU is now one of the leading universities, nationally, in attendance by Native Americans.