Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public university with its main campus located in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, United States, at the foot of the Ozark Mountains. The university also has two other campuses in Muskogee and Broken Arrow. Northeastern is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of Oklahoma as well as one of the oldest institutions of higher learning west of the Mississippi River. Tahlequah is home to the capital of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and about 25 percent of the students at NSU identify themselves as American Indian. The university has many courses focused on Native American linguistics, and offers Cherokee language Education as a major. Cherokee can be studied as a second language, and some classes are taught in Cherokee for first language speakers as well.