Volume XII Fall 2000 Issue #1
ON CAMPUS
NWIC creates environmental research center
On behalf of all the tribal colleges, Northwest Indian College (NWIC) has signed a historic agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce to create the National Indian Center for Marine and Environmental Research and Education. The National Indian Center will have sub-centers located at other tribal colleges with unique regional environmental emphases, according to Dr. Robert Lorence, NWIC president.Funding will be "passed through" to those centers to develop specialized expertise and collaborations with appropriate federal agencies and universities within those regions. The assistance comes in part from $100,000 in grants from the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle and from the Economic Development Administration, both part of the Commerce Department.
"The goal of this initiative is to form a new research partnership between some of our 210 research scientists and reservation-based Native Americans facing natural resource issues," said Andy Rosenberg, head of the sustainable fisheries division of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Washington, D.C. The grant money will establish a culturally-grounded education and training program that takes advantage of NWIC's distance-learning telecommunications network. Satellite technology will beam classroom lectures to as many as 16 of the 32 tribal colleges in the United States. "The long-range goal," said Lorence, "is educational programming that reaches Native Americans at all tribal colleges and scores of classrooms."
Lummi spiritual elder Chadasskadum Whichtalum blessed the signing ceremony on April 20, 2000, with an opening honor song and prayer. U.S. Sen. Patty Murray congratulated the participants on their initiative. Representatives attended from four other tribal colleges: Sitting Bull College, Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College, Crownpoint Institute of Technology, and Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College. NWIC Board Chairman Levi Jefferson described the history of Lummi aquaculture. NWIC in Bellingham, Wash., has been a leader in telecommunications and in aquaculture. In fact, the college developed out of the Lummi Indian School of Aquaculture, which was established in 1973.
The new National Indian Center for Marine and Environmental Research & Education will help implement the Department of Commerce's proposed $28 million initiative to develop new partnerships with the nation's minority serving institutions. These institutions include tribal colleges and universities, historically black colleges and universities, and Hispanic serving institutions. The department intends to increase minority students' interest in the sciences, which is critical to the department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its National Institute of Standards and Technology. .
AIHEC honors tribal college founders
The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) took time out from a busy meeting with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Albuquerque last spring to honor some of the tribal colleges' founders. The Navajo Nation in 1968 chartered the first tribal college. "When I was growing up, the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) had total control. When you went to BIA schools, they wouldn't let you in to see what your children were being taught," Guy Gorman told the crowd of administrators and faculty from tribal colleges and mainstream schools assembled for the Kellogg meeting. "I was on the education committee of the Navajo Nation, and we started talking about it. We asked the parents, 'How do you want your schools?' That was the day something happened," he said.Navajo Community College (NCC, now Diné College) could have killed the fledgling consortium of tribal colleges, according to Wayne Stein, Ed.D., author of Tribally Controlled Colleges : Making Good Medicine, who served as master of ceremonies in Albuquerque. Instead, the Navajo college supported the birth of other tribal colleges and their organization in many ways. NCC sponsored the first grant to start AIHEC. Tom Atcitty, president of NCC, served as the first president of AIHEC. Jim Hena, a Tesuque Pueblo man employed by NCC, taught AIHEC's first executive director, David Gipp, the ways of the hill. Today Gipp is president of AIHEC as well as United Tribes Technical College, and he is widely acknowledged as one of the colleges' best advocates in Congress.
One of the most moving moments of the emotional reunion came when Lionel Bordeaux credited Dr. Bob Roessel for inspiring him over 40 years ago. Bordeaux attended a South Dakota Indian youth council meeting, and Roessel gave a speech entitled, "If it is to be, it's up to me." Bordeaux took those words to heart; he has been president of Sinte Gleska University for 28 years. Roessel and his Navajo wife, Ruth, were instrumental in changing the face of education on the Navajo Reservation at Navajo Community College and Rough Rock Community School. Bordeaux also credited Dave Risling, then president of D-Q University in California. "We couldn't even get an appointment with the BIA. Dave taught us to fight," he said.
Louis LaRose, a founder of Nebraska Indian Community College, said, "We came in from Nebraska because we saw the vision and wanted to be a part of it…. Later, when I opened the Sioux Falls newspaper and saw that Congress had passed the Tribally Controlled Community Colleges Act, I cried. The vision was reality." That 1978 law provided the first federal funding for tribal colleges.
AIHEC and the American Indian College Fund presented gifts to the NCC founders; Bordeaux; Gerald One Feather, a founder of Oglala Lakota College; Risling; Gipp; and LaRose. They honored several founders who had died and supporters who were not present, including Helen Scheirbeck and Gerald Brown. They also presented gifts to several people from the Kellogg Foundation.
Father, daughter graduate from Fort Belknap
James "Scott" Snow, IV, was skeptical at first about going to Fort Belknap College with his daughter, Alissa J. Snow. Alissa had her doubts, too. "It felt strange calling him Dad in computer class," she said. As it turned out however, Scott, 45, could help Alissa with her math and English composition classes, and she in turn helped her father with their computer class. Both were successful students, Scott with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average and Alissa with a 3.88. They graduated together June 10 with associate degrees from the tribal college in Harlem, Mont., in north central Montana.The Fort Belknap College staff selected Alissa as the college's Student of the Year for both her academic achievements and her community service. A full-time student, Alissa also has two toddlers at home and was active in the student government and the Head Start parent committee. Living with her father and her grandmother helped her ration her time; her grandmother helped her with her daughters. As vice president of the student government, she traveled to Washington, D.C. Although she had never flown before, she thought it was important to speak to members of Congress about the importance of her tribal college experience. As student of the year, she received a $1,000 scholarship from the American Indian College Fund, which was made possible by the Castle Rock Foundation. She is of Gros Ventre and Blackfeet descent and is transferring to the University of Montana to major in computer science.
Scott went back to college because he said he was stuck in a dead end office job. He focused upon natural resources so he could work outdoors. Fort Belknap is well known for its science faculty and curriculum. In the summer of 1999, he worked for the college doing research on water quality. Because of a near-by gold mine, the people on the reservation are deeply concerned about the quality of their water. That experience changed his life. "I really enjoyed it. It was worthwhile, helping the people out," he said. Scott plans to transfer to Montana State University-Northern to pursue a baccalaureate degree in water quality and environmental health.
To honor his achievements and his dreams, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation awarded Scott a two-year scholarship for $20,000. The Packard Foundation has provided funds to tribal colleges to support math and science education for several years. Scott advises other older students, "It's never too late to take positive steps to better your life and better your people."
Cultural centers rise in plains, woodlands
As log cultural learning centers rise at tribal college locations across the country, hopes are also rising that tribal colleges will for the first time have actual campuses. Tribal colleges are the only higher education institutions in the country built without facilities, according to Rick Williams, executive director of the American Indian College Fund. Most begin in trailers or store fronts abandoned by others. At Fort Yates, N.D., for example, Sitting Bull College (SBC) has needed a new roof on the main campus building for at least 15 years, and the foundation is sinking, causing cracks in the floor and one year, major flooding, according to SBC President Ron McNeil.Last May, however, volunteers and college staff and students erected the American Indian Higher Education Consortium Cultural Learning Center, the first building on the college's new 145-acre campus. On the lower floor, student artists will have a studio. The second floor will be used to sell art supplies and the arts and crafts of local artists, eliminating the middle man and making artists more self-sufficient. Located along the historic Lewis and Clark Trail, the building will house a special collection depicting the life of Sitting Bull from the perspective of the Lakota people. The building features a large porch for visitors to look out over the Missouri River valley. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe contributed $4 million toward acquiring and developing the new campus.
Similar buildings are planned at most of the tribal college locations in the United States. Several colleges held grand openings in the last few months, and others were being constructed over the summer. At press time, the following were expected to be completed by fall: Bay Mills, Fond du Lac, Cankdeska Cikana, Diné, Dull Knife, Fort Berthold, Fort Peck, Haskell, Institute of American Indian Arts, Lac Courte Oreilles, Little Big Horn, Little Priest, Nebraska, Oglala Lakota, Sinte Gleska, Sisseton Wahpeton, Si Tanka, Southwest Indian Polytechnic, Stone Child, and United Tribes. In September, three others are expected to be constructed: Crownpoint, Menominee, and Northwest Indian.
The AIHEC cultural centers represent a unique partnership amongst private industry, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the tribal colleges. The Log Homes Council of the National Association of Home Builders donated log structures to each college. Other private companies donated materials and services. For several colleges, the cultural center will be the centerpiece of their new campuses. The American Indian College Fund has started a five-year capital campaign to raise at least $120 million to address the physical needs of tribal colleges. AIHEC is also working with Congress and the administration to raise funds for the colleges' capital construction.
D-Q graduate teaches silversmithing
by Rick Heredia
From the biology lab came the sounds of students hammering, pounding, and sawing as they worked on projects for their silversmithing class. Instructor Victor Gabriel, a Washoe, has been a silversmith since 1975, the year after he graduated from D-Q University. He has taught the art for many years. His apprenticeship included learning the art from Ben Nighthorse Campbell, now a U.S. senator from Colorado.In Gabriel's classes, the first thing students learn to use is the common, ordinary ruler. The design and layout are done on paper, so it is important that students measure their work precisely. "I recommend finding the center of each piece and the length and width," said Gabriel.
Gabriel also introduces students to a jeweler's saw, which has a fine blade and is used to saw metal. Beginning students often break the blade. "There's just an art in handling the saw," Gabriel said. "You have to let the tool do the cutting. Most people want to use pressure when sawing."
Students are taught to use hand stamps for imprinting designs on the metal and scribes for drawing straight lines for the designs. Students who take the introductory class invariably enroll in the advanced class. This is the second semester that silversmithing has been offered at D-QU. Students are enthusiastic about making jewelry, said Gabriel, whose own work is displayed at a local art gallery. New students want to create elaborate designs, but Gabriel reminds them to start with simple designs and projects and work their way up to more complex pieces. Most practice using German silver or nickel, which is inexpensive, but some buy silver.
"I really enjoyed working with silver," said student Becky Tauzer (Apache and Comanche), who has taken both the beginning and advanced classes. She has made earrings, rings, bracelets, and even a special pin for D-QU President Dr. Morgan G. Otis Jr. Tauzer says the class taught her, among other things, how to solder metal and how to use stones, such as turquoise. "Victor is a good teacher," Tauzer said. "And I liked using the metal to express my creative ideas, my art."
Dull Knife cuts ties with foundation
Dull Knife Memorial College has ended its relationship with its foundation. Dull Knife President Dr. Richard Littlebear announced in March that the board of directors has rescinded authority of the Dull Knife Memorial Foundation and its successor, the Morning Star Memorial Foundation, to solicit gifts, funds, or bequests in the name of the college.Littlebear said donors should contact the college in Lame Deer, Mont., directly. The board wants to assure that donations solicited for the college will be used exclusively for college purposes, Littlebear said. The fully accredited college provides educational opportunities for the residents of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and surrounding communities in south central Montana.
FDL presents Peacock with achievement award
Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College presented Dr. Thomas Peacock a Lifetime Achievement Award at graduation ceremonies May 19. Peacock is a former board member for the tribal college and a tribal member. He has become known internationally for his research and for his efforts on behalf of Indian education.Speaking about the need for systemic change in Indian education last winter in Cortez, Colo., he said, "Something is terribly wrong in Indian education. The communities are in trouble. A lot of kids are too wounded to educate." He emphasized that the problems impeding education, such as institutional racism and poverty, are too complex for piecemeal approaches. Since 1973, Peacock has directed Indian youth programs, directed Indian education for the Duluth Public Schools and for the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, served as a school principal and superintendent, and operated his own educational consulting firm. "What we have done for the past 30 years has not brought the changes we desired," he said. To solve these problems, Indian people can turn to their fundamental cultural values. He described his own Anishinabe people's values, such as honoring the Great Mystery; honoring women; keeping promises; being kind, peaceful, and forgiving; and being moderate.
Peacock grew up on the Fond du Lac Reservation near Cloquet, Minn. He edited a book of archival research and interviews compiled by band members, A Forever Story: the People and Community of the Fond du Lac Reservation. He also wrote Collected Wisdom: American Indian Education with Linda Miller Cleary in 1998; and Ojibwe: We look in all Directions, a photo history book with Marlene Wisuri. He is a published poet and a frequent contributor to Tribal College Journal and other education journals.
Peacock holds master's degrees from the University of Minnesota and from Harvard University. He earned his doctorate in education at Harvard in 1989. Since 1993, he has held an endowed chair at the University of Minnesota -Duluth. He leads a cohort education doctoral group at UMD through which four American Indians have earned doctorates. He has served on the Tribal College Journal Research Review Panel since 1995.
LCO focuses on work force development
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College (LCO) is working with area schools in northern Wisconsin to help develop tomorrow's workforce. "Many students lack awareness of opportunities," said LCO Academic Dean Dan Gretz, who worked at a local elementary school in the past. "Most are discouraged. They see joining the armed services as their only opportunity. That is a good opportunity, but we want them to think about college as a way of opening doors," he said.Since the tribe chartered the college in 1982, it has designed its curriculum to meet the employment needs of local students, but now as the result of a state grant, they will be increasing their efforts. The Wisconsin state government has awarded $300,000 work force development grants to the two tribal colleges in the state, LCO and the College of the Menominee Nation (see TCJ, Vol. XI, No. 4, p. 32). The grants are multi-year initiatives to tie academic education to real-life skills that are valued in industry, business, and the work place, according to Gretz.
The project will include internships, youth apprenticeships, job shadowing, and mentoring for both college students and high school juniors and seniors. LCO will focus on computer science information technology, hospitality and tourism, and the construction trades. The college will hire a career counselor and youth apprenticeship coordinators.
LCO also will invest in a certification program and lab in Cisco and Microsoft computer networking systems so that a student can earn an associate of applied science degree as a network specialist. Mark Trebian chairs the new information technology department, which will be the largest academic department in the college. "We will teach absolutely world-class computer and information technology skills," LCO President Tom Davis said.
"We've been trying for a number of years to get the state to participate in helping to fund the state's tribal colleges," said Davis. "Education is a shared responsibility of the state and federal government. Davis cited the support of Governor Tommy Thompson; LCO Tribal Chairman Gaiashkibos; State Assembly Representatives Gary Sherman and Lorraine Serrati; and State Senators Bob Jauch, Roger Breske, and Joseph Strohl for the work force development grant.
White Earth college creates foundation
The White Earth Tribal and Community College (WETCC) has formed a non-profit organization to raise funds for the college and its students just two years after the college was chartered. Not all tribal colleges have foundations. "I am very pleased that our board members demonstrated their commitment to the college by agreeing to serve even though they are all busy with their work and other boards," said Deb McArthur, WETCC finance officer. The board includes the administrator of the local health care center, the city administrator, the president of a local bank, and two tribal college students.Board members said that they value having the college in their community. The college provides several community services in addition to its academic courses, including an Early Head Start program that serves 40 families, adult basic education, and training for tribal employees. As part of the Woodlands Wisdom program, the college has sponsored two forums on food safety and nutrition where traditional meals were served. In partnership with the city of Mahnomen, the college provides basic job training, such as job interviewing, resume writing, and basic computers.
The White Earth Tribal and Community College Foundation is securing resources, including money and technical assistance, to help empower the college to provide a culturally relevant, quality higher education. Foundation goals include a capital projects fund, student emergency fund, general operations fund, and scholarship fund. The foundation intends to provide scholarships to all students who show academic achievement or financial need; to buy equipment to provide a cutting-edge education; to attract and retain devoted, knowledgeable faculty and staff; and to help develop a future campus site.
Now located in two store fronts in Mahnomen, Wis., the college hopes eventually to move to the White Earth Rediscovery Center, a 125-acre wooded retreat center recently turned over to the White Earth Reservation Tribal Council. The tribe has designated the site for cultural, spiritual, and education purposes. A religious college previously used the lodge and cabins.
The foundation sponsored an auction that raised $850, and it is now selling a cookbook. The nutritionist at the White Earth Health Center is helping to put together diabetic recipes. The WETCC Millennium Cookbook also features Anishinaabe recipes. More information about the foundation is available on the college's website, "This is a historic moment in the history of our tribe and college," said OLC President Tom Shortbull. "We can produce school principals with a foundation in Lakota culture, which is critical to serve and teach our tribal children." The program addresses the critical shortage of Native school principals. In 27 reservation schools, only seven of the certified principals are Native. OLC initiated the master's program with a $750,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The new program also helps fulfill the reservation school teachers' need for graduate level courses.
With its partnerships with other South Dakota tribal colleges, Earring said it will improve school systems across the state. The other partners are Sinte Gleska University, Sisseton Wahpeton Community College, Si Tanka College, and Sitting Bull College. The program began in April 1999 as a collaboration with the University of South Dakota. The first educational master's degree courses were offered at OLC and at Sitting Bull College in the fall of that year. Currently there are four students enrolled in the program.
Prior to obtaining the Post Office, the college operations were spread all over the reservation. The college president's office was in the tribal industrial park, one and a half miles from any other college facilities. The college will continue to use classrooms at the Ojibwa Senior Citizens Building where its distance learning equipment is set up. The college also owns a physical fitness center a block away from the new office, which is utilized by the community. Since the college is not accredited yet, it depends largely on the tribe for financial support.
The tribe has demonstrated its commitment to education through the years, according to Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College board members Lynn Ketola, JoAnne Racette, and Cherie Dakota, who are all tribal members. The drop out rate for students at the reservation schools is one percent or less, they said. Twenty years ago, the tribe had a serious drop out problem in elementary and high school. Only three Indian students graduated in Racette's high school class. Now the tribe has an alternative school, home school coordinators, tutoring, and Ojibwa language in the schools. The schools bring in inspirational Indian speakers and pays stipends to students to reward good grades and perfect attendance.
The tribe chartered the college in 1975, but its previous office building burned down. The college offers classes at various hours to accommodate shifts of casino workers, and the tribe allows employees to take classes four hours per week to advance their skills. The tribe also pays the cost of tuition and books for tribal members attending the tribal college.
With a $15,000 grant from First Nations Development Institute, made possible by the Philip Morris Companies, Inc., Sinte Gleska University will provide free meals to students two evenings a week. Combined with the university's existing program to provide a free noon meal four times weekly, the evening meals will enable students to transcend the hunger threshold and concentrate on their schooling, like students anywhere. The talents and abilities nurtured at the university are crucial to developing the reservation economy.
The lunch program currently provides 5,100 lunches per semester, and the university anticipates providing an additional 4,500 evening meals. Buffalo stew is included each week, with meat from a herd managed by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. The menu also includes fresh fruits and vegetables, which are not always accessible on reservations.
First Nations Development Institute works with tribes and rural or reservation-based American Indian nonprofits to build sustainable reservation economies. Philip Morris is the nation's largest corporate funder in the fight against hunger, contributing more than $130 million in direct grants and food product donations since 1990. In the second year of the Native American Hunger Program, First Nations and Philip Morris have sponsored 17 tribal projects totaling $205,000 in grants.
OLC offers master's for Native principals
The state of South Dakota has approved Oglala Lakota College's master's degree program for Native American school principals. This is the first master's degree program in the nation that offers a Native culturally based curriculum in educational administration, according to Lynda Earring, Ed.D., director of graduate programs at Oglala Lakota College (OLC) on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Keweenaw Bay college moves into Post Office
The Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Indian Community has purchased the old U.S. Post Office in Baraga, Mich., for $50,000 to be used by the tribal college. College President Debra Parrish said she was delighted with the building, which will be used for an administrative office, a small conference room, a new classroom, a small library, and tutoring.
Sinte food program puts education first
No one is starving on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, despite high poverty and unemployment rates. But if those rates are going to change, education will lead the way. Hunger is a recognized barrier to education there. With a long round trip across the vast reservation, a university student can be gone from home from first light to late at night. Combined with a scarcity of pocket change, students often go without nutritious meals.