Volume 17 Summer 2006 Issue No. 4
In This Issue:
Reforming Our Schools, Native Style
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ON CAMPUS
Montana Schools Must Teach Indian History
Tribal colleges recently have been asked by the state of Montana to help prepare curriculum to assure that students throughout the state understand the history of tribes there. The Montana Legislature provided first time funding in 2005 to implement legislation passed in 1999 that requires “Indian Education for All.”
 VOICE OF THE STUDENTS. Tribal college students Anhelica Reino and Quintanya Claw joined their presidents to meet with U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) in Washington, DC, last February. Pictured are Tohono O’odham Community College President Olivia Vanegas-Funcheon, Diné College President Ferlin Clark, Reino (a student at TOCC), Claw (Miss Diné College), and Grijalva. Dozens of students from the nation’s tribal colleges added their voice on Capitol Hill to arguments for more funding for tribal college operations and programs.” Photo by Bernard G. Siquieros |
The legislation is designed to address a problem that exists in most schools across the nation: History classes provide a biased or incomplete perspective on the role of American Indians in the nation’s history.
Efforts in South Dakota to pass similar legislation this year failed. The South Dakota Legislature also failed to provide any funding for tribal college students, which Montana lawmakers have provided for 14 years off and on in that state.
The state constitution has language requiring schools to educate all students about American Indians. A recent court case says that such education would also help with the drop out problem.
For the 2004-05 school year, American Indian students represented 10.7% of the total school enrollment for grades 7 through 12, but they accounted for 26.7% of the total dropouts. On average American Indian students drop out of grades 7 and 8 at a rate more than 12 times that of white students and out of high school at a rate three times that of white students.
“One of the reasons that Indian students dropped out of school was that schools provided Indian students with no role models or curricula that was inclusive of Indian culture or of relevance to Indian students,” according to a 2001 U. S. Commission on Civil Rights study.
The decision in a recent school funding lawsuit criticized the state, saying it “failed to recognize the distinct and unique cultural heritage of American Indians and has shown no commitment in its educational goals to the preservation of their cultural identity.”
The 2005 legislature also provided targeted money for all students considered at risk and first time funding to school districts to assist them with efforts to reduce the American Indian achievement gap.
The Montana legislature provided $2 million to the tribal colleges to develop their histories. These tribal histories will be given to schools throughout the state so they can implement the Indian Education for All and present material developed by the tribes themselves.
In other action, the Montana Legislature once again appropriated $900,000 for the biennium to pay the tribal colleges up to $l,500 for each of their non-Indian students. For 14 years, off and on, the state has helped defray the costs of educating “non-beneficiary” Montana resident students at tribal colleges, similar to the funding provided by the state to “comparable sister institutions of the Montana university system.”
Tribal colleges receive basic operational funding from the federal government under the Tribally Controlled College and University Assistance Act. Funding is based solely on the number of full-time Indian students. These are the students the TCCUAA is designed to “benefit.” All other students attending tribal colleges who are not enrolled tribal members are referred to as “non-beneficiary students” since they do not generate revenue under the TCCUAA or any other source.
These non-Indian students do not benefit from the federal institutional funding for tribal colleges, which is provided only for Indian students.
Tribal college spokespersons in Montana credit their success to Gov. Brian Schweitzer and to the efforts of eight American Indian legislators in the state legislature, particularly Rep. Carol Juneau ( Mandan/Hidatsa), who has sponsored the Indian Education for All legislation and has led state funding efforts for several years.
The governor put both measures into his budget that he sent to the legislature. Schweitzer has four American Indians on his staff including two in his cabinet. He served as the commencement speaker at Salish Kootenai College (Pablo, MT).
For more information regarding Indian Education for All and efforts to reduce the American Indian achievement gap, contact Denise Juneau, director of the Division of Indian Education Programs at the state of Montana (888) 231-9393 or see www.opi.mt.gov /IndianEd/Index.html. A copy of the Indian Education for All legislation can be found on the website,
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/billhtml/HB0528.htm
Roessel Helped Found Worldwide Movement
The “father” of Diné College, Dr. Robert A. Roessel, died Feb. 16, 2006 of complications of cancer. He was 79.
 PIONEERS OF NAVAJO EDUCATION. Bob and Ruth Roessel worked side by side for 50 years and created Rough Rock Demonstration School and Navajo Community College. |
In 1966, Roessel founded the first school in modern times with a foundation of Native language, history and culture -- the Rough Rock Demonstration School (now the Rough Rock Community School). He returned to the helm of the school in 1997 as executive director and was succeeded by his son, Monty. The school will celebrate its 40th anniversary this June.
In 1968, he and his wife, Ruth Roessel (Navajo), helped establish Navajo Community College (now Diné College), the first tribally-controlled college in the country. The tribal college movement since has grown to 35 tribally controlled colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
Some consider Roessel to be the father of the tribal college movement. At the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Board of Directors meeting in Green Bay, WI, March 11, the board passed a resolution memorializing his contributions.
Lionel Bordeaux said at the board meeting that Roessel was his mentor. Bordeaux has served as president of Sinte Gleska University (Mission, SD) since 1973, when he was a founder of AIHEC. Twelve years before that in 1961, he heard Roessel give a speech entitled, “If it is to be, it is up to me.” These 10 words became his motto, and years later, they became the motto of Diné College.
“Bob Roessel and Navajo leaders like Dillon Platero created one of the most significant innovations in American educational history,” according to Tom Davis, president of Little Priest Tribal College (Winnebago, NE) and an Indian education historian.
“Rough Rock developed a truly Native way approach to education. Its controversial approach, championed so passionately by Bob Roessel, led to the Indian-controlled schools movement that flowered briefly during the Ford and Carter presidential eras and to the tribally-controlled college movement. Since its founding, core elements of that model have echoed around the world in places such as the Hawaiian islands, Alaska, New Zealand, and parts of South America,” Davis says.
Roessel was passionate about Navajo culture and education. He was among the first to call for the creation of a Navajo Department of Education, which came to be last year when the Navajo Nation Council amended its education code. He voiced his thoughts about the importance of tribes asserting their sovereignty over education in the fall 2004 issue of Tribal College Journal (Vol. 16, N.1).
At a community meeting at the Round Rock Chapter House in February, Roessel was remembered as a man with a booming voice, boundless energy, strong opinions, and a big heart. Numerous people said he, even as a non-Navajo, taught them what it meant to be a Navajo, to take pride in who they were, to cherish a strong work ethic, and to seek answers within the Navajo culture. The community of Round Rock addressed him as Tsinigine clan, saying he believed that the Navajo Holy People were with him every day.
Diné College President Ferlin Clark (Navajo) said, “The commanding voice of Dr. Roessel will resonate through the halls of our college in the years to come. During a recent visit to the college, Dr. Roessel told the faculty and staff, ‘When I’m on this campus I feel I’m as close to Heaven as I ever hope to be…I truly believe this college is something special. I believe it will never fail, I truly believe we are standing on sacred ground.’”
Roessel is survived by his wife and academic partner of 50 years, Ruth, president of the Round Rock Chapter, and their five children and their spouses. He is also survived by a sister, Mary Engle of Bismarck, ND, and 12 grandchildren.
Roessel’s family has established the “Robert A. Roessel, Jr. Memorial Scholarship” in his memory at Diné College. Contributions can be made by calling (928) 724-6687 or mailing Diné College, Office of the President, P. O. Box 126, Tsaile, AZ 86556.
For more information and to add a tribute to Roessel, go to www.tribalcollegejournal.org.
FORTUNE Names SBC As Entrepreneurial Leader
FORTUNE Small Business magazine has selected Sitting Bull College (SBC, Fort Yates, ND) as one of the top 10 colleges nationwide for entrepreneurs. The March 2, 2006, issue of the online magazine story said, “Where to go to get a leg up when starting a business? These ten schools are leading the way in programs for budding entrepreneurs.” It put SBC on a list that also included Harvard University, Howard University, University of Colorado, University of Arizona, and five other major universities.
“One of the first tribal colleges in the U.S. when it was founded in 1973, Sitting Bull has launched a pioneering program to teach entrepreneurship to Native Americans. A key goal: to create jobs on the Standing Rock Reservation (pop. 12,000), where unemployment is at 76 percent. Educators seek to emulate the economically and culturally independent Amish,” the article said.
On reservations with such high unemployment rates, entrepreneurial development is especially important. A new center for entrepreneurial studies is part of SBC’s $40 million construction plans. In September 2005, the college received a federal grant of $300,000 to construct the center, which will house classrooms, administrative offices, and local businesses.
In addition, the new entrepreneurial center will have a tribal business information center that will serve as a “business incubator,” assisting tribal members in business set-up, marketing, and financing. U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development awarded this grant with funds appropriated by the U.S. Congress .
In previous years, the tribal college started two companies that now employ students and alumni of the college -- Sitting Bull College Construction Company and a computer installation and service company.
In 2000, Sitting Bull College established an honorary campaign committee of 39 educators, business entrepreneurs, attorneys, and other professionals. Over $12 million of the $40 million needed for the new campus has been raised so far.
SWC Produces Rap Song In Dakotah Language
The first rap song ever recorded in the Dakotah language was produced in a joint effort by Sisseton Wahpeton College (SWC) and the Association on American Indian Affairs (AIAI). The rap song, titled “Wicozani Mitawa” (My Life), was recorded at a studio on the college campus in Sisseton, SD, on the Lake Traverse Reservation. The rap song represents one of many innovations by the tribal college in its campaign to revitalize the language.
SWC President Dr. William Harjo Lone Fight hailed the song for its creativity and importance. He told UCWE Newswire, “For a language to flourish it has to be used. That is the bottom line. This song helps bring Dakota into the 21st century as a living language with relevance to our youth.”
SWC and AAIA are encouraging people to make a copy of the rap song CD so the Dakotah language can be heard by as many Dakota youth as possible. “The concept is to have an entire generation of young people actually hear Dakotah being used,” according to AAIA Native Language Program Director Tammy Decoteau.
The Dakotah lyrics for the song were first written in English by Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota member Tristan Eastman and then translated into Dakotah and edited by Dakota elders Orsen Bernard, Edwina Bernard, Wayne Eastman, Olivia Eastman, V. June Renville, and Delbert Pumpkinseed. Tristan Eastman then performed the song in Dakotah to music written by Tim Laughter.
The collaboration between elders and youth resulted in a Dakotah rap song that is the first of its kind. “Some of the Dakotah words had really deep meaning. When translating we were trying to interpret what that young person [Tristan Eastman] was saying and put a lot of positive thinking in there,” translator Orsen Bernard said.
The CD with liner notes is available for sale through the SWC bookstore, with 100% of the profits going back into future Dakotah language projects like the rap song.
The partnership between the tribal college and the AAIA has created several Dakotah language revitalization projects that have utilized modern media to reach Dakota youth, including books, PowerPoint presentations, DVDs, CDs, an animation piece that was nominated for Best Animation at the Native Voices Film Festival, and now a rap song.
The Dakota Letters Symposium last summer exemplifies another of the tribal college’s language projects. The 4-day conference focused upon letters written by Dakota people imprisoned after the 1862 U.S. - Dakota Conflict.
The American Indian College Fund provided a cultural preservation grant for the project, which involved gathering the 150-year-old letters and getting them translated by local elders. The symposium drew scholars and historians from around the country. Several participants read letters written by their ancestors, stirring deep, emotional responses.
For more information about the rap CD, phone the Sisseton Wahpeton College book store at (605) 698-3966, or see the website, www.swc.tc.
SKC Students Conduct Biomedical Research
Using a Department of Defense instrumentation award, Salish Kootenai College (SKC, Pablo, MT) has equipped a modern molecular biology laboratory to support faculty and student research projects. Currently, the lab employs seven students as research assistants under the guidance of SKC Physics and Chemistry Instructor Michael Ceballos (Tepehuan Indian).
“These students break the stereotype that Native Americans are only proficient in environmental studies and resource management. Indian people can do anything – even biomedical research!” says Ceballos.
Through a National Science Foundation – Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF-EPSCoR) grant, Ceballos is studying structure-function relationships of viral polymerases. Specifically, his group is investigating the activity of an enzyme involved in the replication cycle of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV).
The FIV genome and life cycle resemble Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Ceballos hopes that data emerging from this work will contribute to the larger national HIV/AIDS research effort.
Although this NSF-EPSCoR research award does not provide funding for undergraduates, Ceballos has patched together student salaries through a series of smaller NSF-EPSCoR student awards, several All Nations Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation student scholarships, and a National Aeronautics and Space Administration – Montana Space Grant Consortium grant.
Because the tribal college has equipped a state-of-the-art biology-chemistry lab, SKC can now offer summer research opportunities in biological and chemical sciences on campus. This is possible through a NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant awarded to SKC and Montana StateUniversity’s Dr. Mary Cloninger.
“We’ve had limited success sending students off-campus to train at major universities, primarily because 8 weeks is a long time for a student to be away from family. Dr. Cloninger and I decided that we could generate greater participation in biochemical research by offering summer internships on a tribal college campus,” says Ceballos.
“The students are very excited and passionately engaged in their projects. That makes all the late nights and weekend work worth the effort.”
Comanche to Lead DOL Distance Learning Pilot
The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration recently awarded a pilot program grant to five tribes to facilitate job training through technology-based delivery. The tribal nations are the Comanche Nation in Oklahoma, Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota, Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, Navajo in Arizona, and Washoe in Nevada.
The Comanche Nation College (CNC, Lawton, OK) will coordinate the project with Earth Walk Communications, Inc. of Manassas, VA. The grant will provide $1.8 million of laptop computers and client servers (new advanced “Smart Carts”) to facilitate training in and outside the classroom.
Earth Walk Communications has developed a totally new line of “education” laptop computers with advanced program software, according to Dr. Kim Winkelman (Oglala Lakota/Abnaki), president of CNC.
With academic platforms to build online course sites, students who have Internet access will be able to access their courses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The grant covers license fees and special software. The Earth Walk software is easier for faculty to use than most Learning Management Systems (LMS) and is included in these laptop computers. The leading LMS software (such as Blackboard, WebCT, and eCollege) requires thousands of dollars in annual software fees.
The project is designed to stimulate relevant employment training for economic development. Each tribe designed its proposal for local priorities, but all plans include increasing their students’ job skills. At the Comanche college, for example, the grant will support modernizing the nursing program, the security program, and ultimately the growing gaming management program, according to Winkelman. This will make it possible for the college to deliver existing curriculum at remote sites.
The project, the first of its kind for the Department of Labor, is designed as an 18-month pilot. If successful, the Department of Labor would like to expand the program.
Saginaw Chippewa Create Tribal College Library
The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is creating an extension of its tribal library services at the Tribal College Learning Resource Center Library. The tribe had chartered its tribal college in Mt. Pleasant, MI, in 1998, but until now, the college students had to use the tribal library. Having its own library will be important for the students and for the college’s accreditation efforts.
The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools will be visiting the college April 9-11, 2007. In fall 2005, the college had 138 students, and 33 of them were full-time equivalent.
The new library will be managed by the tribal library and directed by a project team consisting of tribal and college staff. It will include a computer lab with Internet access, audiovisual equipment, new furnishings, library materials ranging from reference to cultural, and leisure reading materials.
The tribe received a $119,810 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (an independent federal grant-making agency) to create the new library center.
Kellogg Fellows Study Education in S. Africa
Seventeen former Kellogg MSI Leadership Fellows and current staff members traveled to South Africa last November as part of a Fulbright-Hays seminar series. Two of those 17 represented the American Indian Higher Education Consortium: Dr. Maggie George (a 2002-2003 fellow) and Dr. Deborah His Horse is Thunder (project director).
Faculty who participate in Fulbright-Hays seminars are expected to incorporate international people, scholarship, language, and culture into their curriculum.
The MSI Leadership Fellowship program was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for 3 years to match mentors with fellows from minority-serving institutions.
For the South Africa seminar series, the participants read books and articles and heard exemplary speakers such as Ralph Hines of the Fulbright-Hays Program and Dick Fehnel, the Ford Foundation’s former program officer for higher education in South Africa. They visited several universities, including a historically disadvantaged university in Cape Town and a historically advantaged university in Pretoria.
Some of South Africa’s foremost scholars and leaders in higher education led the educational sessions. While in South Africa, the participants studied how to define student success and higher education institutions’ role in addressing poverty and health disparities. Since their return, the participants are continuing to collaborate with South African educators on these topics.
“It has been only 11 years since apartheid ended in South Africa and Blacks, who make up the vast majority of the population, became eligible to vote. The higher education system in South Africa struggles as it works toward a democratic, free, non-racial society,” according to His Horse is Thunder.
Donna Statzell of CMN Officiated at Olympics
Donna Statzell traveled from the College of Menominee Nation (CMN, Keshena, WI) to Turin, Italy, in February to serve as an official at the Olympics. This was her second Olympics as an international technical official for curling.
 CURLING, ANYONE? Donna Statzell chills out on the ice after returning from Italy, where she officiated at the Olympics. Photo by Evan Siegle/Press Gazette |
Curling is a team sport played on ice. The Olympic medal sport originated in the 1500s on the lakes and ponds of northern Europe. The object of the game is for two teams of four players to slide 42-pound granite rocks down a sheet of ice, according to the website www.USAcurl.org.
The rocks are delivered toward the center of a 12-foot diameter target. Each player throws two rocks toward the target, alternating with the opponent. Rocks traveling down the ice have a tendency to curve or “curl,” hence the name curling.
“It was a wonderful experience to represent your country, to represent your sport, and to represent women officials,” Statzell says. She has officiated more than 50 championships at the state, national, and world level, including the last Olympics in Salt Lake City. Statzell is the only American curling official in her level. She has been involved in curling for 20 years and now plays in the Green Bay Curling Club.
Statzell is the director of institutional research at CMN. She has been involved in the tribal college movement since 1993, working first at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (Cloquet, MN) and then at CMN beginning in 2000. At the 2006 American Indian Higher Education Consortium Conference, she served as the director of competitions.
President Names Cavett As Director of WHITCU
President George W. Bush has appointed Deborah Cavett as executive director of the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges and Universities (WHITCU). The agency is responsible for implementing an Executive Order signed by the president in July 2002, which was designed to ensure that the nation's tribal colleges and universities (TCU) are more fully recognized and have full access to federal programs benefiting other higher education institutions.
 FAMILIAR FACE. WHITCU Director Deborah Cavett comes to the agency already familiar with the tribal colleges and universities from her work in USDA. |
Cavett serves as the primary contact for the President's Board of Advisors on Tribal Colleges and Universities. This board consists of 15 members who provide advice and recommendations on ways the federal government can help tribal colleges and universities strengthen and expand their resources, programs, facilities, and technology use.
Board members include tribal college presidents, educators, business leaders, and public servants. The U.S. Department of Education coordinates the WHITCU office and provides staff and support for the board of advisors.
Formerly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Cavett has worked with tribal colleges and universities since 1994. She was director of interagency initiatives at USDA, serving as the contact for tribal colleges and universities and for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Cavett was also a member of the USDA's policy committee with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Cavett received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Northern Iowa.
Ron His Horse is Thunder (Hunkpapa Lakota) said he was pleased that Cavett had been appointed. “Without an executive director, we weren’t getting any movement under the Executive Order. It is good to have someone who is familiar with tribal colleges and their needs.
“Also because she is coming from a federal agency, she understands the federal bureaucracy from the inside. I have met with her and know that she has already started moving toward fulfilling the goals of the agency.” His Horse is Thunder is chairman of the President's Board of Advisors on Tribal Colleges and Universities and former president of Sitting Bull College.
More information about WHITCU is available at www.ed.gov/whitcu.
World Educators to Meet At Fond du Lac College
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College will be hosting the 2006 conference of the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) August 7-9, 2006, in Cloquet, MN. WINHEC was formed by indigenous higher education leaders from around the world at a meeting in Alberta, Canada, in 2003.
One of the founders of WINHEC, Lionel Bordeaux (Sicangu Lakota), was elected as “WINHEC Elder” at a conference last November in New Zealand. Bordeaux has been president of Sinte Gleska University (Rosebud, SD) since 1973.
Dr. James Shanley (Assiniboine) was elected as one of the three co-chairs. Shanley is president of Fort Peck Community College (Poplar, MT). The other co-chairs are Boni Robertson (Australia) and Rongo Wetere (New Zealand); Wetere is also one of the founders. Turoa Royal (New Zealand) serves as the executive chair of the organization.
With a $100,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, AIHEC will be launching WINHEC USA, which is designed to revitalize tribal colleges’ participation in the international organization. This effort will dovetail with AIHEC’s effort to create accreditation standards that are unique and germane to tribal colleges.
The business of WINHEC is conducted by working groups, each of which will be involved in the conference this summer in Minnesota. Some of the work groups are Immigration and Educational Cultural Exchanges, Distance Learning and Telecommunications, Research and Referred Journal, International Funding, WINHEC Constitution, WINHEC Accreditation Authority, and Indigenous Studies.
The tentative agenda and travel details for the August meeting are located at www.fdltcc.edu. Under “Departments,” click into International Students Programs, and then click Upcoming World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium Information.
Shirley Defoe of Fond du Lac is coordinating the conference. In her position as the director of international programs at the tribal college, Defoe focuses her attention on cultural exchanges. “Ever since 9/11 and the War in Iraq, it is more important than ever for us to work together with all nations of this world to understand each other better as people,” she says.
WINHEC has published the first issue of an online publication, the WINHEC Journal. It is dedicated to exploring and advancing issues related to indigenous education, culture, and language that members face. Access to the online journal can be obtained by visiting www.win-hec.org. Click on “Inaugural Edition” to see brief descriptions of the authors and to download their papers. The theme of this edition is Indigenous Knowledge. The five authors lend their thoughts on indigenous knowledge from their particular tribe, people, situation, or perspective.
For more information about the conference, contact Defoe by phone (218) 879-0800 or email sdefoe@fdltcc.edu. To purchase a hard copy of the WINHEC Journal, email bonnie.marino@tauihu-wananga.maori.nz.
Keweenaw Bay Building New Children’s Center
Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC, Baraga, MI) is building a unique children’s center where children of all abilities can play, learn, and grow together. For children in wheelchairs or using other devices, the center will allow them to engage in all areas of play including access to a two-story mine feature with a lift elevator.
“Often times, children with special needs are left on the outside looking in. The Children's Indoor Play Center will be accessible for children of all abilities to interact together,” according to KBOCC President Debra Parrish. Having an indoor center is especially important for this reservation located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on the shore of Lake Superior.
The center will allow tribal college students to practice their early childhood education skills near the college. It will also provide evening day care for students at the college and respite care for parents who need some time to themselves. It was expected to open in June 2006.
The college received two grants for the center, a $50,000 challenge grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and a generous donation from the Ruth Danley & William Enoch Moore Charitable Trust. The center will include several special features, including a cuddle therapy swing and fiber optic curtain in the sensory room, a nature trail with an Ojibwa wigwam for storytelling, kitchen, offices, conference room, and a welcome area designed to depict the local history.
Various ethnic groups will be represented by paintings of children in traditional garments. The center has involved KBOCC construction trainees, volunteers, and other tribal college students. In addition, local businesses have donated various building materials to assist with the project. Elementary and high school students designed murals for each play area.
Since Kellogg provided a challenge grant, matching funds need to be raised. Plaques are available in gifts of $100, $500, or $1,000. Rooms or individual play areas such as the sensory room or lift elevator can also be supported through sponsorships.