VOLUME IX SUMMER 1997 NUMBER 1

On Campus

Tribes meet with USDA at summit

Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College jointed with the Intertribal Agricultural Council and four U.S. Department of Agriculture agencies to sponsor a summit in April to discuss national farm policy and its impacts on tribes and Indian people. Congress designated the tribal colleges as land grant institutions in 1994. Discussion focused around the 1990 and 1996 Farm Bills and the government-to-government relationship between Indian nations and the United States government. 

Specific topics included changes in laws and administrative rules that will affect tribal voting membership on USDA committees, participation in USDA programs through the formation of "conservation districts," and tribal community development opportunities through rural development programs. The summit was designed to provide an ongoing forum for tribal and USDA leaders, to improve the consultation processes, and to identify barriers to tribal participation. 

Thirty tribes participated as well as USDA agency representatives from Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The presidents of five tribal colleges spoke at the summit: Jack Briggs of Fond du Lac, Larry Aitken of Leech Lake Tribal College, Dr. Verna Fowler of the College of the Menominee Nation, Martha McLeod of Bay Mills Community College, and Dr. Jasjit Minhas of Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College. 

Sisseton Wahpeton adds nursing wing

Sisseton Wahpeton Community College in South Dakota has completed a 24 foot by 60 foot nursing addition to their college. The project began two years ago with the approval of a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant of $60,000. Nursing students and the nursing department will now be under the same roof as the rest of the college. The addition includes a fully equipped lab so students can learn and work in a real life instead of simulated atmosphere. The new department is approximately twice the size of the old nursing department and includes a learning lab and student lounge area. 

The total cost of the projects was $75,000. The Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe loaned the remaining funds to the college. Students were previously taught in a separate building, which was at one time a day care center. The lab was across the street in an old house.

Celebrating the Sisseton Wahpeton Community College nursing department addition are Harold Hill, contractor for the addition; Eleanor Falkingham, assistant nursing director; and Dr. John Derby, president of SWCC.
 
 
 

Navajos change name to Dine College

The nation's oldest tribal college, Navajo Community College, has changed its name to Dine College. Dine means "Children of the Holy People," according to the college president, Dr. Tommy Lewis. Dine is pronounced din-eh. The change was approved by the Navajo Nation Council and the Dine College Board of Regents in April. The college was established in 1968. 

"The time had come that the name of our institution needed to be changed in order to accommodate the continued growth and progress of the college for the Navajo people. This was done so that the college would not be limited to only offering two-year degrees," Lewis said. Last year NCC entered into a partnership with Arizona State University to create the Dine Teacher Education Program, which will provide 4-year bachelor's degrees. The name change allows for possible graduate and post graduate courses and degrees in the future, once they are accreditated. 

The new college charter also changes the make-up of the governing Board of Regents, reducing the 10-member board to 8. The board includes five members representing each reservation agency, a student representative, and two appointees from the tribal government. 

President of the Board of Regents Phillip Bluehouse said, "The board has spent many hours putting together this charter. We believe this document will allow the people to move forward into the next millennium without having to return to the council with new amendments every other year." 

Haskell honors Shannon, Roe Cloud

At two ceremonies in May Haskell Indian Nations University honored an outstanding alumnus and a former superintendent. Haskell named a new $8.5 million residential hall "Henry Roe Cloud Hall" to honor the man who served as the first American Indian superintendent of the school in 1933. Dr. Henry Roe Cloud (Winnebago) was born in Nebraska in 1884. His pioneering work as a leader, educator, and reformer helped expand federal support for American Indian higher education. Dr. Roe Cloud fought for the survival of Native cultures and languages, for educational opportunity for both Indian men and women, and for Indian research. 

The construction of the hall is the first major construction on the Haskell campus in over 15 years. It results from collaboration between the Haskell campus and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Facilities Maintenance Construction Center in Albuquerque. The hall has wiring for computers and Internet access, cable access to satellite tele-teaching, and architectural features reflecting American Indian cultures. 

The annual Outstanding Alumni Award for 1997 was presented to Betty Deer Shannon of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Shannon (Creek Tribe) graduated from Haskell in 1955 and served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for 35 years before her retirement in 1991. She advanced employment opportunities for American Indians with the corps. She also has served as executive secretary of the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame. 

S.D. tribal colleges lose tuition grants again

South Dakota Governor Bill Janklow has once again blocked legislation passed by the South Dakota Legislature to provide some equity in higher education. For three years in a row, the lawmakers have passed legislation to provide the tribal colleges with a total of $50,000 per year in grants to assist non-Indian students attending the four accredited tribal colleges located in South Dakota. The effort to override the veto fell one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority in the state senate. 

Non-Indians often attend tribal colleges for many of the same reasons that Indians attend--they are the only educational facilities available near their homes. If divided by the number of students, the South Dakota allocation would have been only $125 per student when it was first passed in 1995, but it was believed to be an important first step. 

for only their Indian students so they must subsidize the costs of educating non-Indian students. While states support the education of their residents at non-Indian colleges, few states provide any support for their residents who attend tribal colleges. 

Bay Mills students provide feast
by Cheryl Schauffler

Nishinabek Legends, an oral teachings class, provided a traditional foods feast at Bay Mills Community College in Michigan last winter. Each student brought a food that was traditionally used by the Anishinabe people, gave a presentation about its use and preparation, and researched a story about its origin. Foods discussed included maple sugar, fry bread, dramogeese (little rabbit) bean, wild rice, corn, venison, and berries.

Course instructor Kathy LeBlanc shared her knowledge about the sacredness of food. "The Ojibwe word tchibakwe means cooking, feast, food for the spirit." Feasts for clans were once held and hosted for the community. The spirit of the deer was recognized for giving its life to provide meat for the people. 

The antlers on a deer represent lightning in memory of the time that the thunders were told to signify their power to him. There was a time in the second or third worlds that the deer ate the people. He begged the Creator for another chance, for he was about to be destroyed. Gitchi Manido gave him that change, but his punishment ever after was that the people were allowed to eat him. 

LBHC offers web, recovery workshops

Little Big Horn College (LBHC) provided its Montana neighbors an opportunity to learn everything they want to know about the Internet in a series of workshops in May. Also in May, the college offered a two-day for credit workshop on reconciliation and recovery. 

Librarian Tim Bernardis planned the workshops based upon a community needs survey. The workshops were free to the public or could be taken for credit. Topics included Using the Internet for Curriculum Development, Native American Information on the Internet, Advanced Internet Searching, Grants and Fundraising, Researching Higher Education Financial Aid on the Internet, and Creating Home Pages. Students and teachers had been taught earlier how to use the Internet for research and for chat lines. 

The LBHC Internet connection was established by a federal grant under the Library Services and Construction Act, Title IV, written by Bernardis. LBHC will be providing Internet access to three local schools and the Crow tribal administration office. Community sites will be linked to the LBHC library catalog system. Every computer at the college has been connected to the Internet. LBHC Librarian Bernardis said, "We are going to wire up the whole reservation to the rest of the world." 

Dr. Robert Phillips presented the workshops on reconciliation and recovery during his two weeks as a guest lecturer at LBHC. Phillips, a frequent visitor to Little Big Horn College, is a founder of the All Races Coalition with Native American People based in Chapel Hill, N.C. A clinical psychiatrist, Phillips expressed interest in teaching sciences at other tribal colleges. 

Little Hoop takes traditional name

Little Hoop Community College was founded in 1974 and named after Paul Yankton Sr., the recipient of two Purple Hearts, who died in 1944 in Lorraine, France. The college has decided to take on the Sioux spelling and pronunciation of Little Hoop, which is Cankdeska Cikana. The symbol of the college has also changed. 

Cankdeska Cikana President Erich Longie said the philosophy, mission, and goals of the college have not changed. The college is chartered by the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe of North Dakota, which was formerly known as the Devil's Lake Sioux. Cankdeska Cikana is the second college in North Dakota to change its name in recent years. Standing Rock College changed its name to Sitting Bull College in March 1996. 

A college press release explains the new logo: "The Cankdeska Cikana (little hoop) is represented by the inner white circle of the design. The inner red circle represents Anpetu Wi (the sun). With each new red dawn, we gain wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. The upper blue semi-circle represents Wakan Tank (God). The seven stars represent the seven campfires and the seven rites of the Dakota Nation. The four tepees represent the four districts that Cankdeska Cikana College serves on the reservation. 

"The eagle feather represents Wanbdi Gdeska (spotted eagle). He flies the highest and is the messenger to God. The feather also represents the Black Road, which is the path of our daily life hardships. We must stay focused on our educational goals and follow the feather's quill to the end (achievement). The red band behind the feather is the Red Road, which represents the spiritual path that our ancestors followed throughout their lives to assure their place in the spirit world." 

NWIC receives vocational education grant

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Vocational and Adult Education has awarded a two-year vocational grant to Northwest Indian College to fund 12-week to 2-year certificate programs of special interest to Northwest tribal communities. The college will provide classes in retail, computer technology, early children education, and casino security and gaming at the Lummi campus in Bellingham, Wash. 

One component of the program will cover tuition for students training to operate large vessels through the Makah Maritime Training Center in Neah Bay, Wash. The program emphasizes career mentoring and job placement. The college will receive $383,000 in 1997-98 and $341,000 in 1998-99. 

Fort Berthold tries organic gardening

Fort Berthold Community College has launched a new program in horticulture on its campus in North Dakota. The college used its first equity grant to purchase a tractor and implements needed for sustainable (organic) farming on a 10-acre land laboratory demonstration plot. The second equity grant will be used to purchase irrigation equipment, machinery shed, fencing, and state-of-the-art tools for the agricultural mechanics shop at the new college facility. 

Congress designated the tribal colleges as land grant institutions in 1994. One of the provisions of the legislation authorized $50,000 per year equity grants. Fort Berthold has articulated its agriculture division programs and courses with the North Dakota University System. Thus students can transfer their credits to the state's land grant institution, North Dakota State University. Credits can be applied to their four year degrees in one of 18 agricultural disciplines and more than 30 specific career options. In addition to its horticulture program, Fort Berthold's Agriculture Division also offers farm/ranch management, agribusiness sales and service, and agriculture transfer. (See Tribal College Journal, Fall 1995.) 

Fort Berthold's new campus was dedicated in May in conjunction with the college's Founders Day. The $2.5 million expansion includes classrooms, labs, and staff offices. The Three Affiliated Tribes chartered the college in 1973. It had a record enrollment of 462 students last academic year and graduated 42 students.

D-Q builds environmental laboratory

D-Q University is building a new laboratory on its campus near Davis, Calif., thanks to a $128,000 grant from the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense. Suresh Tiwari, dean of faculty, says the lab's innovative design will allow the instructor and students to interact in a "collaborative learning" atmosphere, meaning that the instructor lectures and works at the same table where students are learning. This is a departure from the traditional "head of the table" approach to teaching these courses. 

The lab will be furnished with ergonomically-designed furniture and a darkroom, which, among other things, will be used to develop photographs science students take in the field of plants, environmental damage, etc. Not only will the lab be used for teaching, but it can be used to provide services to tribes, such as testing water samples for pollutants. 

Tiwari says environmental studies courses are tied to California Indian life and experience. For example, when the subject is toxic waste, students may examine how toxic waste affects the Campo Reservation or other California reservations and rancherias. D-Q's environmental studies program started in fall 1995 and graduated its first student last May. 

SKC offers education, health courses

Salish Kootenai College will join this fall with Western Montana College of the University of Montana to provide a four-year degree in elementary education. Western has agreed to grant full college credit for SKC's two-year graduates, who will then take Western classes during their third and fourth years on site at SKC. 

The program is designed to get more Indian people into education as a profession, according to SKC Vice President Gerald Slater. Less than 4 percent of the 475 teachers at public schools on the Flathead Reservation are Indian. In the future, he says, SKC may develop its own four-year elementary education program. SKC already offers bachelor's degrees in human services and environmental science. In 1977, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes chartered the college, which was at first just one small room with less than 10 students. Now it serves nearly 1000 students. 

SKC marked its 20th year by making distance learning history. Dr. Lori Colomeda of SKC presented a seminar on breast cancer to Rovaniemi College of Health in Finland. A medical ecologist and a nurse, Colomeda is an expert on Native women and breast cancer. This fall she will be teaching a distance learning course on Personal, Community, and Tribal Health. It will be broadcast to other tribal colleges via the American Indian Higher Education Consortium satellite system.

LCO environmental studies reaches out

Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College has been reaching out to the community and to young students with its natural resource programs. Last April, staff and students planted a thousand red pine on land owned by a family of tribal members. The college plans to plant its own forest on college lands where LCO also sponsors community gardens and educational programs. The college is working in cooperation with the tribal forestry office on the project. Gaiashkibos, college vice president, said "Volunteering to plant trees is a way of giving back to the community." Students said it created a common bond amongst the participants. 

In June the college hosted an environmental studies workshop for Native American high school students. The two-week program was designed for students interested in natural resources, environmental science, and caring for the earth. It covered gathering wild herbs and food, exploring forests and wetlands, and visiting laboratories at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which co-sponsored the program with LCO. 

The tribal college has negotiated agreements with four different University of Wisconsin system schools for different degrees, including medical studies, nursing, agriculture, social work, and education. Under the "two-plus-two" agreements, all of a student's associate degree credits transfer to the university where they can complete a bachelor degree program. LCO is a two-year college chartered in 1982 and based in Hayward, Wis. 

IAIA student hosts scholarship concert

A second year Institute of American Indian Arts student has been quietly and anonymously raising funds for the institute in Santa Fe, N.M. She initially obtained $5,000 from Ford Motor Credit Corp. for student scholarships and then organized a benefit concert last spring. The concert featured John Trudell, a Santee Sioux poet and musician; Geraldine Barney, a Navajo musician; De Armond Williams, a Caddo/Delaware and Navajo flute player; and Tribal Dada, a rock/reggae performance band. Barney and Tribal Dada band members are alumni of IAIA. 

IAIA is unique amongst the tribal colleges. It was operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs until 1988 when Congress made it a Congressionally chartered institution under a board of trustees. It was been suffering from budget problems since Congress cut its funds nearly in half in 1995. The anonymous student benefactor said, "I have always believed in the institute, and facilitating this concert is my way of ensuring its survival. Ninety percent of IAIA's students are from reservations, and many are unable to afford IAIA's tuition. My goal is to see the scholarship fund grow so that all students will have the same opportunities that IAIA has given me." 

AIBL expanding business outreach

First Nations Development Institute has awarded $34,000 to American Indian Business Leaders (AIBL) to expand its chapters in all 30 tribal colleges in the Uni