Tribal Colleges and

Universitiesand the

Nebraska Indian Community

College

Introduction of Mike O.

• Tribal College Alum

• Tribal College Employee

• Tribal College President

• Non-Native

• Ph.D. – Dissertation: A history and case study at a selected Tribal College

• Specifically on NICC – more widely on Tribal Colleges and Universities

Introduction

• Brief Introduction to the Tribal Colleges

• Historical background documents and information that is needed to understand the Tribal College movement and the creation of these institutions.

• Historical and current challenges of the Tribal Colleges.

• History of NICC

What is a Tribal College

• A college or university that was chartered and is governed by a majority of Indian people.

• Tribal Colleges must also serve a majority of Native American students.

• Purposes– Culture and Language including cultural teaching, learning, and

research.– Cultural Preservation– academic, technical, and vocational– transformation of residents to become active citizens in their

communities, their reservations, their state and the nation.– Currently, there exist over 30 Tribal Colleges and Universities.

• All of the Tribal Colleges are members of AIHEC

The Colleges

There are 3 different types of “Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities”

- Tribally Controlled Community College Act Institutions

1. Dine’

2. Tribally Controlled College and Universities

- Federally Chartered Institutions

- Technical/Vocational Institutions

Federally Chartered Institutions

Institute of American Indian Arts

Technical/Vocational Institutions

UTTC

United Tribes Technical College

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (North Dakota)

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (South Dakota)

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (Montana)

                   Blackfeet Community College                   

P.O. Box 819, Browning, Montana 59417

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (Michigan)

Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (Washington)

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (Wisconsin)

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (Minnesota)

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (Alaska)

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (Arizona)

Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (Nebraska)

Associate Members

Wind River

International Member

Symbolism

History of Native American Higher Education

• The history of education for Native Americans did not begin with Europeanization. Before the Europeans’ coming, the indigenous Tribes had their own cultures, languages, belief systems, and overall educational systems. These educational systems taught everything from basic survival skills, such as hunting, fishing, and leather working to highly philosophical concepts and deep thought, as demonstrated through the Iroquois Confederacy, within which the United States Constitution is loosely based. The American history of Native American education began when Europeans discovered that other Europeans would donate large sums to operate schools intended to "civilize the savage" (Boyer & Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 1989; Boyer et al., 1997; Stein, 1988; Szasz, 1988). During this era, commonly referred to as the colonial age of Indian education generally, the formal education focused on Christian values (Boyer et al., 1998, 1997; Sanford-Harris, 2005).

History of Tribal Colleges

• Colonial Age

• Federal Age

• Tribally Controlled Age

Historical Background (Colonial Age)

• East India School– Chartered in Jamestown in 1621 to “educate

Indian boys in literature and missionary work”– Ended with a feud between the Native People

and the colonists, which ended with the burning of the school

– Lessons Learned: Vasts amount of funding could be raised even when little education was taking place.

Historical Background (Colonial Age)

• Harvard College– Founded 1636– listed among its goals the Education of the

English and Indian youth of this country in knowledge and godliness (Boyer et al., 1998, 1997; Sanford-Harris, 2005).

– Of the twenty Native students selected for the program only two students succeeded through Harvard and received their bachelor’s degrees (Stein, 1992).

Historical Background (Colonial Age)

• Other examples– Dartmouth– College of William and Mary

• both had clauses pertaining to providing a religious education to the Indians, yet these institutions also failed at providing positive educational results.

Historical Background (Federal Age)

• Native American education took a different turn during the eighteenth and nineteenth century when the Federal government, through treaty obligation, accepted more responsibility.– Carlisle Indian School– Hampton Institute– Croatan Normal School, currently Pembroke State

University – United States Indian Industrial Training School, which

evolved into Haskell Indian Nations University

History of Tribal Control

• Advances in tribally controlled education began to take place in the 1950’s and 1960’s.– dismal conditions on the reservations. The

state of reservations during the 1960’s was bleak at best.

– A direct effect of this state was the “brain drain” from the reservations.

History of Tribal Control

• Building on the momentum of the civil rights movement in the 1960's, American Indian leaders began to conceive of tribally controlled institutions of higher education that would support efforts for Indian self-determination and strengthen tribal culture without assimilation (Boyer et al. 1989, 1997; Stein, 1988, 1992).

• Indian leaders on the Navajo Reservation, in examining their Tribe's current educational opportunities, concluded that federal funds being expended to support federal institutions, such as Haskell, and Indian programs at mainstream public and private schools could be utilized in other ways to better serve the needs of tribal Indians (Oppelt, 1990; Raymond, 2004; Stein, 1988, 1992).

History of Tribal Control

• Rough Rock Demonstration School, located on the Navajo Reservation.– began in 1966, with a mission to correct 100 years of

Indian mis-education. (Reyhner & Eder, 1989; Stein, 1988, 1992).

– The school sought to correct decades of culturally insensitive and destructive educational methods, to provide a quality education to Navajo students, and to prove that Navajos could run their own institution of education (Stein, 1992).

– By 1967, the Rough Rock Demonstration School was completely controlled by the local community.

History of Tribal Control

• A series of intertribal meetings that took place throughout the late 1960’s led the Federal government to allow Department of Health, Education, and Welfare Title III Development Grants to assist Tribal institutions of higher education to develop (H. M. Scheirbeck & T. Davis, personal communication, February 14, 2006).

• The Title III Development grants allowed the fledging Tribal Colleges to partner with existing institutions of higher education to assist in the creation of Tribally Controlled Colleges.

• The first Tribally Controlled College was founded in Tsaile, Arizona, in 1968, as the Navajo Community College, currently Dine’ College (Boyer et al., 1989, 1997; Raymond, 1994; Stein 1988, 1992).

Current Issues in Tribal Colleges

Finances – Governance - Accreditation

- chronically under-funded

- lack of Tribal and mainstream support

- governing board problems

- Federal and State funding and regulation issues

- limited student enrollment

- public misunderstandings/misinterpretations

Finances

• Revenue Sources– Tuition and Fees– Tribally Controlled Community College and

University Act– Grants through Indirect Costs– Donations

Finances• Navajo Community College Assistance Act of 1978.• Tribally Controlled Community College Act of 1979• Tribally Controlled Community College and University Assistance Act.

– Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute are the only two Colleges that are owned, operated and funded by the Federal Government for the purpose of Indian education (Office of Administrative Law Judges, 2001).

– The Institute of American Indian Arts is a federally founded and funded enterprise for the purpose of Native American and Alaska Native Education (Institute of American Indian Arts, 2005).

– United Tribes Technical College and Crownpoint Institute of Technology receive their funding through the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act. These two colleges are ineligible to receive funding under the Tribally Controlled Community College and University Act because the Act limits funding to only one Tribal College per tribe.

– Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is unique because it is jointly a Tribal College and a full member of the Community College system in Minnesota (Fond Du Lac Tribal and Community College, 2003). Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is the only Tribal College that receives full state support for its students along with support from the Tribally Controlled Community College and University Act.

• Title I• Title II• Title III• Title IV• White House Executive Order on Tribal Colleges and Universities (No. 13021)

Finances

Unrestricted operating budget

Comparison of the difference between a Tribal and State Colleges

Governance

• Federal/State/Tribal

• Tribal Politics

Accreditation• An institution can lose accreditation for a variety of reasons. Those

reasons, according to the Higher Learning Commission: A Commission of The North Central Association of Schools and Colleges (2005), can be any number of violations, primarily based on a lack of one or more of the General Institutional Requirements (GIR’s). The GIR’s are:

– The organization operates with integrity to ensure the fulfillment of its mission through structures and processes that involve the board, administration, faculty, staff, and students;

– The organization’s allocation of resources and its processes for evaluation and planning demonstrate its capacity to fulfill its mission, improve the quality of its education, and respond to future challenges and opportunities;

– The organization provides evidence of student learning and teaching effectiveness that demonstrates it is fulfilling its educational mission;

– The organization promotes a life of learning for its faculty, administration, staff, and students by fostering and supporting inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility in ways consistent with its mission; and

– As called for by its mission, the organization identifies its constituencies and serves them in ways both value. (Higher Learning Commission: A Commission of The North Central Association of Schools And Colleges, 2005)

Accreditation• GIR two brings into focus a cyclical challenge that deeply affects

Tribal Colleges.• The accreditation bodies want ample resources for colleges to

thrive, rather than to simply survive, and some guarantee of those same resources in the future. The federal funding sources available for Tribal Colleges and Universities are always below the national average. An example can be seen by examining the difference of the funding per full time enrollment between a mainstream community college and a Tribal College. According to the National Center For Educational Statistics (2003, 2004) and the Nebraska Community College Association (2005), the funding per student for the Nebraska Indian Community College is $2,400 whereas the local area community college receives $7,111. Chronic under-funding places struggling colleges into financial situations that cannot be easily rectified.

Fallen Colleges

• D-Q University

• Si Tanka

• (Threatened) Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College

Historyof the

Nebraska Indian Community College

1973-1979

• Joint effort between the Omaha, Santee, and Winnebago Tribes and Northeast Community (then Technical) College

1979• The Nations chartered their own “Tribal

College” through Tribal Resolution

1979

• Name change to Nebraska Indian Community College to reflect change in autonomy

• Agreement with NECC to continue services until NICC is receives accreditation

1981

• 1st College Logo

• 1st Graduation Ceremony

• Developed NICC, Inc. Foundation

• NICC Charter filed with NE

• 1981-1982 1st NICC Catalog

1981-1986

• Period stems from growth and Accreditation Visits.

August, 1986

• Accredited with the Higher Learning Commission.

1991-1996

• 1st Late Audit Report

• Financial Issues

• Governance Issues

• Facility Issues

• Turnover issues.

• Positive – NICC did gain state funding for non-Native Students

1996

• Winnebago withdrew from NICC as a partner.

1996-1999

• Struggles with the previously mentioned issues.• Attempts with the Yankton Sioux Tribe to

become a full NICC member.• November, 1999 – Accredited on Probation

– Board of Trustees meets, establishes and reviews policy, and is autonomous from Councils.

– Chief Academic Officer to ensure faculty role and Assessment of Student learning.

– Physical facilities must be upgraded.– Realistic budgeting and participatory financial

planning.

2000-2009

• Removed from Probation in 2001-2002• Opened a site in Omaha NE in 2000 and

closed it 2004.• Struggles with the same issues as

previously detailed.• Currently facing very similar issues –

Accredited on Probation due to Finances, Macy Facility, and the Assessment of Student Learning.

President’sYears Name Approximate

Years of Service

1973-1979 Louis LaRose 6

1979-1980 Dr. James Privett 1

1980-1981 Fred Smith 1

1981-1984 John Weatherly 3

1984-1985 Dr. Milton Holtz 1

1985-1986 Dr. James Bealer 1

1986-1988 Dr. Don Ross 2

1988-1995 Thelma Thomas 7

1995-1996 Yvonne Bushyhead 1

1996-1999 Sky Houser 3

1999-2002 Dr. Ross Primm 2

2002-2004 Dr. Charles Stubbs 1.5

2004 Denine Morris 0.5

2004 – Current Dr. Micheal Oltrogge ?

Some Findings

• 1996 Withdrawal has placed both small institutions in a precarious financial situation.

• Initial change to NICC was due to a lack of responsiveness from NECC (Indian Advisory Council) and passage of the Tribally Controlled Community College Act.

• Governance issues remained valid through 2004.• Record keeping issues remain a valid concern (Board

minutes not clear or missing in 61 out of 194 cases)• Direct correlation between finanical crisis and executive

sessions (42 finanical crisis examined with 44 executive sessions. Executive sessions lasting hours – undocumented discussions – 22.68% of Board meetings)

Past and Current SWOTStrengthsThe remaining Tribal governments, the Santee Sioux Nation and the Omaha Tribe, are supportive of

the college, both financially and in legislative support.WeaknessesFinancial situation of the college is not stable as evidenced by over 20% of the Board minutes, and

numerous reports, including the aGoverning Board was not stable at the end of 1999, but since 2004 to 2009 the Board has been

stable.OpportunitiesPartnerships.1994 Land Grant statusGrant OpportunitiesThreatsThe Higher Learning Commission has placed the college on probation.

Other threats - federal funding cuts, the Tribal Nations, and the very nature in the methodology that Tribes are chartered are all detriments that could have profound effects on the institution.

The method that Tribes are chartered is a long term detriment, both to the Tribes and the Tribal Colleges. Tribal membership is regulated on a blood quantum theory. The Tribes have been mandated to utilize a blood quantum for Tribal membership, but the Tribes are able to set the level of blood to be a Tribal member. The very nature of the blood quantum system is designed to eliminate the Tribes. Eventually, blood quantum levels will drop to below a quantifiable amount, and when that occurs there will be no more people eligible for Tribal membership. When the Tribe has no Tribal members, there is not a tribe.

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