One of those blistering, windy South Dakota days always brought many of us who worked for the Community Action Program (CAP) to the east side of its building after five to sit in the shade as we waited for our rides home. On this day in the summer of 1970, I sat with Stanley Red Bird, a local leader, with whom I often visited. He told me about a project the elders on the reservation wished him to work on. He said they were dissatisfied with the number of young people who left the reservation to attend college only to return by the second or third month. “We send ten students to college and two months later nine return,” he said. “They feel defeated, they drift, and we lose that talent. Everyone has a dream and hope and it seems like this experience just sort of kills it. Then those who do make it never return and end up working off the reservation. What we need is our own college!” Stanley asked me if I would help him start a college.

Such a meeting was an event repeated, I am sure, in various locations in other tribal communities to begin the process of creating a tribal college. Many meetings, much deliberation, long days, few resources, and great dedications of many people moved the conversation to reality. In Stanley’s few words we see some of the aspirations of the community and founders for this new institution. It is important to understand the key motives for this new institution and the process that was to shape it. I will summarize these as succinctly as possible and encourage those interested in further exploration to examine the archives of many of the tribal institutions.

Sinte Gleska College began in the context of two tribal groups who had already initiated institutions: Navajo and Oglala. In the summer of 1970, Oglala was planning for their first semester with the University of Colorado while Navajo had already begun. We were fortunate at Sinte Gleska College to be near to the Oglala people so that we could work with Gerald One Feather and Jim Hamm who created that insti­tution. Collaborations with them gave us many ideas and the motives for the colleges were very similar. We met with many tribal groups over the next years who indicated to us that they had the same motives for founding a college as Sinte Gleska.

The Vision

The college began out of both an analysis and a set of desires:

First, the college was to become a bridge to successful higher education in off-reservation contexts. As Stanley and others said, too few students succeeded. The new college would provide opportunities for developing study skills, college level literacy in English and mathematics, and new social skills related to university life. The college would have exchange opportunities to assist students in becoming accustomed to the social situations at a university, both in order to prevent homesickness and loneliness, and to learn to cope with university bureaucracy. The college expected at this point to have one year and two year transfer programs to improve success in off-reservation universities.

The second desire of the elders was to build a western educated group of leaders rooted in their culture and community for middle and up­per management positions in the tribe, agen­cies such as the Public Health Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the business community of the reservation. When we began the college, most of the attorneys, teachers, doctors, nurses, tribal and agency department heads and businesses were staffed by non-Indians. At the point of the founding of the college, By-Indian contracts, the self-determination movements of the Nixon era, and the development of Indian contract schools were just beginning, as well as the American Indian Movement and other tribal control movements. All of this heightened the desire to have Indian people control their own insti­tutions and destiny. The elders believed a non-Indian education was a critical tool in the realization of this desire.

Third, we sought to alter the pattern of young people leaving the reservation for their education, and then never returning. We wanted an institution that could couple education with commitment to one’s commu­nity and that would ensure that those edu­cated would understand their community and serve the people.

Fourth, the college was to become a vehicle for economic and human resource develop­ment. We designed A.A. degrees and certifi­cate programs which would provide or create employment for the people. Programs for teacher education, accounting, carpentry, heavy equipment operation, clerical studies, business management, counseling and criminal justice — all of which were existing or potential positions for Indian people. Initially we planned to become an A.A.-granting institution; however, the plan to offer se­lected bachelor’s degrees was explicitly discussed. We may have hoped someday to build a graduate level program and even talked about medical schools; however, our focus was on the A.A. and liberal arts base. Beyond degrees, we considered ways to begin tribally or privately controlled business enterprises which would be the result of the college’s programs or graduates.

Fifth, the college was designed to become an institution autonomous from tribal politics and the vagaries of changing ad­ministrations. In chartering the college, the tribal council made explicit certain methods for the college to remain independent, such as an independently elected board of directors, autonomous budgeting and personnel prac­tices. Additionally, the tribe provided some finances in the form of an increase in the grazing lease taxes. What the tribe encour­aged was the development of independent, Indian-controlled institutions able to assist in the development of the tribe. We expected to model and actively promote Indian control of local programs and institutions.

Sixth, and one of primary importance as we designed the college, was the need to establish a base in the language and culture of the tribe. The college was to become that place which could ensure the retention and development of the history and language of the people, the application of culture to modern problems, and the education of those adults who desired to know the discipline of Lakota studies. The transmission, retention, and development of Lakota culture was equal to and simulta­neous with the establishment of all other departments in the college.

Seventh, access to all of the people was very much in our minds. We also wanted to create a college that met the real needs of the people, rather than the needs of the institution itself. The college was always to have the people and their needs as our referent. We spent many nights at community meetings discussing their needs, offering courses in the community, establishing satellite centers to ensure proximity to the people. We saw the college as a new kind of institution, one in close and continual contact with the people.

Eighth, at the college we proudly and arro­gantly believed that the English literacy needs of adult Lakota people could be met by our college. A good friend of mine, Clarence Two Eagle Sr., came to the college and talked to me for hours one day about why he felt the college should not exist or, if it did, it should have only local employees and no outsiders. He felt degrees were not important but that local em­ployment was. Too often programs fed the leaders who prospered at the expense of the people. We talked and talked. I explained the college’s dreams and visions, our belief that we could produce equal education, that all Lakota could find the empowerment that Sinte Gleska himself believed education could bring. After a long period Clarence said: “So you are saying you can educate me to speak, read, and write English as well as you?” I said: “Yes.” He said that he would support the college, because he was tired of being taken advantage of because of his limited ability in English. He was tired of the bureaucracy controlling his life and he thought this college would help not only him, but most importantly his takojapi, grandchil­dren.

In summary, the hindsight of nearly twenty years may shade my memory a bit, but the excitement and enthusiasm of those days is not lost. These were many of our dreams as one founder recalls, but surely others existed. How has Sinte and other institutions met these aspi­rations?

The Reality

My perceptions of how Sinte Gleska College and other tribal colleges met these dreams are based on my personal observa­tions of a few of the colleges.

As a bridge, the college has been quite successful, perhaps primarily with its bachelors graduates who have gone to law and graduate school rather than its non-graduate transfer students. Many of the undergraduates have elected to stay and complete their education at the college rather than transfer after a year or an A.A. degree. Additionally, fairly significant num­bers of individuals take courses at the college in the summer for a semester while attending off-reservation schools. The college’s gradu­ates do stay and do provide the leadership in many positions previously held by outsiders. A significant increase in the numbers of Lakota teachers has occurred because of the college. We are all proud of our graduates, be they tribal judges, teachers in an elementary school, business men or women, social workers, counselors, carpenters, or members of one of many other fields. They have become leaders committed, as we had hoped, to their home as a place of hope, a place to raise their children and a place to contribute to the improvement of the quality of reservation life.

The college is exemplary as an institution of stability and political independence. It has not ever become intertwined in the political power struggles to further particular admin­istrative agendas. The college has shown that a local institution can serve people rather than power. This has been an important contribution to people attending and using the college, since it serves all equally and with no reference to political interests.

The college has led in the development of the teaching of language and culture. Its publications are useful in many educational and community contexts. Its faculty, along with Lakota language faculty from other colleges, have assisted in the development of an orthography of the language. Work with traditional medicine men has produced educational materials and methods for mental health paraprofessionals and pro­fessionals based on traditional practice. Over and above this, the colleges are often one of the few places one can now find and work with those medicine men indigenous to a commu­nity and with their base in the community. As the larger population seeks “New Age” answers to many serious issues, the colleges have forged relation­ships with their own healers, relationships which provide new insights into human suffering and healing. The college’s department of Lakota studies has become an active think tank for the development of the culture, a valued resource for the community and beyond.

I sense that the college’s impact on the com­munity continues to be significant. The tribally controlled lumber yard came out of a college program. Institutes for research and policy stud­ies exist where none did 20 years ago. Graduate programs develop and no one really now be­lieves there is a limit on what the college can do and contribute. Members of the faculty attend meetings in the community and college-spon­sored events routinely bring huge crowds. Work­shops, seminars, art shows, poetry readings, law seminars, abuse and neglect workshops, addic­tion training, Lakota summer institutes, and craft shows bring people from around the world and reservation to learn. The college is a cultural resource for a larger audience than we had antici­pated when we founded it.

The Study Skills Center and Adult Basic Educa­tion program continue to provide competent adult literacy education for local people. This area is of critical importance to many tribal and non-tribal communities as the number of poorly educated young people grows. No easy answer exists for the problem and for those seeking a better education; however, the colleges have a strong track record of successfully addressing this increasingly important issue.

Sinte Gleska College continues to be committed to its students. Faculty continue to primarily teach. They advise and are available to students, travel to communities, and spend time on the development of the students as people. I remember vividly a former student from another reservation asking me about a former faculty member. She said this faculty member had literally saved her life when she needed someone to work through serious ques­tions. The college does indeed provide services well beyond the expected roles of instructor, professor and counselor.

Sinte Gleska College is a place of hope. The faculty and staff demonstrate a com­mitment well beyond what I have seen at any other institution. Amazingly, the col­lege has maintained high quality in faculty and administration. Sinte Gleska College and most other tribal colleges have all In­dian leadership. This is significant and was one of our major hopes as we began. People on reservations are proud of their colleges and they are deserving of such competent institutions. We had hoped we could create such pride and competence in this college. I believe we have succeeded.

The Future

What do I wish would improve? It would be unfair to say much on this after seven years away from Sinte Gleska College. I still wish, however, that the colleges would ex­pand their baccalaureate programs, espe­cially in business. If the latter could assist in planning for technology transfer and devel­opment of value added products, it might stimulate more economic development. I am happy about the fine arts program at Sinte Gleska College and hope to see con­tinued development of the visual arts. I would hope the colleges might take advan­tage of some cross sharing of faculty and courses in order to expand into other graduate offerings. I am excited about the research and policy institutes and look forward to work being published from this frame of reference. Other tribal groups and mainstream institutions need to know more about the colleges. I wish what we always hoped for and what so many work so hard for — that the federal government would fund the colleges as they deserve. I am still concerned that leadership in Washington does not appear to acknowledge the need for tribal colleges.

Finally, I would hope the colleges might expand their offerings to mainstream institu­tions who now seem to have at least a verbal interest in serving minority groups more effec­tively by increasing minority student numbers and retention and improving minority faculty hire. My first shock in assuming a deanship at a major mainstream research university is that the assumptions we shared at Sinte Gleska College about the importance of culture and cultural diversity are not well understood and are not shared by my colleagues. A major difference in how one serves students of color and minority culture exits when one’s reason for existence is to serve the Indian student and the tribal community. It is intriguing that in such a context, European-American students can and do attend the tribal colleges, find quality education, and function as a minority without alienation and discrimination. Minor­ity students in state universities frequently ex­perience the opposite, feeling alienation and discrimination. Mainstream universities and colleges have much to learn from this. We, too, in such mainstream contexts, can change our frame of reference to create a context that encourages diversity and resonates with In­dian, Native, and minority students.

When we founded the college we really did not think that twenty years later the college would have the potential it has and that it would have such an impact on students, com­munity, and the field of higher education. We did firmly believe it would exist in 1990, that it would be very good, that we all would find pride in it, and that the people who would build it would continue to create and would not accept the early refrain we heard: “It’ll never work.” The college has worked and its future will bring even more unanticipated contributions. My hope is that we have done justice to the dreams of those who have gone before us to the spirit world.

Afterward

I am honored to write this short article on the origins of Sinte Gleska College and my assess­ment of it and the tribal college’s progress and contributions. I thank Lionel Bordeaux and Paid Boyer for inviting me to participate. I am very pleased to work with President Lionel Bordeaux of Sinte Gleska College, a person who has brought the college well beyond what we anticipated in ’69 and ’70 and who has assured the stability we all hoped for and felt was so necessary for the survival of tribal institutions.

My admirations and congratulations go to the many current and past faculty and staff of the college who have demonstrated unusual commit­ment and persistence in maintaining a vision and mission. This vision is of great significance to the people of Rosebud, to groups throughout our country and world, and also provides a lesson for higher education in general. Of note for the founding of the college are James Michael Tydings, Joseph Marshall Jr., and Sherry Red Owl who joined with me and the board when there was nothing. Finally I want to acknowledge all of those who contributed and have left the life of this earth, especially the spirits of Sinte Gleska, Stanley Red Bird, William Menard, Isidore White Hat, Leo Cordier, and those medicine men whose prayers and friends gave birth and stability. Wopila tanka echichi yapelo! (I thank all of you greatly.)

Gerald V. Mohatt is the founding president of Sinte Gleska College. He is currently dean of the College of Rural Alaska at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.