DRUMMING UP A VISION. The college’s new vocational technical building design is based upon this painting by Lakota artist Vic Runnels.

Seeds may lie dormant in the ground for years waiting for the right moment to emerge. When that moment comes and conditions are right, new life springs forth. Sisseton Wahpeton College is emerging as a wellspring of thought and innovation with its roots firmly planted in Dakota culture.

William Harjo LoneFight, Ph.D., assumed the presidency in 2002 and is leading the college through a tremendous institutional evolution. But it’s the people under his leadership who continue to materialize the visions and traditions of this Dakota institution. LoneFight’s philosophy of leadership is that of a “servant leader” – one who works towards the betterment of others. This philosophy manifests in the creative energy and enthusiasm at Sisseton Wahpeton College (SWC).

“We are a Dakota-centered institution,” LoneFight says. “The Dakota language guides the institution.” To LoneFight, Dakota language is not just a spoken language but a “living entity” deserving respect. “Dakota language has rights: It has the right to be heard; it has the right to be spoken as humor; it has the right to be protected and nurtured; it has the right to exist. Each language delights in the use of even one word.”

The college offers language enrichment courses to both Native and non-Native faculty and staff. Non-Native instructors comprise 60% of the faculty, but they are open and interested in Dakota ways, and there is a low rate of turnover, according to LoneFight. In fact, Dakota culture attracts faculty for the learning experience, he says.

LoneFight demonstrates his own commitment to lifelong learning. He speaks and studies Mvs-ko-ke/Seminole (the language of his youth that he is recovering), Natchez (only two people speak any of the language), Dakota (the language of the local tribe), and Hidatsa (one of the languages of his wife’s tribes).

FUTURE COLLEGE GRADUATE. Sisseton Wahpeton College immerses young Dakota children in their culture and language starting at an early age. Photo by Pam Wynia

After growing up in Wetumka, OK, he earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Dartmouth College and two master’s degrees, one in gifted and talented education from Oklahoma City University and another in social science in education from Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in Cultural Resource Management from Kialegee National University Program and is currently a candidate for a doctoral degree in educational anthropology from Stanford University.

SWC faculty and staff are considered tiospaye – extended family, LoneFight says. The college integrates traditional Dakota values into the college’s policies, procedures, and programs to ensure that everyone is treated with care and respect. Tuition is waived for elders 55 years of age and older. Elders play a vital role in many of the college programs, such as the Early Childhood Center and Dakota Letters Project. Special registration is arranged for elders so they don’t have to stand in long lines.

The values and traditions of the Dakota people can be seen in the pedagogy, architecture, policies, and procedures of the tribal college. The new vocational building, which looks like a giant drum with four drummers, has instilled local pride and brought national attention to the small college. “Visual impact is important to convey who you are and what your values are,” LoneFight says. SWC’s other cultural initiatives are less known:

• Dakota Immersion Daycare Center. With support from the Association of American Indian Affairs (AAIA), the tribal college soon will open a new Dakota Immersion Daycare Center housed within the college facility. Using culturally-centered educational practices and state-of-the-art software, the Dakota Immersion Daycare Center will aggressively work towards restoring the Dakota language in the hearts and minds of the youth and their parents. According to Pam Wynia, SWC Director of Institutional Advancement, SWC currently offers a full-time daycare program with some language instruction.
• Dakota Language Revitalization and Appreciation Day. Through a joint effort between the Association of American Indian Affairs (AAIA) and Sisseton Wahpeton College, South Dakota Governor M. Michael Rounds declared August 27, 2004, as Dakota Language Revitalization and Appreciation Day. Tammy DeCoteau, Dakota language coordinator, AAIA, initiated the event.
• Circle of Life Project. The Circle of Life Project is an innovative program designed to get Dakota children interested in science. Funded by a 3-year grant to SWC from the U.S. Department of Education, it provides age-appropriate science projects for grades third through eighth while integrating Dakota language and culture throughout the curriculum.
• Native Plants and Herbs is a college-level course designed to integrate Dakota plant knowledge with botanical sciences. Students learn how to identify and catalog different species of plants indigenous to the Plains region.
• Dakota Letters Project. Sponsored by SWC, the Dakota Letters Project is translating letters written by Dakota prisoners during the Dakota Conflict in 1862. To convey messages to their loved ones, the Dakota prisoners incarcerated at Mankato, MN, wrote letters to missionaries, heartfelt personal accounts that reflect this tragic moment in history. With help from an American Indian College fund grant and the local tribe, Dakota elders and language speakers are translating the letters into English for future generations.

Other SWC cultural activities include an artist-in-residence program featuring traditional pipe makers and textiles craftsmen, a college-sponsored drum group, Dakota dance troop, moccasin games, and hand games.

“This is a time of exploration, reawakening, and cultural freedom,” LoneFight says. “Tribal communities have never had educational sovereignty in the past. It is imperative that Native peoples determine what is ‘cultural freedom’ and what is ‘colonial imposition,’” he says.

TALKING DAKOTA. Dr. William LoneFight’s daughter, Aleeya, tries out one of the many talking frames throughout the college that speak Dakota when you touch them. Photo by Pam Wynia

“Who would we have been if allowed to develop along a natural historical trajectory?” This question is the starting point for redefining and reconstructing an indigenous perspective and pedagogy for education in the 21^st century, he believes.

The 20^th century was about the survival and recognition of tribal colleges as respected institutions in higher education. This century will be about cultivating culturally-centered, “indigenized” education.

Culturally-centered education and Western education are both essential to the advancement of Native Americans in the 21^st century. Accordingly, Sisseton Wahpeton College must provide a cultural base from which graduates can venture anywhere in the world empowered by the credentials and the confidence derived from their education. LoneFight envisions that every tribal college graduate will be a “universal traveler carrying a tribal passport.”

Michael Wassegijig Price (Anishinaabe) is an ethnobotanist and the former president of Red Lake Nation College. He resides in Bemidji, MN and is the proud father of a 3-year-old, Ché.