Chartered in 1980, Little Big Horn College (LBHC, Crow Agency, MT) is dedicated to the preservation of Crow language and culture. “It was mandated from our ancestors that we continue to do that,” says Dr. David Yarlott, president of LBHC.

Crow Language instructor Alden Big Man adds, “The language makes us who we are.”

One Crow language class and two Crow culture classes are part of the general requirements for graduation. Crow Studies offerings include Crow Social and Familial Kinship, Crow language I and II, Conversational Crow, and others. These courses give LBHC its own unique identity as a college, Yarlott (Crow) says.

The kinship class, one of the most popular classes offered, outlines the different social and family relationships in the Crow culture and discusses the different acceptable behaviors within those relationships.

“Students want to know about relationships between people,” Yarlott says, “not only about blood relatives but clan relationships and society relationships.”

Working families have disrupted the traditional means of passing on this kind of knowledge. “It’s only done superficially in most families now.” The weakening cultural links between family members cause most students to take the cultural courses to rebuild those connections.

The Crow language classes also fill up quickly. Grammar, syntax, and basic vocabulary are covered in Crow I, while Crow II builds on the basics. Conversational Crow, which covers terms and phrases used in everyday conversations, has only been offered for a few years, but speaking Crow is becoming popular again, Yarlott says.

“It’s going against the old trend of thinking that to be successful, you had to speak only English,” he says.

Big Man welcomes the new trend. He took over the language classes last spring and hopes to create a safe environment for students to learn the language.

“Like learning any language it takes repetition. We give them the tools,” he says. “But there are some who don’t speak it because they are shunned or ridiculed due to our social and familial kinship that conditions us to tease everyone.”

The Crow clan system has teasing clans. Each Crow child is born into his or her mother’s clan and father’s clan. The father’s clan is the teasing clan. Teasing clans are designed to tease children to make sure they don’t grow up too arrogant or undisciplined.

In recent times, however, teasing has gone beyond clan responsibility. People now tease in everyday interactions, regardless of clan affiliation. Big Man believes students would practice using the language without fear of ridicule if teasing were set aside at the college.

The college is comprised of 85 to 90% Crow students, 10 to 15% non-Crows, and a handful of non-Native students, Yarlott says. Nearly three-fourths of the students speak Crow as their first language, but the number of Crow speakers decreases each year.

Most of the faculty, staff, and administrators speak Crow, and many are LBHC grads. “In order for us to excite our young people they must have role models who have gone through the same process,” Yarlott says.

Close to 80% of the graduates transfer to 4-year institutions to pursue higher degrees. In May 2006, 41 students graduated with associate degrees, including two students who graduated with Associate of Arts in Crow Studies.

Luella N. Brien (Crow) is a reporter for the Ravalli Republic in Hamilton, MT. She resides there with her 3-year-old twin sons. Brien is a recent graduate of the University of Montana School of Journalism in Missoula. She also attended LBHC for two years.