American college celebrates 20th anniversary

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Sisseton Wahpeton Comunity College will mark its twentieth year as an Indian educational institution on Aug. 7, and celebrations are afoot.

According to dean of instruction, Harvey DuMarce, Founders' Day activities will include a "mini-powwow" and a road race. He's hopeful that one or more United States senators will be invited to speak to the occasion too, "because they've been kind of strong supporters of tribal colleges and our mission here."

The college got its start in 1979 as a GED centre, DuMarce said.

"Over a period of years it began to evolve into a kind of college centre first, where we had courses, but they were usually through some kind of state school. Finally, about 1988, we got candidacy status. For a period of two or three years the college was writing a sort of self-study report, which would be the basis for it being accredited. Our initial accreditation was 1990," he said.

Dakota studies unique

"I think we're the only college in South Dakota that's got a Dakota studies program," the dean adds proudly. "Its one of the foundation programs for our college. Dakota language, Dakota history, Dakota culture is required for graduation; it's compulsory for all students." University-level Native American studies programs are broad-based, whereas SWCC's focuses on just Dakota people, he said.

The institution serves 200 to 245 students in an academic year, according to DuMarce. A nine-member board of trustees, which is appointed by the Sisseton Wahpeton tribal council for a four-year term, performs the governance function.

The college offers programs in business administration, natural science, chemical dependency, cross-cultural counselling, and general studies for students who want to transfer to a four-year institution. DuMarce says that while SWCC's subjects are about the same as at other colleges in the state, they have added the cultural component.

"We have a top-notch nursing program too. You have to take all the science courses, all the math courses and all the foundational courses," DuMarce said.

DuMarce says 73 per cent to 75 per cent of their students are tribal members; the rest are from around the Lake Traverse Reservation area. Although he believes there is a preponderance of Dakota students enrolled, DuMarce adds there are a high number of Lakota, some Chippewa, and people from a dozen other tribal groups represented. There are also some non-Indians enrolled because they are interested in pursuing a Dakota studies program.

Non-Indians pay their own way and may apply for education loans and grants. They receive no financial help from South Dakota, though, DuMarce said, which has created some controversy.

He says there is a division between Indian and non-Indian cultures in South Dakota and generally. Insofar as cross-cultural relations go, "Sometimes we talk to each other and sometimes we don't.

"We see things differently I guess. We don't spend any time dwelling on it; we figure what we're doing is very important and we're just going ahead. What we believe in is this college and its vision too. We want to get our students ready to live in the 21st century, but we want them to know who they are, too - to remember where they came from."

DuMarce says his people's traditional homeland (prior to creation of the reservation in 1867) was "southern Minnesota, western Minnesota, probably northern Iowa, a little of Nebraska and most of southeastern North Dakota and northeastern South Dakota, and most of eastern South Dakota."

Helping our own

Prospective students need to have completed their high school or GED with a 2.0 average to be eligible for admission to SWCC.

"It gives a lot of our students an opportunity," DuMarce explains. "Usually high school is kind of a traumatic time for a lot of them; there's a struggle going on between cultures, you know. Usually they end up kind of feeling that they're worth less than they are; by them coming to school here they kind of get that (pride) built back up aain. We're all encouraging our students to become teachers and doctors and lawyers, engineers - and to bring your knowledge home with you."

DuMarce looks forward to the day when some of today's Indian students return to teach at SWCC. Eleven full-time and seven part-time instructors are employed now at the college, but DuMarce says one drawback is lack of Native faculty.

"I'm the only Dakota person that's teaching. . . .What we're doing is sort of rebuilding our culture," he said.

In addition to his administrative duties, DuMarce teaches English, Native American literature, and literature of the Great Plains.

"I treat my students all the same - but they see that I'm a Dakota person too," the dean said.

Just as the college's programs have evolved, DuMarce sees other changes.

"The old, traditional student," he says, "is kind of falling to the wayside. We get a lot of young kids, especially out of high school. I guess one of the biggest things that I've seen in my tenure here now for three years is that we get a lot of younger Indian students."

Early success story

Crystal Owen, the financial aid officer and student services worker at SWCC, says if the tribe did not have its own college on the reservation, she would probably never have had the opportunity to graduate. She completed a two-year business administration degree there in 1984, while working part-time in the college's financial aid office.

Owen was a teenage single mother who worked in student finance from 1981 to 1984 to support her young daughter. She got married at 18 and had two more children.

"At the time I wasn't ready to leave the reservation. It was handy for me because my family was here and I needed that support system from them to help me take care of my kids. It wasn't realistic for me to go off the reservation.

Because she could not study full-time, it took her three-and-a-half years to complete the two-year degree, but Owen says her program "prepared me really well" for her subsequent job tat entailed further training and travel. She got a job right after graduation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Indian Education Programs, where she remained for 12 years in charge of the higher education grant program.

When the bureau downsized, the tribe contracted that program and Owen went with it to SWCC in 1996. When the position of financial aid officer came open, Owen assumed those additional duties.

"It's really been a good influence on me and for my kids, to see that I went to school . . . I was thankful that we had the college here," Owen said.

She says she recommends that today's students from Lake Traverse Reservation also start their higher education at SWCC, to take advantage of tribal support while they are learning how to live independently and manage their money. Owen's own 20-year-old daughter did a semester at SWCC last year before moving to another state.

Owen, now divorced with six children, says she may yet pursue her bachelor's degree when SWCC adds that program to its curricula.

History project underway

The current crop of young students is becoming increasingly aware of their place in history, DuMarce says. To meet their need for accurate cultural and historical information, the college is developing resource materials from the Indian point of view to correct inaccuracies still on record. DuMarce points out that even current markers on old historical sites are not accurate.

"We're in the process of developing a CD-ROM of Dakota studies, and even a textbook that will go along with the CD-ROM. We started that back in March. We travelled to Southern Minnesota (where) there's a lot of old Dakota sites . . . we documented them (and the) archeology, history that led up to the conflict of 1862," DuMarce explained.

DuMarce adds that the college's president, Eldon Lawrence, is enthusiastic about the CD-ROM and also is active in putting the historical record to rights. Lawrence, who teaches history, conducts a tour in southern Minesota fr students and visitors, the dean said. SWCC expects to complete its Dakota history project in the spring of 2000.

Accreditation secured

The future of SWCC looks bright. This past April, the college's accreditation was renewed, this time for seven years, by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, which paid a site visit April 19 to 21. It reviewed a self-study report that had been prepared by the college during the previous year.

"That seven-year period will give us time to expand - we're thinking about moving into a four-year program where students can earn BA degrees," DuMarce points out. He says it will take that length of time to get it off the ground, but they work closely already with "mainstream colleges" such as South Dakota State University. Four-year programs might be offered under the university's auspices at first, at SWCC's site. In three or four years, DuMarce estimates, SWCC would take over and offer its own degree program.

Expansion plans

This summer, too, the college is building a cultural centre.

"Were working with the American Indian College Fund and the Kellog Foundation on that," DuMarce said, referring to the funding for the project. The AICF will provide $25,000 to install the foundation and sewer lines; SWCC has to raise about $60,000.

Slated to be started in early August, the dean says the centre will have the appearance of a very large log cabin.

"We're going to house our Dakota studies in there, and probably a museum and some office space," he said. "This thing is going to happen; were committed to it," he says.

Summer is a time for ironing out problems from the previous year as well. Last year, students identified daycare as "the number one priority," DuMarce said, adding that a lot of students missed classes, because reliable daycare was not available. The new daycare centre will be started in late August if the funds expected June 30 arrive.

"This grant we're working on now with South Dakota State is going to be prim