March, rally held in support of California's only tribal university

http://media.www.californiaaggie.com/media/storage/paper981/news/2008/01/07/CityNews/March.Rally.Held.In.Support.Of.Californias.Only.Tribal.University-3146664.shtml

Participants want to see revitalization


By: ANNA OPALKA

Issue date: 1/7/08 Section: City News

Calling for more progress in the revitalization of California's only tribal college, approximately 40 students and community members marched from the Marketplace in North Davis to D-Q University's campus on the morning of Dec. 15. The march, which spanned seven miles on County Road 31, was in anticipation of the D-Q board of trustees monthly meeting scheduled for later that morning.

The marchers, carrying signs reading, "Unity! Strength! Education!" and "Keep DQU Alive," arrived at D-Q about 10:20 a.m. and proceeded down the long driveway to gather on the campus grounds for a rally. They then attended the D-Q University open board of trustees meeting.

"We're here to show our support for students and faculty," said Mike Raccoon Eyes Kinney, a march participant. "We're here to show Native America is alive and well."

"We want them to start teaching again," said Lupita Torres, a D-Q University student in the (non-accredited) indigenous permaculture program, which she describes as a method of putting the spiritual aspect into growing food.

"The school has been stagnant for two years," she added.

Torres said although D-Q University still has activities going on and a limited number of non-accredited classes, it is not enough. "We are telling the board that the school needs to be up and running," she said.

In 2005 the Western Association of Schools and Colleges revoked D-Q's accreditation due in part to inadequate funding and mismanagement of the previous administration.

Participants in the march expressed their feelings about D-Q.

"I'm a former student - my father [Lehman Brightman, founder of United Native Americans] used to teach here for 25 years. That's why I hold D-Q in my heart," said Quanah Brightman, vice president of UNA. Lehman Brightman was involved in many famous Native American movements, including the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz and the 1978 Longest Walk, a movement that D-Q University was involved in.

Other participants included current and former D-Q students, members from organizations such as the American Indian Movement-West, United Native Americans, UC Davis group Natives Empowered through Unity and Education, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan, and other members of the community.

"We're here [at the rally] in a good way." said Phillip Mi-She-Kae, an ambassador for United Native Americans.

After the rally, Greg Iron, a student at D-Q, said he felt the event was successful in bringing awareness to the issue, but felt that the board could have been more receptive.

New chair of the D-Q University Board of Trustees Calvin Hedrick said after the rally that the board is working on re-accreditation, although it is a rather slow process.

"We [the board of trustees] are currently trying to straighten out some of the problems we've had there for quite some time. Most board members got on the board after accreditation was lost. We've been working on trying to get it back," Hedrick said.

"We're trying to work off debt, which is quite substantial," he continued. "[We're] trying to clean the place up. That's where we are right now. There's a long list of things we have to do for accreditation. We're slowly but surely checking things off.

"I feel that at the rally people were asking us to do the very things we are doing," said Hedrick. "We've been working very steadily with gaming tribes … to try to get some funding."

Hedrick said he hopes D-Q can offer accredited classes within a year. In the meantime, the board is working on a couple of programs that do not need accreditation that he hopes will bring people back to D-Q.



ANNA OPALKA can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.


Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
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