[The Montana Professor 23.1, Fall 2012 <http://mtprof.msun.edu>]
Richard Little Bear, EdD
Professor of Education and President, Chief Dull Knife College
"We can no longer live the way we used to. We cannot move around any more the way we were brought up. We have to learn a new way of life. Let us ask for schools to be built in our country so that our children can go to these schools and learn this new way of life." —Chief Dull Knife, 1880s Northern Cheyenne
Chief Dull Knife College (CDKC) is a community based, land grant, and tribally controlled community college established to provide quality educational opportunities to residents of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation and surrounding communities. Inspired by Chief Dull Knife's determination, our mission is to provide Northern Cheyenne culturally influenced education through quality life-long learning opportunities.
CDKC is a geographically-remote college located on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana. It was established as a two-year college in 1979 and was fully accredited in 1995 by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
Originally chartered by Tribal Ordinance in 1975 as the Northern Cheyenne Indian Action Program, and previously known as Dull Knife Memorial College, CDKC was renamed in 2001 to emphasize the significance of Dull Knife as a respected historical leader of the Northern Cheyenne people. Chief Dull Knife, also known as Chief Morning Star, fought with great courage and against overwhelming odds to lead his band of Northern Cheyenne back to their homeland to maintain the sovereignty of the tribe.
Although the original curriculum was directed at training students for mining jobs near the reservation, the College has quickly expanded its offerings to include post-secondary transfer programs. The College offers a variety of Associate degrees and certificate programs and maintains articulation agreements with institutions within the Montana University System that facilitate seamless transfer for students. With the addition of interactive television technology at CDKC, the College has also been able to expand opportunities for upper-level students to complete advanced degrees online.
As the student population has steadily increased, so has the need to acquire new facilities; the campus has utilized sustainable "green" technology to construct buildings to house Adult Literacy, technology, daycare, and space for visiting lecturers. All the facilities were designed and built using sustainable straw bale construction in cooperation with the American Indian Housing initiative. In addition, the campus features the Dr. John Woodenlegs Memorial Library, a state-of-the-art facility that serves both college and community; a Learning Center that provides both educational and technological access for student research and study; and numerous computer, math, and science laboratories.
CDKC has established partnerships with organizations and four-year institutions in and out of the state of Montana which have benefited CDKC students. These partnerships encompass the areas of science, technology, energy, math, and communication arts. Students have conducted research on mosquitoes transmitting West Nile Virus, toxic plants, honey bees, air quality, and the environment.
In addition to these partnerships, the College has formed an alliance with schools that send students to CDKC and other institutions of higher learning located in the area. These schools have many high caliber students graduating every year—a fact that should be borne in mind in that the alliance, now called the Circle of Schools, is designed to help those students who struggle with school on a daily basis for whatever reason.
The Circle, whose efforts are primarily directed toward K-12, has sponsored conferences on early childhood, Cheyenne culture, parent involvement, Indian Education For All, and training for school boards. Members of the Circle have standardized attendance policies, curricula, and expectations for students and have greatly mitigated the level of transiency. Students transferring from one school to another, for whatever reason, are now assured that they will meet the same standards at each school. If they have ten absences at one school, for instance, those absences will follow and they will also have ten absences at the school into which they transfer. Recently, William Mendoza, liaison for the White House Initiative on Indian Education reporting directly to President Obama on Indian education issues, was the featured speaker at the Circle's monthly meeting.
Mendoza was also the featured speaker at CDKC's commencement ceremony, where CDKC also honored the many elders that contribute their cultural and language knowledge to the College. These elders were awarded well-deserved honorary AA degrees from Chief Dull Knife College.
This year CDKC graduated 18 students. This number is miniscule when compared with the larger four-year institutions but to CDKC, the number 18 is huge. It is huge because it means that at least 18 students have gotten to know about going to college. For some, they may be the first ever in their families to graduate from college—quite an accomplishment for all of them. Some have had to struggle to attend classes while taking care of families as single parents. Many have faced economic difficulties, and most have struggled academically. In the end, however, 18 graduated with the help of their families. This singular accomplishment and the academic experience leading up to it have made for better students and better people.
The Cultural Affairs Department has been very active lately. A record number of students are enrolled in Cheyenne language classes both on and off the campus. The Colstrip High School Cheyenne language class, taught through distance learning by Verda King, recently took first in the Cheyenne Language Bowl, a competition between area school Cheyenne language classes.
Members of the Woksape Oyate project, sponsored by the American Indian College Fund, are now engaged in interviewing and photographing Cheyenne elders. Photographer Jerry Mader is working with Linwood Tall Bull and Josette Wooden Legs on a series of life stories and portraits of our many handsome and beautiful elders.
A thousand words are not enough to tell the story of Chief Dull Knife College. For instance, we are undertaking a major building campaign to expand the facilities to better accommodate our increasing student population. We also have a Cheyenne language program in our day-care center which teaches toddlers and infants from six months to six years. The details of these stories we will leave out; nevertheless, we really appreciate the opportunity to tell our story. We think it's quite a wonderful story.
[The Montana Professor 23.1, Fall 2012 <http://mtprof.msun.edu>]