Originally published in the LA Times on February 20, 2005 [here]
D-Q University, which opened in 1971,
lost its accreditation and $1million in federal funding. Some students
have refused to leave.
By Jocelyn Y. Stewart
Times Staff Writer
DAVIS, Calif. — The state's only college run for and by Native
Americans has been forced to close after it lost its accreditation and
$1 million in federal funding less than a month into this spring's
semester.
Officials at D-Q University shut down the community college, laid
off more than two dozen faculty members and staff and sent 200 students
home. And while a defiant group of students refused to leave, the
beleaguered board of trustees split into two rival factions — with one
firing the school's president.
"We're in mass chaos," said Cindy La Marr, chairwoman of one of
the factions and executive director of Capitol Area Indian Resources
Inc. in Sacramento. "I believe the founders of the school have lost
their vision of what the school was for. They're dwelling on the past."
The school's accreditation was revoked by the Accrediting
Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Assn. of Schools
and Colleges because D-Q officials failed to correct six problems.
According to the commission, D-Q's staff lacked sufficient
experience, its board of trustees was too small and lacked training,
and the school failed to use "established college processes" for
selection of courses and programs.
The commission also expressed deep concerns about D-Q's financial
condition, including its handling of student financial aid packages and
an "impending financial collapse."
D-Q officials blame many of the problems on the decisions of
previous administrations, not the current leadership, which, they said,
has taken steps toward making improvements. They said the pulling of
accreditation — which takes two years to reinstate — was unjustified
and unfair to students who had just started the spring semester.
"They said, 'It doesn't matter what you've done, or anything
else,' " said Dr. James May, D-Q's executive vice president. "You'll
have to be unaccredited for two years. That's just a good way to try to
kill the university."
Located in Northern California's Yolo County, D-Q is a collection
of weathered buildings along a lonely stretch of country highway where
sheep graze and tomatoes and alfalfa grow.
These days the campus is deserted, classrooms are dark and hallways are empty.
D-Q University was founded by a group of Native Americans and
Chicano activists who in 1970 occupied a former Army communications
center for months until the government agreed to allow the 643-acre
site to be turned into a tribal college.
The "D" in the school's name stands for Deganawidah, the "Great
Peacemaker" who helped found the Iroquois Confederacy. According to
school literature, the "Q" represents Quetzalcoatl, "an Aztec prophet
who symbolizes the principles of wisdom and self-discipline."
The nonprofit, private, land-grant institution opened in 1971 and
first received accreditation in 1977. Some called the school "Terrorist
Tech" because of its origins, but it soon became a source of pride to
Native Americans — a departure from an earlier era when their education
consisted of boarding schools whose mission was to Americanize
children.
D-Q University's mission was to educate students from a Native
American perspective, blending "the spiritual and cultural truths of
the past, the realities of the present and preparation for the future."
Like other community colleges, D-Q offers associate degrees, but
in addition to the standard general education classes, students can
study subjects such as "ethno-botany," "introduction to casino
operations and management," mural painting and Native American
literature.
"D-Q has educated several thousand Native students, including
Mexican Indians, students who otherwise probably would never have gone
to college," said Jack D. Forbes, professor of Native American Studies
at UC Davis. "It has filled a niche that other community colleges would
not be filling."
According to a 1996 American Indian College Fund Report, 70% of
D-Q students transferred to a four-year college after earning an
associate degree.
Unlike most tribal colleges, D-Q is not affiliated with one
particular tribe. Students represent a broad mix. They come from
throughout California and states such as New Mexico, South Dakota and
Arizona.
"We're like a little United Nations here," May said.
D-Q is one of 34 tribal colleges in the United States, many of
them on remote reservations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and
New Mexico.
Tribal colleges were created to provide for the educational needs
of American Indians living in areas with no access to other schools.
But they also address the need to increase the numbers of
college-educated Native Americans, and to overcome the barriers that
keep many of them from academic achievement.
Many tribal colleges have faced hardships, often stemming from
"insufficient and inconsistent funding at the federal and tribal
levels," said Ferlin Clark, president of Diné College in Tsaile, Ariz.,
the nation's oldest tribal college.
"We operate on a shoestring and a dream," Clark said. "We do much
with little, and we impact the lives of a lot of our Indian people."
Tribal college presidents were in Washington, D.C., last week,
pushing for funding, Clark said. Some are also "organizing to see what
we can do to help not only D-Q, but the other tribal colleges that are
in or could face similar situations."
D-Q's current problems began, in part, with an effort to bolster
enrollment, May said. The school started a night and weekend child
development program for Spanish speakers that became so popular that
Latino students outnumbered Native Americans. But the program caused
the school to lose about $350,000 in funding from the Bureau of Indian
Affairs.
Nedra Darling, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of the
Interior, which oversees the BIA, said D-Q lost funding because it
failed to fulfill a statutory requirement that 51% of its students be
Native American.
"That's in the law," Darling said.
The loss of funding was the start of a downward spiral, May said.
"It's as if we are penalized because we are serving a need for
Spanish-language education," May said. "The easiest solution would have
been to cut out that program, but that would have been a disservice" to
students.
The school's budget for the 2004-05 academic year was nearly $3.6 million, May said.
In an October progress report to the commission, college
officials said the school's "fiscal management had taken major steps
for improvement." Officials were raising money, reducing expenses and
developing tighter controls on spending.
In response to the commission's request that the school
"demonstrate that it has sufficient staff, with appropriate preparation
and experience," D-Q hired a new president, Victor Gabriel, and several
new top administrators, all American Indians with extensive experience.
Gabriel is a jewelry maker who once attended the school and
served on its board. The school had also addressed concerns about the
board's small size and the training of its members by adding new
members, according to the report.
But the school's actions did not satisfy the commission.
The accrediting team visited again in November and reported the
same problems, adding that the school's financial condition had
worsened. At the time of the visit, the college had "only two full-time
faculty members, and one of those will leave at the end of the
semester," the commission's report states.
"In fact, the team has grave concerns about the teaching and
learning process in general and does not feel the college meets the
eligibility requirements."
In January, just days after the start of the spring semester, the
commission voted to terminate D-Q's accreditation. The loss of
accreditation meant a loss of federal funding.
In an interview last week, May said the school planned to appeal
the commission's decision. He and others have accused the accrediting
team of bias, noting that it did not have any Native American members.
Barbara Beno, executive director of the accrediting commission,
said the agency had no obligation to include a Native American. "I
think the team was very objective and the standards are very
objective," she said.
There were attempts to save the school by bringing in new board
members, but disagreements prompted the board to split into two groups.
At a Feb. 5 meeting, one group voted to fire Gabriel and his
assistant, Sheila McCampbell. It elected new trustees and voted to ask
the state attorney general's office for an investigation. The group has
14 members.
Gabriel did not return calls seeking comment. La Marr said
Gabriel indicated that he does not recognize that faction's authority
and has maintained his position.
Meanwhile, the other board faction began holding meetings. May
said it has four members, including one of the school's founders, David
Risling, a highly respected figure in the Native American community and
senior lecturer emeritus at UC Davis. Risling has headed or served on
the board for years.
Both board factions have indicated that they will request that the accrediting agency review its revocation decision.
During the appeal process, D-Q will have an opportunity to
present documents, oral testimony and other evidence on its behalf. The
school technically remains accredited while it appeals.
If the appeal fails, the school must wait two years to reapply
for accreditation, at which time it must meet all of the agency's
standards.
The loss of accreditation has been a blow to students. Most are
gone except for about two dozen who have defied orders to leave. They
have offered to help raise funds for D-Q and plan for its future, said
Lynn Brown, student body president.
"We're staying," said student Jaclyn Bissonette, standing outside the women's dormitory. "This is our school."
La Marr's board has no plans to force the students to leave the
dorms. "We're in a reorganization period," said La Marr, who has also
served as president of the National Indian Education Assn.
"We have to stop and make sense of what is going on, get some
answers, see what legal measures can be taken. Also see if we can get
these students into accredited schools at this late point."