[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 149 (Thursday, December 1, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: December 1, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                  THE PROBLEMS FACING TRIBAL COLLEGES

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I want to bring to the attention of 
the Senate a true success story in Indian country. Back in 1978, I 
served as chairman of the Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education in 
the House of Representatives. One of the bills that came out of that 
Subcommittee was the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance 
Act of 1978.
  What these colleges do, they do very well, with funding sharply below 
that of State or Federally support community colleges. Little Federal 
money is available to tribal colleges for renovation and repair, and no 
money for new construction.
  Tribal colleges prepare students for today's job market and provide 
instruction in Native American traditions and history. Because of their 
success, tribal college enrollments have been steadily increasing over 
the past decade. In 1993, over 14,000 students were enrolled in tribal 
colleges.
  A review of tribal college facilities by the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
[BIA] found that most of the classrooms were minimally functional, and 
all the colleges had buildings that were in non-compliance with safety 
and building codes. Most of the colleges were established in surplus 
buildings from the BIA and the Indian Health Service must remain in 
deplorable condition.
  The article ``Breaking Point'' details the problems facing the Navajo 
Community College. Over 300 deficiencies were identified by the BIA for 
health and safety violations. Yet students travel hours from all over 
the reservation to attend college. We must even the playing field by 
increasing the money tribal college institutions receive. I ask that 
the article ``Breaking Point'' be printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

                             Breaking Point

                      (By Kathleen Kennedy Manzo)

       Shiprock, NM.--The aging sandstone structure that serves as 
     a main instructional facility at the satellite campus of the 
     Navajo Community College has suffered from years of neglect.
       It is a victim of the limited resources and the need to 
     address greater priorities that characterize the mission of 
     most of the 31 tribal colleges throughout the nation.
       When inspectors for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) 
     visited the campus last spring, they found poor lighting 
     throughout the building, a leaking roof that caused 
     electrical problems and slippery floors, a gymnasium floor 
     that collapsed on the locker rooms below it and a fire alarm 
     system and safety lights that did not function properly.
       Some of the nearly 300 deficiencies identified by BIA 
     safety managers who inspected the site had been evident for 
     years, ignored as either too minor, or too expensive, to fix. 
     But when the inspectors threatened to close the facility 
     unless more than half the problems were repaired, it set into 
     motion a cooperative effort to ensure that classes could go 
     on.
       Workers have been repairing the facility for more than a 
     month by replacing light bulbs, patching the roof and doing 
     routine maintenance to keep the building open. BIA safety 
     personnel completed another inspection recently and found 
     that more than half the problems were fixed, so the building 
     could stay open for classes. The Navajo Nation Tribal Council 
     granted $300,000 toward the upgrading of the structure. 
     Tribal and education leaders, the U.S. Department of the 
     Interior, the BIA and college officials are all working to 
     secure funding to continue the repairs.
       The U.S. Congress, concerned about the poor financial 
     health of Native American colleges, has begun work on 
     amendments to bring their financing more in line with 
     community colleges nationwide. But that effort is still 
     making its way through the sluggish Capitol Hill legislative 
     process.
       BIA inspectors have noted the deficiencies at Navajo 
     Community College for years, according to Alfred Abeyta, of 
     the safety management office in Gallup, NM. But the repairs 
     have never been a priority with college officials who have 
     put more immediate concerns first, he said.
       ``They had a very poor maintenance program because of the 
     lack of manpower and lack of funds,'' Abeyta said. ``We have 
     so many deficiencies in all our [tribal] schools that it's 
     hard to say who to fault. . . . They are thinking about 
     things like books and trying to get the kids educated.''


                            problems debated

       There has been disagreement about the extent of the 
     problems. The BIA first advised closure and demolition of the 
     building, which houses about 60 classrooms. An agency report 
     issued in July stated, ``Because of the excessive number of 
     deficiencies and the enormous amount of money required to 
     correct these deficiencies, the Shiprock Acting Safety 
     Manager recommends [that the building] be totally demolished. 
     The structure is a hazard to students, educators, 
     administrative personnel and visitors. The building is 
     rapidly decaying and is past the point of safe usage and 
     occupancy.''
       It was estimated it would cost anywhere from $4 million to 
     $8 million to make the building and the campus safe. But 
     school administrators felt the BIA report was overly harsh 
     because it blew the problems out of proportion.
       ``All in all, the big old uproar about the building being 
     in [an] unsafe condition is just a small factor,'' compared 
     to other challenges, said Shiprock campus spokesman D 
     Johnson. ``The building is old and it does need some work, 
     but I don't think it's in critical condition.''
       The problems paled in comparison to those of smaller and 
     older community centers run by the college, according to NCC 
     Vice President James McNeley.
       ``It is a structurally sound facility,'' in need of some 
     repairs, he said of the former boarding school site. ``It's 
     like a comfortable old shoe. Some of the facility needs at 
     the community centers are much greater.''
       But Abeyta said the severity of the report was necessary to 
     force the college to take action on long-standing problems.


                     abandoned buildings, trailers

       Navajo Community College, established in 1968, was the 
     first tribally controlled college in the nation. Its main 
     campus, where the administration is housed, is in Tsaile, AZ, 
     100 miles west of the Shiprock campus. The Shiprock campus 
     serves older adults--the average age of its students is 29--
     and offers programs in science and engineering. The two 
     campuses and five community centers serve the Navajo 
     reservation, which stretches 25,000 square miles into New 
     Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Like many of the reservations 
     throughout the United States, the Navajo Nation is sparsely 
     populated and plagued by high unemployment, low educational 
     attainment and severe poverty.
       These factors have created extreme challenges for the 
     tribal colleges. The problems highlighted in the BIA report 
     brought national attention to some of those challenges, 
     particularly those centered on inadequate facilities and 
     resources.
       ``It's a miracle we're even around with the amount of money 
     we were given to start up. By and large, tribes are 
     impoverished and don't have the money to support the 
     colleges,'' said David Archambault, president of Standing 
     Rock Community College in North Dakota. ``With regards to 
     facilities, many of the tribal colleges are in abandoned 
     buildings and even condemned buildings . . . most operate out 
     of the cheapest mode of shelter, like trailers.''
       Archambault said that NCC has one of the better facilities 
     among tribal colleges.
       Blackfeet Community College in Browning, MT, was founded in 
     1976 and housed in an old house, an abandoned metal building 
     and a renovated roller rink. Fort Belknap College in Harlem, 
     Mt, moved into a tribe-owned storefront and erected 
     partitions to wall off offices and classrooms. The Institute 
     for American Indian and Native American Art Development in 
     Santa Fe, NM, a 32-year-old federally chartered college 
     dedicated to he fine arts, conducts classes in 50-year-old 
     military barracks and portable buildings located on the 
     campus of Santa Fe Community College.


                           aid from congress

       In its last session, the U.S. Senate approved an amendment, 
     as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and 
     Secondary Education Act, to give limited land-grant status to 
     tribal colleges in an effort to bring their funding levels up 
     to par with other community colleges. At presstime Congress 
     was expected to pass the legislation by early October.
       Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), who sponsored the legislation, 
     pointed to the ``report on the deplorable condition of the 
     Navajo Community College in Shiprock [as] a glaring, but 
     instructive example of the funding inequities that confront 
     American Indian community colleges.''
       Said Bingaman: ``If tribal colleges don't even have the 
     resources necessary to provide basic facilities, they 
     certainly can't provide the skills necessary for American 
     Indians to compete and succeed in the job market.''
       Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-NM), who co-sponsored the 
     legislation, said shortly after the BIA report was released 
     that the bureau's recommendations were made in haste and 
     threatened the educational future of the nearly 500 students 
     at the northwest New Mexico campus.
       Domenici was critical of the BIA regulations that prevented 
     the bureau from making the repairs. Since the college became 
     a contract school and was released from BIA control six years 
     ago, the bureau's authority is limited, according to Alfred 
     Abeyta in the bureau's Gallup office. But Domenici said that 
     the BIA does have the authority to make the repairs under the 
     Tribally Controlled Community Colleges Act. He has charged 
     that the BIA has spent no money or made other efforts to 
     force in to action a plan for repairs despite the threat to 
     student safety.
       Although Congress approved $43 million in its fiscal 1995 
     budget for the BIA to make repairs to education facilities, 
     NCC is not included in that plan. However, the land-grant 
     status would provide a $23 million endowment, held in trust 
     for the colleges, with the annual dividend going to 
     supplement current educational programs. Each school, 
     including NCC, will also get $50,000 per year. And the 
     colleges will share $1.7 million per year in building grants.
       Although relying almost entirely on federal funds, tribal 
     colleges receive less than $3,000 per full-time equivalent 
     student in government aid. Historically Black colleges 
     receive nearly $17,000 per student, and mainstream community 
     colleges get about $7,000 per student. Land-grant colleges 
     were established to improve economic opportunities in rural 
     areas. HBCUs and those institutions located in American 
     territories were first given that designation more than 100 
     years ago.
       The limited land-grant status is expected to give the 
     tribal colleges access to a wider variety of programs and 
     resources and foster cooperative agreements between them and 
     existing land-grant colleges seeking to attract more Native-
     Americans.
       The lack of adequate facilities has not discouraged many 
     students from attending the two-year schools. Although 
     officials expected that the problems in Shiprock would 
     negatively affect enrollments, they remain high. The Tsaile 
     campus had a record number of students last year with 2,500 
     attending full-time. Many of the tribal colleges represent an 
     opportunity for students to pursue higher education while 
     allowing them to stay close to their families, a high 
     priority steeped in centuries-old traditions and a strong 
     attachment to their homelands, McNeley said.
       ``We have no difficulty attracting students because, in 
     their hearts, most Navajo people would prefer to stay on the 
     reservation,'' McNeley said. ``Our challenge is to be able to 
     meet that demand.''
       Despite the limitations, tribal colleges have continued to 
     meet the varied needs of thousands of Native Americans, said 
     Joseph McDonald, president of Salish Kootenai College in 
     Pablo, MT.
       ``The working conditions are austere . . . but I've been in 
     real nice buildings where the educational programs are 
     poor,'' he said. ``You can teach in a barn, or a hay shed, or 
     have an exciting program on the street. Tribal colleges have 
     proven that . . .. But inflation keeps going up, faculty 
     salaries, electrical costs and the cost of books and 
     materials keep increasing . . . but the money [appropriated 
     to tribal colleges] stays the same. We're really at the 
     breaking point where something has to give real soon, or the 
     tribal colleges will be in great trouble.''

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