In early August, more than three dozen Tribal College and University (TCU) presidents arrived at the woodland headquarters of Educational Testing Service for a first-of-its-kind presidential convening in Princeton, New Jersey.
For most, the convening at the Chauncey Hotel and Conference Center was a reunion of long-time acquaintances to learn new strategies and initiatives to improve the all too familiar problems plaguing tribal higher education institutions today: low student college readiness rates, low funding and low retention and graduation rates.
These obstacles place a heavy burden on TCU presidents but it is a sense of community, culture and unity among the presidents that keeps them driven in their mission to serve the approximately 30,000 full- and part-time Native American and non-native students from more than 250 federally recognized Indian tribes.
“Any convening with other TCU presidents is always joyful and energizing – only another president truly understands the many facets and realities of our work,” says Dr. Cynthia Lindquist, president of Cankdeska Cikana Community College. The gathering at ETS “reinforced the concept that we’re in this together and that we have colleagues who will support and help us,” she adds.
For Dr. Michael Oltrogge, president of Nebraska Indian Community College, the convening served as an acknowledgement that the majority of TSU presidents still struggle with a number of the same issues primarily because TCU students “face greater odds for success” than other students across the nation, he says.
Dr. Charles M. Roessel of Diné College says that many TCU presidents have to deal with tribal councils and strike the balance between providing a Western education and sustaining a cultural connectedness to regional tribes at their institutions. During the ETS convening, open discussions about creating academic “connections of relevance” to Native American culture and symbols permeated several institutional strategy sessions.
Among other challenges, funding and resources — financial and human — for TCUs remains a significant barrier to implementing data and intervention strategies that could potentially help Native American students during their matriculation.
