Ben Johnson photo by Andrew Campbell Diné College in Tsaile, Ariz. photo by Ed McCombs   A statue of an Apache stands on the campus of Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan. photo by Ben Johnson	On the Trail of the Tribal Colleges When senior history major Ben Johnson stepped onto the campus of the Diné College in Tsaile, Ariz., in the middle of the huge Navajo reservation, his first sight — sheep droppings — reminded him how far he was from Northwestern. On the rolling college lawn nestled in between rugged mountainsides, elderly Navajo women, known as "grazing grannies," herded their sheep. Johnson was impressed by the cooperation and understanding between the college and the reservation community, a teamwork that clearly does not exist at most universities. With the help of a research grant from Northwestern, Johnson traveled last summer to Native American tribal colleges around the country to compare these institutions with non–Native American colleges and to study the rapid growth and unusual educational structure at these reservation-based universities. The American Indian Higher Education Consortium counts 32 tribal colleges serving more than 24,000 undergraduates in the United States. Johnson traveled to Arizona, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and New Mexico to visit five of the colleges. The schools, usually located in impoverished rural communities, serve Native American youths and adults who want to further their education but do not have the money or desire to leave their reservations. One of the first places Johnson visited, Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., was not in a rural setting, of course, but it provided a striking image from the past of the changes in relations between this country and Native Americans. Founded in 1884, the college was originally a U.S. government assimilation boarding school for Native American children who studied under the slogan "Kill the Indian to Save the Man." With the help of private donations, grants, government funds and industrial backing, tribal colleges have been steadily growing in popularity since their establishment in the late 1960s, and their campuses and course offerings are improving greatly, Johnson says. He adds that these institutions of higher learning not only provide opportunities for young people on reservations, they also serve as focal points and gathering spots for the surrounding reservation communities. At Fort Peck Tribal College in Poplar, Mont., which Johnson also visited, the school provides the Nakota and Dakota tribes with the Fort Peck reservation’s main holistic health center where community members go for nutrition instruction and exercise. And Diné College is the location of one of the Navajo reservation’s main post offices. Johnson found a high level of commitment among the professors and administrators at tribal colleges to their students and to the schools’ relationship with the communities. Mona Bearskin, for example, dean of institutional advancement at Little Priest Tribal College, which serves the Winnebago nation in Winnebago, Neb., has a law degree and worked with two other lawyers a few years ago to write the criminal and civil codes for the reservation. "The people I met were committed to the tribal college movement," Johnson says. "But they also take the jobs because they really believe in the importance of the college to the reservation. They have a real caring for the community and a desire for something better." One of the most compelling things about these schools, Johnson says, is how much they are invested in tradition. At Diné College, the first tribal college in the United States, which has several campuses in Arizona and New Mexico, the mode of learning is based on the Navajos’ circular "wedding basket" concept. "Learning flows from nitsahakees (thinking) to nahata (planning) to iina (living) to sihasin (assurance) and then returns to thinking," Johnson says. "All the buildings on campus are in the shape of the traditional eight-sided hogan [the Navajo home], which is also based on the basket, and all the buildings are placed spatially for meaning." Classrooms are on the south side of Diné’s campus because the south represents learning and reflection, and the sports fields are on the north side because north is associated with physical activity and hunting. Dormitories are on the west side of the campus, where the home fire is placed in a hogan, and the student union, or student orientation center, is on the east side because hogan entrances traditionally face east. Despite the care that goes into providing a comfortably traditional learning environment, there are still clear problems for students that stem from the colleges’ locations off the beaten track. Many campuses were so remote that Johnson frequently had to stay in hotels an hour-and-a-half away and get up early in the morning to drive to the college. "The main campuses most often are in a very rural setting to assist in transmission of traditional values," Johnson says. "But students in this setting have little to do on the weekends due to this remoteness." Johnson expected the people he met would be cordial and accommodating, but he was totally unprepared for the warmth that he received. He was taken out for meals all the time and invited to pow-wow after pow-wow. "The kindness I experienced was extraordinary: People took me out to lunch and to their homes, and I got to meet their kids and grandkids," Johnson says. Johnson is putting the information he gleaned directly into his senior honor’s thesis in history and says the grants program has given him precious insight. "I gained firsthand access to important figures and ideas in the tribal college movement and concrete visual images to shape my thinking, as well as invaluable future contacts," Johnson says. "I feel incredibly grateful for this opportunity to learn and travel in ways I never anticipated when I came to Northwestern." — E.R. RETURN TO FEATURE STORY