New England tribal college explored Indian groups from Maine to Florida study potential education benefits

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PORTLAND – Unlike larger tribes out West, Eastern Indian tribes have never had a college they could call their own.

New England tribal leaders who have long talked about the potential benefits of a tribal college will participate in a feasibility study of creating a college to serve 24 tribes from Maine to Florida.

Supporters know there are obstacles such as raising money and building a consensus among diverse tribes. There is no timeline, but some are optimistic that a college could be established within five years.

“If we pull it off, it’ll be a minor miracle. But we have high hopes,” said Mark Sperry, education director for the Mohegan Tribe in Connecticut.

Supporters want to boost enrollment by Indians, who earn college degrees at half the rate of the U.S. population as a whole. It would also help tribal communities where Indians could apply their skills after they graduate.

A feasibility study is being overseen by the New England Board of Higher Education, which got a $200,000 federal grant this year to study the matter.

As envisioned, the college would likely be a two-year institution and focus on health science and technology courses that could lead to careers in medicine, nursing and other health fields.

United South and Eastern Tribes, a consortium of eastern tribes, will conduct a survey between January and June to determine the viability of a college and the possible forms it might take, said Amanda Lapham of the New England Board of Higher Education.

The survey would help answer questions such as where a college might be located, how many students might attend, how it might be funded and how the tribes would benefit.

Lapham envisions a school that would also serve students at off-campus locations with distance learning programs for far-flung tribes in 13 states from Maine to Texas. A report with recommendations will be compiled and released next September, she said.

Tribal colleges aim to provide an educational setting that combines Indian culture with academics that fill needs in their native communities.

Rebecca Sockbeson, a Penobscot Indian, can attest to the isolation she felt at Syracuse University, where she lasted for just a semester after graduating in 1990 from Bangor High School.

“I didn’t meet or lay eyes on another native student the entire semester,” she said. “I never identified so strongly with my identity as I did then because it was so much in front of me.”

Sockbeson returned home and earned a degree from the University of Maine, where there was a network of other Indian students to provide support. She later earned a master’s in education at Harvard University, which has a program to support Indian students.

Sockbeson, who is now director of multicultural affairs at the University of Southern Maine, said a tribal college would boost the number of Indians in professional fields.

And as more Indians became doctors, lawyers and teachers, the standard of living will go up among the tribes, she said.

“It’s important to understand what an important national issue this is,” she said.

The first U.S. tribal college was created in 1968 when the Navajo Nation established what is now called Dine College in Arizona.

There are now 34 tribal colleges in 12 states, mostly in the Midwest and Southwest, with more than 30,000 full- and part-time students, according to the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Most offer two-year associate degrees, but some provide bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well.

Gerald Gipp, executive director of the consortium, said most of the colleges are out West, where the tribes and reservations are larger and more isolated than they are in the East.

The schools generally focus on study areas where there are needs on the reservations, including education, health services, economic development and natural resources, he said.

In New England, supporters envision a college focusing on health sciences and technology. A campus location hasn’t been determined, but Sperry said Boston would be a logical site because it makes sense to go where health professionals work since it would be hard to attract instructors to tribal reservations.

If the college succeeds, he said, additional campuses could be established to focus on natural resources and tribal management.

“If you look at the history of Native American kids in mainstream colleges, they do poorly,” he said. “But when Native American kids go to Native American colleges, they do fine.”

Sperry said funding will probably come from a variety of public and private sources, and that other colleges have started in trailers or by renting out high school classrooms at night.

Serving multiple tribes could also pose unique problems. Most tribal colleges out West serve single tribes and are located on remote reservations where the tribal members live.

Donna Loring, a Penobscot Indian in Maine, said the initiative can succeed if it’s done the right way.

“The thing we need to make sure is we get input from the tribes on this and that it’s not a top-down thing,” she said. “We don’t want somebody dictating that this is what’s best for you.”