Cankdeska Cikana Community College

The thirty year history of Cankdeska Cikana Community college is a story of empowerment of the Dakota people.

The Vision…

In the 1960’s, Chief Lewis Goodhouse (tribal chairman) had a determined vision of how services should be delivered to the people of Spirit Lake reservation: All projects requiring his endorsement were mandated to be based South of the Lake, in the villages where the Dakota people lived and raised their families.

When Lake Region Junior College President, Merril Berg, explored ways that institution could better serve neighboring Indian students, Chief Goodhouse was adamant that classes be held on the reservation. With that in mind, he supported Lake Region College as it sought federal funding for projects and classes to be taught in Fort Totten. The course, “History of the Plains Indian,” was included on the 1965-66 LRJC calendar and in June 1967 the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Lake Region a major grant to develop a college program for Spirit Lake. A respected Dakota educator and leader, Alvina Alberts, was employed as a college counselor and advisor with an office in the Tribal headquarters building. The focus of the grant was on preservation of the language, network building between tribal members and Devils Lake community, and the recording of historical stories by tribal elders. In the Spring of 1968, Dakota language classes were offered with Mercie Nelson and Tom Siaka, as the instructors. History of the Plains Indian was taught in the Tribal headquarters building and other history classes were in the meeting room of the newly constructed jail at Fort Totten. William Light, assisted by the Dakota teachers, started a three year assignment of recording oral histories of elders on the Fort Totten Reservation.

Beginnings...

In the 1970’s the Tribal Council, led by Chairman Carl McKay, appointed a tribal education committee, with Lawrence Joshua, Rosalie Baer, Mary Ann Cavanaugh, Joyce Greene and Roger Yankton serving as members. The committee assisted in obtaining federal and state funding through Lake Region Junior College for the Spirit Lake higher education program. Mrs. Cavanaugh also served on the Board of Trustees for Lake Region Junior College, from 1973 to 1978.

The Lake Region Junior College off campus program received national recognition in November 1970 when leaders from the American Association of Junior Colleges came to Devils Lake for a conference on Indian post secondary education. Funded by the Kellogg Foundation, tribal leaders and educators from eleven reservations and nine Midwest junior colleges discussed the potential for establishing tribal colleges. This conference played a part in the future development of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) with Cankdeska Cikana Community College one of the six founding members of the Consortium. AIHEC was a major force in post secondary education for Indians when it succeeded in obtaining federal support for tribal colleges under Public Law 95-471, Tribally Controlled Community College Act of 1978. Cankdeska Cikana CC became eligible for federal support under this Act in 1980 and it continues as the primary funding source for the institution.

Facilities…

The first classes that were convened in the fall of 1970 were held in the new “Kennedy Building” on the reservation which had been built with funds given in memory of John F. Kennedy. The building had been tribal headquarters briefly but in 1975 became the home Little Hoop Community College. With Title III funding, the new institution was equipped with small labs, beginnings of a library and a remedial learning center.

In 1984, the college acquired the former elementary and secondary school buildings that became available when the new Four Winds School (K-12) opened. With this move, Cankdeska Cikana CC was able to grow and develop into a fully accredited (1990), two-year institution that had strong relationships with the state colleges and universities and its sister tribal colleges.

Federal funds were obtained for a new community and college library for the SpiritLake reservation and it was constructed in 1990,adjoining the ‘new’ campus building. TheValerie Merrick Memorial Library serves as areference and research center for students, faculty, and community members.

Foundation funding became available through AIHEC and the American Indian College Fund, in early 2000, for the development of cultural centers at tribal colleges. Cankdeska Cikana CC constructed a log cabin to house a community center and museum. The log cabin is located on the north side of the main building.

Renovations of the administrative offices, faculty offices and student lounge area occurred in the early 2000's and more recently (2004) the institution completed a parking lot project and began construction for four new classrooms, including a new science lab.