Tribal college to start new campus

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer | Thursday, June 08, 2006

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EAGLE BUTTE - Oglala Lakota College officials announced Wednesday that the tribal college has received approval to operate a new college center on Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

With endorsements from the North Central Association of Colleges Higher Learning Commission, OLC Board of Trustees and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Council, the college has moved into its newest satellite campus at Eagle Butte.

OLC president Tom Shortbull said that the Pine Ridge tribal college presented the idea to the CRST Council in March, nearly a year after the closure of Si Tanka University-Huron campus, a satellite campus of the Eagle Butte tribal college.

“College students were being deprived of the opportunity of continuing their education,” Shortbull said.

He said that as many as 250 students would be able to enroll at Cheyenne River Community College for the fall semester.

OLC officials began planning for the proposed college center in January and formally presented the proposal three months later, when Cheyenne River tribal officials approved the plan.

“We signed a memorandum of agreement with the tribe on March 23 to provide college courses on the Cheyenne River reservation,” Shortbull said.

OLC now has 11 campuses — nine on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one in Rapid City and now one in Eagle Butte. The center’s first classes will begin with the fall semester Aug. 28, he said.

“Our hope is to help fill the void,” Shortbull said.

The void was left by the closure of Si Tanka University, which filed for bankruptcy in April 2005 after defaulting on $6.6 million in loans and the IRS filed a $2 million lien against the school.

Si Tanka University’s troubles started when it bought Huron College in 2001 and gained a new campus, hundreds of new students and an undisclosed debt. The new students diluted the college’s student population of racial minorities, which caused it to lose its federal funding.

“After filing for bankruptcy, the (Eagle Butte) buildings, land and property reverted back to the tribe,” Rave said. “The school was independent of the tribe, having its own board of directors and administration.”

Cheyenne River Community College plans to use the buildings and land left by the old college. And Carol Rave, former Si Tanka University president, has been hired as director of Cheyenne River Community College.

“We’re starting out brand new,” she said.

For enrollment information, call 964-8011.

Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com