Bridge to the Outer World

Navajo Community College is open to non-Navajo-Indian students, and non-Indian as well. These students cooperate on a chemistry experiment.

The Ned A. Hatathli Cultural Center rises majestically above the plain at Tsaile on the Navajo Reservation.

Photos by Peter Bloomer One of Navajo Community College's original counselors and instructor of psychology, Keith Leafdale, remembers, "Those first students were very shy and very proud. It was as if they had been chosen for something special. Watching them, that first year, was like watching flowers bloom and fruit ripen and it seemed to get better with every new class."

Until very recently, the average number of years of school completed by Navajos was five, versus the twelve years completed by the United States citizenry as a whole. According to the 1970 U.S. Census, only 27 percent of the Navajo people over age 18 completed twelve or more years of school.

The average annual income of the Navajo was about the same as that which prevails in many underdeveloped countries of the world. Where the annual per capita income for the United States was about $3700 (1970), that of the Navajo was estimated at only $753. Today, tribal leaders hope that the success and continued growth of Navajo Community College will produce individuals who will reduce the vast difference in these figures, and help gain for the Navajo and other American Indians their self-supporting place in the sun.

Last spring when Navajo Community College president Thomas Atcitty composed his annual newsletter to the graduating class he wrote: "This is your day a day when you can justifiably rejoice along with your relatives and friends a day on which all of us join you in rejoicing because you have traveled the bridge that the Navajo people have built for you between your Navajo homeland and the world which surrounds us.

"This bridge was designed to give you the fundamental principles which guided the great Navajo leaders of the past. You are at home in your world and are conscious of your harmony with the earth and the forces of nature. Our bridge was designed to reinforce your pride in the Navajo world, and to show you the vastly different world in which you may choose to live and work. I hope you will use your experience at Navajo Community College to go out into that world, profit from your experience there, and then return home to help your people to triumph in the social, economic and spiritual struggles that the Indian faces today. Remember that you rode with Manuelito's warriors and walked with survivors of the Long Walk back to their homeland. For it is the Navajos who 'come back' who are the hope of the future.

"We have tried to show you that achievement and happiness cannot be poured upon you like water on thirsty ground. They come, rather, from within yourself, welling up from your own creative being like a spring of living water. We have tried to open your mind to your own creativity so that you can listen to all, form your own judgments, and teach others in turn the truths you have found out for yourselves.

"Education is the instruction of the intellect in the laws of nature. The art of being taught is the art of discovery. We at Navajo Community College believe that the art of teaching is the art of assisting that discovery to take place. Take what you have learned here and build upon it as you go out into the world. The best wishes of all the Navajo people go with you!"

No one more appreciates seeing these proud Indians graduate from their own reservation-based college than Thomas Atcitty. Although he is relatively young to be a college president (age 40), he still remembers a time when Navajo mothers hid their young children to prevent them from being sent hundreds of miles away to government and religious boarding schools, where they were made to feel ashamed of their native heritage.

Atcitty served first as acting president of the nation's first Indian-operated, Indian-controlled college on a reserva-tion after the tragic death in October 1972 of the institution's first Navajo president, Dr. Ned A. Hatathli. In December of the same year he was appointed by the board of regents as president, and officially inaugurated in April 1973.

Atcitty grew up in the Shiprock area of the Navajo reservation and attended the Bureau of Indian Affairs day school there. He graduated from Navajo Methodist Mission High School in 1954. After a tour of duty with the United States Marines, Atcitty became determined to get as much education as possible. He received his bachelor's degree from Taylor University at Upland, Indiana, in 1963. He continued graduate work at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and Gannon College in Erie, Pennsylvania.

On May 18, 1974, after unanimous approval, the board of trustees of Taylor University granted Thomas E. Atcitty the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters. Atcitty's dream like the dream of so many other Navajos, was that there would be a college located within the boundaries of their reservation, geared to the special needs of young American Indians began over twenty years ago. Under a grant from the Office of Navajo Economic Opportunity in 1966, Arizona State University prepared a feasibility study with regard to the establishment of a Navajo junior college, which in addition to a regular curriculum, would teach Navajo history and culture. The report recommended that such an institution be established.

It took two years for the Navajo Tribal Council to create and charter Navajo Community College. The following year, in January 1969, the first classes were held with an enrollment of 301 in a portion of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Many Farms High School at Many Farms. Construction on the present campus began in 1971, when the Navajo tribe gave 1200 acres of land at the settlement

In addition to diplomas, there are ceremonial items. Peter Bloomer of Tsaile, in northeast Arizona, for use by the college. Typical of so much of their sprawling reservation, the college is in an isolated but scenically magnificent area, with a rigorous climate and lack of urban conveniences. A short distance from the campus is the majestic and historic Canyon de Chelly; also nearby is trout-filled Tsaile Lake. The rugged Chuska Mountains and a turquoise-blue sky are still as beautiful as the day they were created by the Master Artist. Campus architecture blends perfectly with the beauty and serenity of the surrounding land. Planning was deliberate and painstakingly executed to reflect the strength and dignity of Navajo culture and heritage. It was specifically dictated that the design must emphasize the parallel between Navajo education and Navajo ceremonial life. Because Navajo belief teaches that one must begin each day by entering the early light of dawn from the west, the campus is oriented toward the east. The mile-long access road from the main highway (Navajo Route 12) meets the college's encircling perimeter drive on the east side of the campus. The circle of the campus represents the plan of a Navajo hogan, which always has its main entrance facing the east. The fire place is the focal point and one of the most important places in the hogan, the traditional Navajo home, for it is the fire place from which warmth and light emanate. In like manner, the focal point and one of the most important places on the new campus is the recently-completed Ned A. Hatathli Cultural Center. Named for the college's first Navajo president, it is from this impressive structure which will emanate like warmth and light from a hogan's fire place the stories, traditions, heritage, history, and culture of the Navajo so proudly preserved therein. In this building the Navajo Medicinemen Advisory Group meets with the board of regents to discuss functions and purposes of the college. It was at the suggestion of the Medicinemen that the cultural center include not only a museum Vocation technology class in sculpture. Peter Bloomer Diploma day at Tsaile. Peter Bloomer where relics of the past could be viewed, but a living center for the dynamic culture of the Navajo a place where courses, classes, and resource material could be offered. Other colleges offered courses in the history of Europeans, Africans, and Orientals Navajo Community College would teach the history of the Navajo.

The six-story, $4 million structure includes a lecture hall, classrooms, audio-visual laboratories, a sanctuary, and 16 chantrooms.

The cultural center will also become the Navajo's cultural archives. For the past 10 years tribal historians have been busy in the field making tape recordings containing the rich lore and tradition which is the history of the Navajo. Tape recordings are now being made at the college by tribal elders brought there for that purpose. The priceless recordings are stored in vaults in the culture center along with the recorded ceremonial rites and songs of the Medicinemen rites and songs which might otherwise be lost forever when those individuals die.

Certain of this material is restricted for the exclusive use of the Navajo; sacred information and songs which Navajo elders felt should remain secret. Other information is available to historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, or anyone else who might be interested in the material just for the pure pleasure of learning from it.

By both civil and tribal law, Medicinemen are recognized as healers in the states where they practice. Their training is long and tedious, and not everyone can qualify to learn the ancient art. One ceremony, the "Mountain Way" treatment for epilepsy, requires the exact memorization of 400 to 500 thousand words! Including 500 songs of twelve verses each, the ceremonial rite lasts nine days. Of about 30 such rites, one healer can master no more than six or eight in a lifetime.

Modern medical practitioners have found that the practices and beliefs of the Navajo Medicinemen offer concrete solutions to problems perplexing and disturbing to the emotions. Stubborn illnesses that did not respond to modern non-Indian medicine have been miraculously cured by Navajo rites.

Ceremonial beliefs also dictate the location of the cottage-style dormitories on the campus. During a religious ceremony, the person for whom the ceremony is being performed is positioned at the northwestern part of the hogan; therefore, the dorms are located in the northwestern part of the campus. The person performing the ceremony is positioned in the southwestern part of the hogan; so, this is the location on campus of the general and specialized classrooms.

Dining service for students is provided by the college in a spacious dining hall which, consistent with campus architecture, is designed in the shape of a hogan. The kitchen is located in the center, and 400 persons can be seated in the dining hall around the perimeter of the structure. The dining area also includes a special room for private luncheons and dinners. Visitors, college employees, and off-campus students may buy meals.

The college-maintained health center serves all students, faculty, and staff with qualified nurse practitioners. Cases that cannot be adequately handled at the center are referred to Indian Health Service hospitals and community or private hospitals in the area.

The college also provides day care centers for the children of students, job placement services, and financial aid While the Navajo studies courses are open to all students, certain classes are taught only in Navajo.

information. Special counseling is available to assist students in gaining a more complete understanding of his goals.

Students academic endeavors are supplemented by a wide range of leisure time and extracurricular activities. Hiking through the wilderness and exploring the beauty of nature are popular pastimes. Students are encouraged to plan, organize, and carry out recreational activities individually or through student clubs and organizations. Recent off-reservation trips sponsored by the Student Activities Committee or the college's department of instruction have included student representation at a convention in Phoenix, a regional basketball playoff in Los Angeles, a bilingual conference in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and rodeo competition in California.

At present, students enjoy the use of more than 30,000 volumes on the open shelves of the two-story, hogan-shaped library building.

To conserve money and space, the library makes extensive use of microforms; there are nearly 1000 rolls of microfilm, and more than 1000 Indian titles on microfiche. Library equipment includes microfiche/microfilm readers and a copier; in addition, magazines, reference books, and bibliographic materials are available for student use. New books are added to the collection daily through gifts and purchase.

Navajo Community College Press has already published five major books beautiful and historically authentic volumes which have been printed in keeping with the mandate of the college's all-Navajo board of regents that books be published about, for, and by the Navajo. More than a dozen books are near completion.

The first and second phases of construction of Navajo Community College, totaling more than $11 million, are completed, and work has begun on additional housing for faculty and staff. Unfortunately, high construction costs prohibited the board of regents from carrying out their original plan of having all the structures built in the shape of the hogan, so some buildings will have to be of conventional non-Navajo design.

It is not just the thought and design of the college that make it unique, it is the feeling one gets of the entire concept and urgent need for educated generations of young Indians. Their intense desire to excel scholastically is contagious.

NCC President Atcitty stresses, "Each year the college must rededicate itself to serving the Navajo Nation and the American Indian. We endeavor to first provide educational opportunities that meet the needs of the Navajo; second to provide leadership and an educational model that other tribes can utilize and build upon to meet their own educational needs; and third to demonstrate to the public that the Indian people are capable of controlling their own destiny through innovative educational programs."

The bridge that this Navajo-owned, Navajo-controlled college provides for its students to the outer world has many innovations. Major importance is given to Navajo and American Indian studies, and all Navajo students must earn a minimum of nine credits in the program. There are 28 related courses in Navajo and Indian study, ranging from silversmithing, weaving, and basketry to contemporary Indian affairs and the Navajo and acculturation. Many of the instructors of these courses, though not "academically qualified," are the finest instructors of their kind in the world. While the Navajo studies courses are open to all students, certain classes are taught only in the Navajo language. The language itself is taught in several courses; in addition, there are classes in Navajo music, religion, and psychology. The latter course is designed to familiarize students with the organization and psychologically therapeutic function of Navajo ceremonial rites.

It is a radical departure from the past years, when the primary-grade Navajo children were taken hundreds of miles away from the families and familiar surroundings and forbidden by their nonIndian teachers to use their native tongue. It was also a policy of these schools to forbid any reference to the Navajo religion or ceremonial rites, which were considered to be "inferior superstitions and pagan beliefs." Times have changed, and the art of learning self-love and selfrespect is an important part of the modern Indian youth's education.

Although anyone may apply for admission at Navajo Community College, Navajo and other Indians are given preference. A high school diploma is not required unless the student is 17 or younger. High School equivalency diplomas are awarded through a precollege program offered at the college. Students range in age from 16 years to 65, represent more than thirty-five different tribes, and have come from as far away as Kenya, Peru, and Alaska.

Eighty percent of the student body are Navajo, ten percent other Indians, and ten percent non-Indian. NCC is a two-year college, a liberal arts and vocational institution that awards Associate of Arts and Associate of Applied Sciences degrees, and Certificates of Proficiency in vocational studies that include auto mechanics, welding, nursing, drafting, and home economics.

The total number of persons employed by the college has reached nearly 300, with the majority of non-teaching staff positions being filled by Indians; the largest part of the faculty has so far been non-Indian. Frequently both husband and wife teach at NCC. Its remoteness from any town or city attracts and holds only those individuals with a strong commitment to the ideals of the college.

The Navajo Community College considers itself a "campus without walls," with off-campus programs being sponsored at 14 locations on the reservation and reaching more than 7500 Navajo. The student enrollment is 1177, of whom 432 are at the Tsaile campus. At the offcampus facilities students enjoy a career opportunity program and courses in adult basic education, agriculture, and forestry. Indian Manpower Program and Reservation Management Development are examples of improvement programs which operate through NCC. In the northeast corner of the reservation, at Shiprock, New Mexico, Navajo are being trained to work on an irrigation project that will eventually encompass 110,000 acres of land. Nonacademic programs are also provided by the college, such as its livestock breeding service which provides high quality stallions and bulls to the Navajo free of charge.

The college is not a branch of any existing institution, but rather is totally controlled by the Navajo tribe through its board of regents. During its early days, NCC was involved in a constant struggle to obtain operating funds. Due to efforts by foundations, the Navajo tribe, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Office of Economic Opportunity, other organizations, and private individuals, the college survived the lean years. Today, because of an act passed by the U.S. Congress, the federal government provides the basic operating funds; but the college still depends heavily on grants and donations for its continued growth.

It seems ironic that after more than a century, it may have been the advice of one of the Navajo people's greatest adversaries that will finally elevate them to their proper position as citizens of the United States.

It was General James H. Carleton who in 1862 told Congress that by the application of force of arms he would gather the Navajo tribe together, little by little, and place them in a confined area away from their haunts and hills and the hiding places of their country. In this confined area the young Navajo would be taught to read and write, and the arts of peace would be instilled in these Indians. "Soon they would acquire new habits, new ideas, new modes of life," Carleton boasted, "The old and more stubborn tribesmen would die off, to be replaced by educated and acculturated young!"

Carleton set about to accomplish his objectives in one of the most savage campaigns ever brought against the Indians. He recalled Christopher "Kit" Carson to active duty from the New Mexico Militia, who, with other military men, rounded up those Navajo who had not yet surrendered; in the process many Navajo water holes were poisoned, orchards and gardens destroyed, and livestock killed or taken, all in an effort to force the holdouts into submission through privation and starvation.

(Far right) Young Navajo students, like this one learning to weave, are encouraged to study tribal crafts along with contemporary college subjects.

The hub of the campus is its cultural center, oriented to face the east and the rising sun, like a hogan, the traditional Navajo home.

It was under these conditions that about half the entire Navajo tribe was rounded up and forced on the Long Walk that Dr. Atcitty referred to in his message to the graduating class. They traveled 350 miles from Fort Defiance on the present Arizona/New Mexico line to Fort Sumner in eastern New Mexico a barren, isolated, ill-constructed camp where they would remain from early 1864 to mid-1868. Part of the condition of release was that the tribal leaders agree to allow some sort of "non-Indian-style" education for their young. By the time they were allowed to return to their homeland, starvation, disease, and despair had killed all but about 7000. The descendants of those Navajo who returned from the Long Walk are among those attending Navajo Community College today. They are the great hope of their tribe for tomorrow.

Carleton might be disappointed to find that far from dying out, the "old and more stubborn tribesmen" and their ways are still revered by the younger generation.

New ideas and new modes of life are being taught at NCC, but in conjunction with the old beliefs and traditions.

Arthur Lomax, assistant to president Atcitty, prefers to think of future generations of Navajo "living in the best of two worlds!"

Former student government president Walter Jensen says his memories of NCC are of the "outstanding cooperation between the students and faculty and the genuine respect of the young for their elders."

This semester's student government president, Edison Hatathli, has great expectations for the coming year: "We are working on a variety of projects including intramural sports, movies, dances, and rodeos. We are also inter-nested in disciplinary matters, which reflect our growing maturity and participation in the total activities of the college. We feel that those of us who are privileged to pass over the bridge can contribute toward obtaining a true democracy for the First Americans." ☐ ☐ ☐

Litter

Editor: We have been taking the Arizona High-ways Magazine for some time and have made several trips down that way. But there is one thing that really bothers me and that is great amounts of litter along your highways, especially in the southern part where we were this winter. It was impossible to enjoy the scenery or beauty of the desert because of all the tin cans, the glitter from all the broken booze bottles along the way. You ought to show a picture like that sometime and let people really know what to expect. Even my colored glasses didn't help.

Thank God that here in Oregon we have a law that eliminates highway litter. We have a returnable can and bottle law, as you know, so any litter we do have is caused by out-of-state tourists. We are really proud of our un-littered highways. With all the beauty Arizona has it should pass a law like we have in Oregon.

Mrs. Charles Ketchum Vida, OR We share your frustration. The State of Arizona spent over a half million dollars in fiscal 1975 picking up litter on 6051 miles of State and Federal highways. In addition, law enforcement agencies are ever-watchful for offenders, but only a small part are apprehended.

Bouquets

Editor: I frequently enjoy Arizona Highways. The May issue was one of particular interest to me, regarding the Grand Canyon. I would salute your two new photographers, Walter Rist and Don Briggs! Their photography was excellent in creative ways and beauty.

The photograph on page 25 by Walter Rist of the "dripping water, maidenhair fern and rock" was one of the most beautiful ones I have seen in a long time. I hope you can pass on my appreciation.

Charlotte Adelsperger Shawnee Mission, KS Editor: It seems each year as vacation approaches, your staff seems to have ESP. Your article on Jerome was just what we needed. We are going to Jerome and We plan to stay for a two-day visit. Last year we planned on visiting Bisbee and your magazine printed an article on that city also.

We enjoy your magazine very much. The desert has a beauty all its own.

Mrs. Robert G. Stroud Arcadia, CA Editor: We are Pennsylvanians and love our state but we don't have a magazine called Arizona Highways.

You people do a wonderful job and I truly enjoyed your February issue "Ani-mals in Arizona."

I have family in Glendale and Sun City who send us the yearly calendar and magazine, and somehow your pictures make the miles a little closer.

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Vaughn Beaver, PA Editor: I am not in the habit of writing to magazines, but in this case, I feel that I have to. Arizona Highways is undoubtedly, for a nature and animal lover, one of the most beautiful and inspiring magazines on the market. Besides that, after having visited in Arizona a couple of times, I really fell in love with this delightful state.

I just want to thank you for bringing beauty, enjoyment and inspiration into my home every month.

Mrs. L. M. Canden (Member, National Wildlife Federation)

Correction

Editor: Your magnificent Arizona Highways has been a real joy to me since 1939. Thank you.

Your April issue, Mr. Serven's article entitled, "Wagons of the West," says, "Three Studebaker brothers emigrated to Philadelphia from Germany in 1836."

They came to Arizona one hundred years earlier. Please correct this to read 1736.

Naomi Studebaker Cocanower Sun City, AZ We regret the error, and stand corrected.

Editor: We see in the July issue of Arizona Highways on page 39 that Cenozoic Era geologic time is listed as "from 10 million years to the present." This should be 70 million years, I suggest. This, then, will agree with the geologic time shown for the Mesozoic and Paleozoic Eras.

I believe Bert Griffin will agree.

Forrest E. Jones Grandview, MO You're quite right. Dr. Griffin not only agrees, but pointed out to us our error in proofreading his manuscript whereby 10 million years was printed instead of the correct 70 million years as the duration to date of the Cenozoic Era.

Arizona Highways 1975 Index now available

The index for all 1975 issues of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS is now available for purchase; the prices listed include postage. Please do not send orders to ARIZONA HIGHWAYS.

Please make checks payable to Arizona State Library Association and mail your order to Division of Library, Archives and Public Records, Third Floor, State Capitol, Phoenix AZ 85007.

(Opposite) Even the breeze pauses in hushed silence during this most beautiful time of day in Organ Pipe National Monument.

Dick Dietrich (Back Cover) Water-worn rocks in reflective pools near Tortilla Flat on the Apache Trail.

David Muench This Issue: 35mm slides in 2" mounts, 1 to 15 slides, 40 each, 16 to 49 slides, 35 each, 50 or more, 3 for $1.00. Allow three weeks for delivery. Address: Slide Department, Arizona Highways, 2039 West Lewis Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona 85009.