D-Q University
Encyclopedia
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
located on Road 31 in Yolo County, 6.7 miles (10.8 km) west of State Route 113
California State Route 113
State Route 113 is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from around west of Rio Vista at State Route 12 to State Route 99 south of Yuba City. It is an important connecting route between Interstate 80 and Interstate 5. Past the southern terminus are...
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The school ended its full time college schedule due to loss of accreditation, declining enrollment, and alleged financial mismanagement in 2005; however students and instructors who remained on campus have continued to use of the campus for classes, gatherings, and ceremony.
Name
The full name of the school is DeganawidahThe Great Peacemaker
The Great Peacemaker, sometimes referred to as Deganawida or Dekanawida was, along with Hiawatha, by tradition the founder of the Haudenosaunee, commonly called the Iroquois Confederacy, a political and cultural union of several Native American tribes residing...
-Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
University. According to Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
leaders, use of the spelled-out name of the university can be offensive because the first part of the name should be used only in an appropriate spiritual context. Therefore, it is usually referred to as D–Q University to avoid offense. Iroquois tribal members, in certain circumstances, may use the full name.
Mission
The purpose of D–Q University was to provide alternative ideas and methods of education to Native American people. Among its goals were the preservation and re-institutionalization of traditional Native American values, the perpetuation and exercise of Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
religion and beliefs, the establishment of a Native American Research Institute, the development of field-based educational delivery systems to Native Americans who could not attend the school itself, and the maintenance of social and personal support systems for D-Q students and staff.
History
Founded in 1971, D-Q was the only all-Native American college in California and faced severe financial and accreditation issues. The school was one of the first six tribal colleges in the United States, all of which were founded between 1968 and 1972. Those six colleges created the American Indian Higher Education ConsortiumAmerican Indian Higher Education Consortium
The American Indian Higher Education Consortium was established in 1972, in order to represent the interests of the newly developed tribal colleges, which are controlled and operated by American Indian nations...
in 1972. The U.S. Department of Education recognizes 34 tribal colleges, the majority of which are two-year institutions.
The site of D-Q was previously used as a United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
communications facility, known at various times as the Sacramento Valley Radio Transmitting Station; West Coast Relay and Transmitter Station; U.S. Army West Coast Relay and Radio Transmitting Station; and the U.S. Army Strategic Communications Command - CONUS, Davis California, Facility. The site was also used at one time by the Department of the Army, Signal Corps, to support the Signal Corps Radio Station WVY.
After the federal government decommissioned the site, the organizers of the school applied to use it, based on a law which required surplus federal land to be returned to Native Americans. The application was initially denied, but after a series of protests, the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
withdrew its application to use the site for its Native American Studies
Native American Studies
Native American Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that examines the history, culture, politics, issues and contemporary experience of Native peoples in North America, or, taking a hemispheric approach, the Americas...
program and a primate lab, and D–Q University was conditionally granted the land in 1970.
The school opened in 1971, and obtained accreditation in 1977, but lost it in 2005, after which it closed. However, disputes among the board of trustees were settled in a lawsuit which resulted in the re-opening of D–Q University later that year. Declining enrollment and lack of funds led the board to dismiss the president in June 2006. While formal classes are not currently being held, elders and teachers have occupied the University grounds despite Board and police pressures to vacate the land. During several instances in 2008, students and supporters were arrested for occupying the grounds.
The school's community continues in hosting communities events, such as powwows, as recently as April 2009. including presenting an indigenous permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
course and other cultural classes.
D–Q University in September 2010, in conjunction with the Regenerative Design Institute hosted a Permaculture Design Course , during which time Native Americans and non-Natives collaborated on site development proposals.