Turtle Mountain Community College: A Legacy of Education and Empowerment

Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC), a private tribal land-grant college in Belcourt, North Dakota, stands as a beacon of education and empowerment for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the wider community. Located ten miles (16 km) from the Canada-US border in Turtle Mountain, the north-central portion of North Dakota, TMCC has played a vital role in addressing the higher education needs of American Indians since its founding in 1972.

Origins and Founding

TMCC was founded by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in 1972. The college is one of the original six tribal colleges that were established by various Indian Tribes in the early 1970’s. The Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe chartered the college in 1972. This initiative stemmed from a recognized need to provide accessible and culturally relevant higher education opportunities for American Indians.

Marshell Larocque, a Turtle Mountain Community College alumnus with a four-year degree in the Anishaabe language, said, “Every time you come to something like this you hear new stories about our community history and how it was built.”

Lancelot Azure, one of several founders of the college, recalls that they started the school from scratch. They operated wherever space was available, even beginning by teaching classes in high schools at nighttime. Azure says anytime a building in town was abandoned, they took it. “There was a Laundromat across the road that became our vocational building. There was a post office and converted to a bar, became our arrowhead printing,” said Lancelot.

Carol Davis, one of its founders, said, “When I worked for the Indian Movement, the American Indian Movement, I knew they were making history too but left and came here. And so, its history,”

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Early Years and Growth

The early years of TMCC were marked by humble beginnings and a determined spirit. TMCC operated out of two offices on the third floor of a former Roman Catholic convent. For a short period, the college was situated in the basement of an abandoned Indian Health Service facility. In 1977, TMCC moved into an abandoned tribal building and a Bureau of Indian Affairs facility that had been moved to Belcourt’s main street by a tribal member who had converted the building into a café and dance hall. Zelma Peltier, tribal councilwoman and former teacher at the school in its early years, says they didn’t have decent buildings. “We had a flood and the basement there at the old hospital flooded and oh my goodness it reeked of fuel oil,” said Peltier.

Despite these challenges, the college persevered, driven by its mission to serve the tribal community. The school began with 90 students in the first classes, and now between 500 and 600 students are enrolled on average. Over time, issues with funding and facilities improved. Groups traveled to DC for congressional support because more money meant building more campuses. Donna Dubois Thomas has been employed at the school since 1981. Thomas says she’s seen one generation after another graduate from the school. After Donna’s first three years, it was accredited as a college. They were previously known as an enrichment center.

Campus and Facilities

The main campus is located just north of the unincorporated city of Belcourt, the center of the reservation community's government, commerce, and education for the more than 31,000 enrolled members of the tribe. In May 1999, the College moved to a new campus and a new facility. The new facility is located 2 ½ miles north of Belcourt. TMCC’s new main campus includes a 124,000-square/ft. building located on an approximately 123-acre site. The main campus houses a 165,000-square-foot academic building on an approximately 123-acre site.

The facility houses technology, finance, general classrooms, science, math and engineering classrooms and labs, library and archives, learning resource centers, faculty area, student services area including a student union, gymnasium, auditorium, career and technical education facility, and mechanical. The main campus site has a 60 meter 660 kW wind turbine that helps supply general use electricity to the main building.

The former main campus in Belcourt has twelve buildings that provide 66,000 square feet of space. Both campuses are being used for college or community use. The two campuses house all college functions with the exception of some off-campus community responsive training programs. TMCC is a commuter campus and maintains no residence halls.

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In 2002, Anishinaabe campus was purchased and consists of 102.5 acres of land along the shores of Belcourt Lake. It is located between the north main campus and the south campus. Anishinaabe Cultural and Wellness Center is the home of the 1994 Land Grant programs. The center hosts many culturally appropriate health, educational, social, leadership, research, and community service programs. There is a 2.5-mile-long hiking trail and confidence course that weaves throughout the wooded acreage. Anishinaabe also has a Straw Bale building equipped with solar panels built in 2004. In 2012, a demonstration kitchen classroom was added to the main building at the Anishinaabe campus, which also includes a root cellar below the kitchen. TMCC renovated the Trading Post building on this campus to provide space for entrepreneurial incubation activities.

Land-Grant Status

In 1994, Congress granted Tribal Colleges Land Grant status. Land grant status helps TMCC become more connected to the mainstream institution by sharing projects, resources, and information with other land grant colleges. The land grant status gives TMCC access to equity grants, research grants, extension grants, and interest from an endowment fund. Most of these programs are competitive based but the endowment interest funding is paid annually based on the student count formula per college.

Academic Programs

In addition to a wide array of associate degrees and certificate of completion programs, TMC is proud to offer four year degrees in Elementary Education and Secondary Science Teacher Education. The newest addition to TMCC is the Teacher Education Department, which offers three programs: early childhood education, elementary education, and secondary science. The department hosted its first elementary teacher education cohort in the fall of 2000. Since then, 107 teacher candidates have graduated from the college. Of those graduates, 88 are employed as classroom teachers or specialists who meet the unique needs of diverse learners. In the spring of 2015, 16 teacher education students graduated from TMCC’s various teacher education programs. All graduates are currently teaching in schools serving a high proportion of Native students.

The college’s teacher education programs are rigorous and enjoy an outstanding reputation. Integral to this academic excellence is an understanding of Native culture, which is woven throughout the curriculum. It is expected that Native values and principles will be embraced and modeled through culturally responsive teaching. The Elementary Teacher Education Program is committed to helping all students learn. The teacher candidates will receive the opportunity to apply and adapt a multitude of teaching principles to meet the needs of diverse student populations. Multicultural education is taken to heart wherein inclusiveness is seen as an essential component of this program. Consequently, there is a strong commitment to fully implementing best teaching practices that encompass the latest models of inquiry-based instructional strategies which differentiate teaching methods to meet the needs of all the students. Integral to these best teaching practices are exploratory and hands-on methodologies which emphasize engagement, learning as a process, and students’ own ideas and concrete experiences in creating new and deepened understandings of the world around them.

Excellence is also the goal of the secondary science program. The Native Ways of Knowing Secondary Science Program was launched in 2006, and was designed to bring about significant change in how science is taught and understood at the high-school level. The Native perspective has been liberally infused throughout the Native Ways of Knowing project’s core content areas of physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science. Funded by the National Science Foundation, Native Ways of Knowing brought three tribal colleges together-TMCC, Cankdeska Cikana Community College, and Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College (formerly Fort Berthold Community College)-in a collaborative effort to place American Indian science teachers in schools on and near Indian reservations. The emphasis on the Native perspective in teaching the sciences has continued well beyond the life of the project.

Finally, the TMCC baccalaureate degree in early childhood education is a career-oriented program that prepares students to be effective teachers of young children from birth through age eight or third grade. Launched in 2010, graduates of the program must be competent to meet the developmental needs of children and families and the programming needs of a high-quality, early childhood education program. The curriculum is aligned with North Dakota and National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education standards in order to ensure consistency across both agencies. In addition, the program is aligned with the National Association for the Education of Young Children standards for early childhood professional preparation programs.

The mission of the teacher education program at TMCC is to implement curriculum transformation through culturally responsive teaching. To that end, the Teacher Education Department embraces the Seven Teachings of the Anishinaabe: wisdom, love, respect, bravery, honesty, humility, and truth, embedding these teachings throughout the culturally responsive curriculum. Teresa Delorme, Ed.D.

Athletics

Turtle Mountain competes in the Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and the USCAA. The athletic teams are known as the Mighty Mikinocks.

Accreditation and Memberships

TMCC is a member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), which is a community of tribally and federally chartered institutions working to strengthen tribal nations and make a lasting difference in the lives of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Goals

Turtle Mountain College hereby establishes the following goals:

A learning environment stressing the application of academic concepts to concrete problems;
Academic preparation for learning as a life-long process of discovery of knowledge embedded in the intellectual disciplines and the traditions of the tribe;
In and out of class opportunities to discover the nature of Indian society, its history, variation, current and future patterns, needs, and to serve as a contributing member toward its maintenance and betterment;
A curriculum wherein Indian tribal studies are an integral part of all courses offered as well as history, values, methods, and culture of Western society;
Continuous assessment of institutional programs and student academic achievement for the purpose of continuous improvement of student learning;
Baccalaureate, Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science degrees, and certificate programs of study;
Cooperation with locally Indian-owned business and stimulation of economic development for the service area;
Continued independent accreditation;

Historical Context of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa

Understanding the history of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa provides essential context to the mission and significance of Turtle Mountain Community College.

According to Ojibway historical narratives, their forefathers lived on the great salt water, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean near the Gulf of the St. Lawrence River. The history is told through the Ojibway religion-Me-da-we, or Midewiwin. Originally the Ojibway were one tribe, but over three centuries became distinct separate tribes-the Ottawa, Pottawatomie, and Ojibway. The Ojibway proper, after separating from the Ottawa and Pottawatomie, lived at the Falls of Sault Ste. Marie, at the outlet of Lake Superior. Here they established a large village. From this point at Sault Ste.

First Métis are the offspring of men from Champlain’s Company who founded Quebec. The Amikwa and Missisauga Ojibway join tribesman at Sault Ste. Marie and go to war against an Iroquois war party. United Bands of Ojibway again encounter Iroquois near Sault Ste.

Alliance made between the Ojibway and Dakota. The Dakota agree to let the Ojibway hunt upon the eastern fringes of Dakota country in exchange for delivery of goods and continued trade with the French. Ojibway build a large village on Madeline Island at the mouth of Chequamegon Bay. Ojibway acquire firearms. The Missisauga Ojibway move into the area south and east of Lake Superior and their people spread through what is now southern Ontario, between Lake Huron and Lake Erie. Between 1780 and 1800, the first Plains Ojibway began separating from the Woodland Ojibway proper. Ojibways form permanent settlements at Pembina. Alexander Henry’s post is also established at Pembina, in the Red River Valley. First appearance of the Red River Cart. The Chippewa are credited with inventing this two-wheeled cart, which was considered a major invention. The cart played a major role in early transportation in the northern Dakota Territory. The cart provided the first means of movement of goods and was used to transport tents, dried buffalo meat, and hides. There is a mass migration from Pembina to escape flood waters. Chippewa relocate to St.

Father Belcourt, an early missionary who became prominent among the Pembina Chippewa, builds a mill at Pembina Mountains, 30 miles up the Pembina River, at St. Joseph’s. There are 1,500 French-Canadian, Cree, Chippewa, and Assiniboine Métis settled by this time. The present community of Belcourt is the location and home of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.

March 2-Dakota Territory is established.

October 2-A treaty is concluded between the United States and Red Lake and Pembina Bands of Chippewa at the old crossing of the Red Lake River. Commencing at the intersection of the national boundary with the Lake of the Woods; thence in a southwest direction to the head of Thief River; thence following that stream to its mouth; thence southeasterly in a direct line toward the head of Wild Rice River, and thence following the boundary of the Pillager cession of 1855 to the mouth of said river; thence up the cannel of the Red River to the North of the mouth of the Sheyenne; thence up said river to Stump Lake near the eastern extremity of Devils Lake, thence north to the international boundary; and thence east of said boundary to the place of beginning. (Kappler, 1972, p. This land embraced nearly all of the Red River Valley in Minnesota and Dakota, and was estimated to contain eleven million acres.

Canada purchases a tract of land (Rupert’s Land) in Manitoba, an area of high concentration of Canadian Métis. The Métis protest and claim the method of surveying the land is alien to the manner of Métis ownership. They believe their land base would be destroyed as well as the Métis way of life. Riel established a provisional government in Manitoba. Of the three Riel requests, provincial status is declared. (Howard, 1952, 1994, p.

March 12-The Manitoba Act is passed by the Parliament of Canada. The act provides for land to be set aside for Métis claims to their ancestral lands. The act allows the use of their native languages, English, and French. St. Joseph’s is used by Louis Riel as a haven. Father Belcourt’s bell hangs in the steeple of Walhalla area. St. Many Métis migrate west to Saskatchewan. As settlers again move into Métis lands, Métis demand action. Riel is called back to act as spokesman.

July 11-Little Shell, residing at Wood Mountain, Manitoba, travels to Turtle Mountain Reservation, and calls a meeting. He warns white settlers not to settle on Turtle Mountain Chippewa lands because the treaty with the United States government had not been signed. St. Mary’s Indian Industrial School is built at Belcourt. The school is financed by Sister Catherine Drexel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and administered by two sisters from Yankton, South Dakota. Two buildings, each 3 stories high, serve as a boarding school for 116 girls and 73 boys on the Turtle Mountain reservation.

November 16- Louis Riel is hanged for treason at Regina. The federal government constructs several “day” schools on the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

October 22-Through the McCumber Agreement, the Turtle Mountain Band lose their rights and title to 10,000,000 acres for which the government offers to pay 10 cents per acre. Classified as the best agricultural land in the state, the parcel of land reserved for the Turtle Mountain is insufficient in size (two townships or 6 miles by 12 miles) to accommodate the number of Chippewa. The Commission also wants to extinguish Chippewa title and remove the Chippewa to Berthold. The Chippewa protest. Frame church is built at Belcourt by Father Malo. The first health facility is constructed on the Turtle Mountain Reservation. An old army barracks is moved to Belcourt and renovated into a hospital for the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

Federal government agrees that the Indians would assume the responsibility for educating their own children. Two school districts are formed, Couture and Ingebretson. These two school districts substantively form the Turtle Mountain Community School system. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa continues to be governed by a traditional council. A second hospital is built and replaces the first hospital built in 1916. A three-story concrete elementary school is built. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa adopts a constitution, bylaws, and form a self-governing tribal council. The Turtle Mountain band still recognizes its hereditary Little Shell leaders. St. Ann’s church and Indian Mission school is built. February 7-Turtle Mountain Housing Authority is chartered. Turtle Mountain Reservation receives funding to build a 50-bed hospital for the community. Tribe contracts St. KEYA radio is established. Turtle Mountain Manufacturing Company is established. It is a 100 percent tribally-owned and operated business. Uniband, a 100 percent tribally-owned enterprise is established. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa constructs a casino, as a result of an agreement between the state and the Tribes. This agreement is made possible under the Indian Gaming and Regulatory Act.

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