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STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald

Davonne Teri John, who is a member of the Navajo tribe, waits in line before Fort Lewis College’s spring 2012 commencement ceremony in April. The tuition waiver helped her and many others afford college, John said. “I think it’s a valuable attribute of the college, and at the same time, it’s some-thing that can be misunderstood about why it is there and why students receive it,” she said.

Editor’s note: This is the first in a four-part series about the Native American tuition waiver at Fort Lewis College.

BY EMERY COWANHERALD STAFF WRITER

On a morning this April that threatened rain, Davonne Teri John lined up with more than 400 other Fort Lewis College seniors to accept her baccalaureate degree.

Bright blue and red beads of her powwow regalia peeked through her graduation gown, and a silver and turquoise stone bracelet gleamed on her wrist.

As a member of the Navajo tribe, John is one of hun-dreds of Native American students at the college who quali-fied for free tuition because of a century-old promise made by the state of Colorado.

She didn’t forget that promise when she graduated, John said.

“The tuition waiver, financially, it helped me accomplish my college career,” she said. “I’m really thankful for it.”

FLC is one of only two colleges in the nation where a contractual agreement between state and federal govern-ment created a tuition waiver available to any member of a Native American tribe. The waiver has changed the lives of thousands of Native American students and, in many ways, come to define the college perched above downtown Durango.

The tuition waiver’s roots date back to 1911, when Colora-do accepted a 6,279-acre land grant from the federal govern-ment. In exchange for the sprawling property located five miles south of Hesperus, Colorado agreed to maintain the land and buildings there as an institution of learning and admit Native American students tuition free.

Courtesy of La Plata County Historical Society

Teacher Martha R. Clarke leads a needlework lesson for students at the Native American boarding school. The boarding school occupied Fort Lewis College’s original campus near Hesperus until 1911, when the federal government gave the land to the state of Colorado. In return, Colorado agreed to maintain the land and buildings as an institution of learning and admit Native American students tuition free.

TODAY: The tuition waiver’s his-tory, regional economic impact and symbolic importance.

MONDAY: Past use of Fort Lewis College’s former campus and its effect on the tuition waiver.

TUESDAY: Legislators and col-

lege officials hope to shift some of the tuition waiver’s financial burden to the federal government.

WEDNESDAY: The Old Fort Lewis campus today and the struggle to use that land according to its his-toric educational purpose.

IN THIS SERIES

A HISTORIC PROMISEFort Lewis College tuition waiver still changing lives for better

See PROMISE, 5A

BY RICHARD LARDNERASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is warning American businesses about an unusu-ally potent computer virus that infected Iran’s oil industry even as suspicions persist that the United States is responsible for secretly creating and unleashing cyberweapons against foreign countries.

The government’s dual roles of alerting U.S. companies about these threats and producing powerful software weapons and eavesdropping tools underscore the risks of an unintended, on-line boomerang.

Unlike a bullet or missile fired at an enemy, a cyberweapon that spreads across the Internet may circle back accidentally to infect comput-ers it was never supposed to target. It’s one of the unusual challenges facing the programmers who build such weapons, and presidents who must

decide when to launch them.

The Homeland Security Depart-ment’s warning about the new virus, known as “Flame,” assured U.S. companies that no infections had been discov-ered so far inside the U.S. It de-scribed Flame as an espionage tool that was sophisti-

cated in design, using encryption and other tech-niques to help break into computers and move through corporate or private networks. The virus can eavesdrop on data traffic, take screenshots and record audio and keystrokes. The depart-ment said the origin is a mystery.

The White House has declined to discuss the virus.

But suspicions about the U.S. government’s role in the use of cyberweapons were heightened by a report in Friday’s New York Times. Based on anonymous sources, it said President Barack Obama secretly had ordered the use of another sophisticated cyberweapon, known as Stuxnet, to attack the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear-enrichment facilities. The order was an extension of a sabotage program that the Times said began during the Bush administration.

Danger a reality

in world of cyberwar

Unintended ‘boomerang’ can come back to infect

attackers’ computers

See CYBERWAR, 6A

ELECTION 2012

KATHLEEN RYANCOLORADO PUBLIC NEWS

DENVER – Advocates for children in Colorado say the youngest Americans are being ignored so far in the presidential campaigns, and they’re hop-ing that changes before November.

The group Every Child Matters says big business is steering the campaigns with multimillion-dollar attack ads, and the candidates are responding to those rather than focusing on families. Every Child

Where are kids on campaign trail?

See KIDS, 6A

RICHARD DREW/Associated Press

New York City’s proposal to ban the sale of large sodas and other sug-ary drinks in restaurants, delis and movie theaters to combat obesity begs the question: How far will governments go in the name of public health?

BY ADAM GELLERAP NATIONAL WRITER

NEW YORK – Just how far would a government go to pro-tect us from ourselves?

In New York City – which already bans smoking in public parks in the name of public health and bars artificial trans fats from food served in restaurants – Mayor Michael Bloom-berg now wants to stop sales of large sodas and other sugary drinks in a bid to battle obesity.

But in a country where fries have been equated with free-dom, Bloomberg’s proposal raises super-sized questions

NYC not so sweet on super-size sodas

“This is at the level of complexity that very few organizations in the world would even attempt.”MIKKO HYPPONENCHIEF RESEARCH OFFICER AT F-SECURE

See SODAS, 6A

June is upon us and thesnowmelt is pretty much done.

The Animas is fishing well andthe high mountain creeks and thePiedra are very soon to be infishable condition. The Animasis in prime streamer conditionand there have been reports of caddis hatches in the evening.

The San Juan below Navajo Dam has just been brought back to500 cfs after one week at 5000 and is fishing extremely well.

Flows should be steady around 500 cfs for the foreseeable future.Midges and the occasional Beatis are what’s happening.

Flat water fishing on the regional lakes and reservoirs offer goodfishing opportunities for trout, pike, smallmouth and crappie.

Come by Duranglers to get up to date fishing conditions, all ofyour fly supplies or to book a guided trip. And, don’t forget,

Glenn Tinnin is still booking Fly Fishing Clinics.

Also, connect with us on the web for fly fishing info, reports,pictures, humor and conservation. Become a fan on Facebook

by searching for Duranglers Flies and supplies. We publish amonthly newsletter that is distributed via e-mail. If you are not cur-rently receiving our newsletter, give us a call or drop us an email(duranglers@duranglers.net) and we’ll include you in distribution.

A HISTORIC PROMISE ★ SUNDAY, JUNE 3, 2012 ★ THE DURANGO HERALD ★ PAGE 5A

“It would have a tumbling effect. If the waiver was lost I think you would see an economic spiral that would ultimately bring down the college, Durango and La Plata County.”CAREY VICENTIFORT LEWIS COLLEGE PROFESSOR

Source: La Plata County Durango Herald

Old Fort LewisFort Lewis College's former campus occupied a 6,279-acre property south of Hesperus. In 1911, the federal government granted the land to the State of Colorado. In exchange, the state promised to maintain the land and buildings as an institution of learning and admit Native American students tuition free and on terms of equality with white students.

Hesperus

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Elk Research Institute

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La Plat

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Trust land boundary

Area detailed

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Old Fort campus

1971 Colorado lawmakers passa bill to limit the tuition waiver toin-state residents who otherwisecould not afford tuition costs. Twoyears later, the 10th Circuit Court ofAppeals ruled that the conditionsof the 1911 grant require the stateto offer free tuition to all NativeAmerican students, regardless ofeconomic or residency status.

1880 1900 1950 2000’90 ’10 ’20 ’30 ’40 ’60 ’70 ’80 ’90 ’10

1891 Fort Lewis begins asan Indian boarding school.

1880 Fort Lewis military fort established fivemiles south of Hesperus.

1927 A two-year college begins at the Fort Lewis campus.

1960 Colo-rado State University begins operating an agricultural research station at the Old Fort Campus, and also starts conducting high-altitude bull testing.

1956 Fort Lewis College moves to Durango.

1911 The tuition waiver is born when Colorado accepts the 6,279-acre Fort Lewis School property grant from the federal government. In accepting the grant, the state agrees to maintain the property as an institution of learning and admit Native American pupils free of charge. Fort Lewis high school established with a focus on agriculture, household training and mechanical arts.

January 2010 Colorado Rep. Karen Middleton introduces a bill that would reduce the amount of money the state pays to Fort Lewis College for nonresident Native American students. Protests ensued, and the bill was pulled days later.

2017 The expirationdate of all leases on theproperty, including theleases for the Elk ResearchInstitute and cattle grazing.At that time, Fort LewisCollege and the ColoradoState Land Board cancreate an entirely new planfor the land.

June 2010 Colorado State University pulls out of its master lease agreement on the Old Fort Lewis property, leaving the Colorado State Board of Land Commissioners with the responsibility to draw up new leases on the land.

Milestones in the history of Fort Lewis College

2020

The learning institution be-came FLC’s first campus.

Since then, the tuition waiver has provided a constant remind-er of the college’s historic roots. In recent years, the waiver and the land known as the Old Fort property have gained a bigger spotlight as college administra-tors, state officials and legislators wrestle with potential changes in what the future looks like for both.

College administrators have focused their efforts on a bill that would create a federal funding stream for the tuition waiver. In tight budgetary times it’s getting harder and harder for the state to reimburse the college for the $13 million annual cost of the waiver, college officials and state legisla-tors said.

With Native American popu-lations increasing, the state is headed down “a slippery slope” in its ability to pay for the waiver without federal help, former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell said.

“If we don’t find some kind of solution, it’s only going to get worse at the state level,” said Campbell, who was Colorado’s senator from 1993 to 2005 and who helped draft and lobby for the bill.

Federal funding would help guarantee that the waiver contin-ues to be supported regardless of the state’s finances, he said.

The college also is gaining a bigger role in shaping the use of the Hesperus property, also known as the Old Fort. Colorado State University, which had leased the land since FLC moved to Du-rango in 1956, left unexpectedly in 2010, leaving the FLC with a new level of authority over what projects to pursue on its former campus.

But how the college moves forward will necessarily be shaped by history and Colorado’s century-old promise. Whatever happens to the waiver, and the land that created it, that path will continue to shape FLC. And with more than $100 million local eco-nomic impact, the college’s future inevitably will affect that of the entire region.

Creating the promiseFLC’s tuition waiver, which

guarantees free tuition to all Native American students, is similar to only one other college in the nation: the University of

Minnesota Morris. In both cases, the tuition waiver evolved out of the institution’s boarding-school roots.

The Old Fort property served as a military fort before the fed-eral government turned it into a boarding school in 1891. Almost 20 years later, with enrollment declining, the federal govern-ment offered to give Colorado the 6,279 acres that encom-passed the school property. The deal included requirements that land must be maintained as an institution of learning and that Indian pupils at all times would be admitted to the school free of charge for tuition and “on terms of equality with white pupils.”

Colorado Gov. John Shafroth accepted the offer in January 1911 and the tuition waiver was born.

Facing the implicationsToday, the tuition waiver has

grown to proportions never en-visioned by the legislators who agreed to the contract. The col-lege enrolled about 800 Native American students last year, or about 20 percent of its student body, and awards more degrees to Native American and Alaskan Native students than any other baccalaureate institution in the nation.

But in 1911, people believed Native Americans as a distinct population were going extinct, said Majel Boxer, chairwoman of FLC’s Native American and Indigenous Studies Department. The U.S. government massacred entire tribes during the Indian Wars of the late 1800s and aimed to assimilate the children of re-maining tribal members through boarding schools.

“Native peoples were seen as the vanishing American,” Boxer said.

The waiver is, and always has been, funded entirely through the state’s general fund, and grow-ing Native American enrollment at FLC has worried legislators thinking about the budgetary ef-fects.

Efforts were made in 1971 and again in 2010 to limit the waiver or reduce the amount of state funding funneled to FLC to cover Native American tuition costs. Both efforts sparked fierce reactions from students, college professors and Native American groups from across the region.

Such responses reflect the his-tory of the tuition waiver and the

larger context of Native Ameri-can history, said Carey Vicenti, an FLC professor who worked as a former chief judge of the Ji-carilla Apache Tribal Court and briefly as an assistant to the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the Clinton administra-tion.

“In Native America, we have rare small victories, and one of them is the tuition waiver,” Vicenti said. “To lose a small vic-tory is pretty bad, particularly when the background is the loss of a country.”

Economics of the waiverEconomically, the tuition

waiver is a vital pillar of the college and the region. The op-portunity for free tuition is a driving force behind most Na-tive Americans’ decision to at-tend FLC.

If the waiver were ever to end, enrollment among Native Ameri-can students would nosedive, depriving the college of millions of state dollars, Vicenti said. The college would have to cut faculty, course offerings and programs to

make up the loss, which would be a turnoff for all students.

The region would feel the re-percussions if the college were ever to falter. FLC has a total local economic impact of $108 million annually, according to a 2010 study produced by the FLC school of business. The college is the third-largest employer in the area, and a “force for economic stability in the community,” the report said.

“It would have a tumbling ef-fect,” Vicenti said. “If the waiver was lost, I think you would see an economic spiral that would ulti-mately bring down the college, Durango and La Plata County. The impact is bigger than most people think.”

The waiver also brings added benefits to the college. As a Na-tive American-serving, nontrib-ally controlled institution, the college is eligible for millions in federal grants. Since 2008, the college has received $6.4 million in federal Title III grants, two of which were based on its high percentage of Native American students. The grants have funded new science lab equipment, aca-demic advisers and a new public health major, among other things.

Academically, the tuition waiver puts FLC in a unique position to develop a nationally recognized American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, said Rick Wheelock, professor emeritus of Native American and Indigenous Studies at the college. Wheelock said he envisions FLC becoming a center for research and scholarship on the subject.

Education as a sacred trustEconomics aside, the tuition

waiver carries a heavy sym-bolic weight. The waiver is one

of many manifestations of the trust relationship between the tribes and the federal govern-ment that still exists today, said Boxer, of FLC’s Native Ameri-can and Indigenous Studies department.

Wheelock attended FLC as a student in the 1970s and said over the years students and profes-sors have referred to the waiver as a sacred trust symbolizing the state’s commitment to Native education and native-directed needs.

The waiver is one of few tan-gible and lasting examples of col-laboration gone right, said Wil-liam Mendoza, executive director of the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Na-tive Education.

“This represents probably the strongest commitment we see around the country in terms of institutions of higher education, state government and federal government working to address needs of American Indian and Alaska Native students,” Men-doza said.

Justin Boyd, an FLC graduate, sees the waiver’s importance as even greater.

“With the tuition waiver, stu-dents have a fighting chance,” he said.

ecowan@durangoherald.com

Courtesy of Fort Lewis College Center for Southwest Studies

1956 – Fort Lewis College moves to Durango.

Promise: Tuition waiver has grown Continued from 1A