There is a lot of potential for change this month at Sheldon Jackson College. On October 4th, the city assembly will hold a special session to discuss the issues of important services such as Hames, the Childcare Center, and Stratton Library, and to consider the terms for a $450k line of credit to cover outstanding utility payments.
Then, on October 11th, the Alaska Commission on Post-secondary Education will hold its regularly scheduled meeting to address the licensure of the College, which it revoked on September 11th.
The assembly meeting is open to the public, and public comments are encouraged. I'm not sure if ACPE will provide teleconferencing access for its meeting.
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A Tribal College?
I'll almost agree with one thing that "anonymous" said several posts ago, though in a perverse way. Sealaska and Shee Atika and a number of other SE ANCSA corporations are far from bankrupt when it comes to the growth of their financial resources and the extent to which their Boards have fulfilled their perceived fiduciary responsibilities. But I would say that there's a certain degree of bankruptcy when it comes to investments in the social fabric of the communities in which shareholders live, or at least the communities that are the ancestral home of the Native peoples whose familes are now scattered around the U.S.
I can hardly blame the Boards of Directors for doing what most corporations feel they must do - maximize profits and distribute some percentage of earned wealth to shareholders. So, the more I think about it the more I believe that the bankruptcy is one of imagination, leadership and will.
Clearly the status quo has not led to significant positive input into the communities where shareholders live. One model that may make sense for Boards to consider is that developed by the Clinton Foundation. In a nutshell it proposes that corporate and governmental forces can be marshalled to solve problems without harm to the bottom line, so long as leaders have the will and imagination to think of solutions together.
In other words, if the ANCSA corporate and tribal government leaders of Southeast got together and organized themselves to solve the educational problems faced by Native people, they could succeed, and without hurting their bottom lines.
One solution is a tribal college. There are resources available from federal agencies - as authorized by acts of Congress. Their are private resources available as part of a consortium of tribal colleges. The corporations and tribes have additional resources. And Clinton and his partners learned early on in the fight to solve the AIDS problem in Africa; the solution isn't simply money, it is organization and efficiency as well.
So should Sheldon Jackson College be re-organized as a tribal college? Yes, if the Native leadership of SE Alaska have the will and the imagination. If not, then no... it won't happen no matter how hard anyone tries to make it so. The effort must be comprehensive, powerful, and immediate.
Do I think it will happen? Well, I've been in Sitka two months now and will remain one more. So far a few people have come up to me and asked me why not organize SJC as a tribal college. My answer has been that I have moved on to other issues and I'm waiting for other leaders to step-up.
Will they? I don't think so... Will I? Not sure... I have used so much of my energy, emotion, money and will over the years I'm not sure I have enough left in the tank. I will, however, organize a meeting to at least see if folks will talk about the possibilities.
Stay tuned for location, date and time of that meeting. I expect it will be mid month in Sitka.
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