UCLA Community College Bibliography
Abstract
This bibliography explores tribally controlled colleges, an area of research that is often neglected by mainstream academia. Unlike other American minorities, Native Americans make up sovereign nations. American Indian tribal members retain their rights to land and self-government, and since 1924 they hold dual citizenship in their Native communities and the United States. The referenced articles, dissertations, and reports provide historical, qualitative, quantitative, and case study evidence pertaining to the triumphs and struggles of American Indians in higher education beginning in 1968 with the creation of Navajo Community College—now Din College—the first formal tribally controlled higher education institution. Some 40 years later, 34 tribal colleges now exist in the United States after centuries of land theft, assimilation policy, and injurious government actions that have contributed to high poverty, high school-dropout rates, and the lowest college admission and retention rates. Tribal colleges have begun to reverse some of these deleterious legacies. Their dual missions are to (a) provide students with training for immediate employment by focusing on vocational certificate programs and 2-year associate degrees in over 200 disciplines and (b) provide academic knowledge by using culture as their frame of reference and addressing the social and economic needs of