D-Q University: End of the road? State's only tribal college has lost its accreditation.

01/21/2005 - SACRAMENTO CA
By Lesli A. Maxwell -- Bee Staff Writer

D-Q University, California's only tribal college, may be in its final days of operation after administrators and students learned Thursday that the two-year school has lost its accreditation.

The regional agency that grants accreditation for Western colleges notified D-Q late Wednesday that the school can no longer grant degrees or offer course credits that students can transfer to other schools.

"Accreditation has been terminated, and it is effective immediately," said Barbara A. Beno, executive director for the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, an arm of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

The agency's decision came after putting D-Q on notice last June that it must address an array of problems, including financial mismanagement, unstable leadership and declining enrollment of American Indian students.

Beno said Thursday that school leaders had made "insufficient progress" on recommendations to recruit more board members, better manage school finances and prove that the courses they offer would lead students to complete an associate of arts degree.

Victor Gabriel, president of D-Q, delivered the grim news to students returning to the small Yolo County campus Thursday to start the spring semester.

"He told us that since they are not accredited, if they offered us classes, they would count for a zero," said Candice Guthrie, a 19-year-old from Folsom who started at D-Q last fall and lives on campus. "He also told us that they will have to shut down the dorms soon. They can't afford to pay the PG&E bill."

Gabriel could not be reached for comment. Another D-Q official, James H. May, was vague about the school's future.

"I don't know if the school will have to shut down," said May, executive vice president since July.

"This is very bad timing," May said. "We already registered students and hired faculty to teach. They've put us in a real bind."

D-Q's board of trustees will hold an emergency meeting Saturday to discuss the school's next steps, May said.

The college has been under fire for months. Since early summer, the U.S. Department of Education has been investigating whether D-Q mishandled thousands of dollars in financial aid. D-Q also lost nearly 20 percent of its budget when the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs withdrew roughly $300,000 because Indian enrollment had plummeted. School officials have had to dip into the permanent endowment to pay bills and salaries.

D-Q was founded in 1971 when American Indian and Chicano activists jumped a fence to occupy an old Army communications center west of Davis and demanded that the land and buildings be made a college for indigenous people.

One former trustee said that sort of drastic step may be necessary again.

"This school was born out of protest, and it looks like we are going to have to do it all over again to save D-Q," said Susan Reece, a former trustee and leader in the American Indian community.

Students, however, are left wondering what they need to do next.

Guthrie, who had just unpacked her belongings in her dorm room Thursday, said she will probably move home and try to enroll in courses at Folsom Lake College. "It's pretty depressing," she said. "D-Q means so much to me. I feel like I'm leaving my family."

About the writer:

The Bee's Lesli A. Maxwell can be reached at (916) 321-1048 or Leslie A. Maxwell

February Reports 2005

Last updated on February 21, 2005