'Father of Indian education' dies at 83
Associated Press
Posted on Tue, Mar. 15, 2005
WOODLAND, Calif. - A longtime University of California, Davis, professor whose activities led to the opening of dozens of Indian colleges and other education programs has died.
David Risling, son of a chief of Northern California's Hoopa tribe, died Sunday in Woodland Memorial Hospital. He was 83.
In announcing his death Tuesday, the university called Risling "the father of Indian education."
Risling helped set up the university's Native American studies program in 1970 and lectured there until he retired in 1991. The program is one of just three in North America to award doctoral degrees.
He co-founded nearby D-Q University, California's only tribal college for American Indians, and remained active on both campuses until recently - including trying unsuccessfully to revive D-Q after it was closed due to financial problems.
The university was established after students jumped the fence of a closed U.S. Army communications center in 1970 to demand the space be turned over for a tribal college. The controversy continues with a fight over which board members are in control and with students occupying the officially closed campus.
Three U.S. presidents tapped Risling for the National Advisory Council on Indian Education. He helped create the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. He co-founded California Indian Legal Services and the Native American Rights Fund.
He helped persuade Congress to approve the Indian Education and Indian Tribal Community College acts, which prompted creation of 31 Indian community colleges and dozens of K-12 reservation education programs nationwide.
Risling was born April 10, 1921, near Weitchpec where the Trinity River flows into the Klamath River, one of eight children of David Risling Sr., and Mary Geneva Orcutt.
A memorial service is planned for Saturday in Hoopa.
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Last updated on March 16, 2005