Class Notes

Every year, for the past six years, Heritage University has recognized Native American elders for their lifetimes of significant contributions to their communities as part of its Native American Heritage Month celebration. This year, our honorees include a cultural preservationist and mentor, Grammy-nominated musicians, an award-winning educator and an elected official.

NED TILLEQUOTES JR. “KWOI-UMA-IL-PILP” spent a lifetime ensuring the safety and viability of the Yakama Nation and its people. As a tribal police officer, he helped individuals and families during times of their greatest vulnerability by enforcing laws to protect the welfare of others. Then, as an elected official serving on the Tribal Code of Ethics Board, he ensured that those in power fulfilled their duties with integrity. Today, as a member of the Yakama Nation General Council, he serves his people by assuring the prosperity and integrity of the tribe and its treaty rights.

NAKUMPTW PRISCILLA SALUSKIN BLACKWOLF is enrolled Yakama and Wishxum Colville. Growing up, her parents and grandparents taught her the importance of family, love and forgiveness. However, cultural and spiritual connections through traditional crafts, food gathering and ancestral language were something she had to seek out on her own as an adult. She found her way to the longhouse and made a connection that was so powerful that Priscilla dedicated much of her adult life to helping other indigenous people find their own connections to their culture. To this day, she serves as a voluntary mentor, teaching Ichishkiin and taking young people food gathering using traditional ways steeped in ceremony. Because of her, many men and women who were disconnected from their traditional ways are re-engaged with their culture and are passing it along to their children and grandchildren.

KENNY “APA-IKANI” AND LOUISE “TIYUMTK” SCABBY ROBE live their lives dedicated to faith, family and culture. Both grew up, raised
in their cultural traditions. Kenny, a member of the Blackfeet Nation and Louise, who is enrolled Yakama, were both hoop dancers who competed against one another at powwows throughout the west. Many years later, when they met as adults and fell in love, the couple made the conscious decision that they would raise their 12 children with reverence for God and a connection to their cultural heritage through music and dance. That commitment led to the formation of the multi Grammy-nominated drum group Black Lodge Singers whose members include Kenny, Louise and their 12 sons. Since its formation, Black Lodge has served as a cultural ambassador and a source of pride and inspiration for Native Americans everywhere. They have traveled the world, connecting people from different lands, cultures and points of view through the universal spiritual language of music.

GARY “GIIWEDINANANG” DECOTEAU is enrolled Turtle Mountain Chippewa, who settled in the Yakima Valley and dedicated his life to helping youth achieve their greatest potential through education. He spent 38 years as an educator, first as a teacher at the Yakama Tribal School and then at the Toppenish Middle School, before earning his principal credentials from Heritage University. He went on to serve ten years as the middle school’s principal, earning the prestigious recognition as the Regional State Principal of the Year in 2008. After his retirement, he turned his attention to helping adults achieve their academic dreams when he joined the faculty at Heritage University, where he taught classes and mentored Native American college students. 

Students at Heritage University walk past the Gaye and Jim Pigott Commons on campus during the first week of the fall 2021 semester.

When the 2021/22 academic year opened this fall with students, faculty and staff on campus for in-person learning, what was once normal seemed quite remarkable! After all, for the past year and a half, the campus was more like a ghost town than a university, with most classes meeting online and all but the most essential employees working remotely from their home offices.

The decision to return to in-person classes was made early in the summer when it appeared as though Washington state, and the nation, had turned a corner on COVID-19. Vaccines were widely available, and the rate of infection was going down. The state and health districts had lifted restrictions on gatherings, and schools and universities were given guidelines to return to “normal” operations.

“Our goal was, and continues to be, to provide our students with a quality academic experience while maintaining safety for all who come on campus,” said Dr. Melissa Hill, vice president for student affairs and head of the university’s safe open committee. “We worked very closely with the Department of Health to build a plan that would allow us to accomplish both goals.”

Ensuring safety meant maintaining all of the pandemic protocols—social distancing, wearing face masks and proper hygiene. The biggest change was requiring vaccinations for faculty, staff and students. Hill explained that the decision to require the vaccine came after a great deal of reflection and conversations with a wide array of individuals.

By that time, the vaccine had been widely distributed and was proving to be safe and effective in reducing infection and, in the rare breakthrough cases, in reducing the severity of infection, even with the onset of the Delta variant. Students and staff embraced the mandate for the most part, with only a handful choosing to leave the university or apply for religious or medical exemptions. In fact, at a time when most colleges and universities in the United States reported a drop in enrollment, Heritage’s enrollment remains strong.

Students study on a picnic table outside the Violet Lumley Rau Center at Heritage University.

“We are very proud of our employees and our student body,” said Hill. “The vast majority were fully vaccinated before the start of the school year.”

The university didn’t do away with its online platforms, which have proven to be an effective tool to help students stay engaged in their studies. During the summer of 2020, Heritage set up its online classrooms so that students can take classes three ways: in person, on campus; synchronously online at the time classes meet; and asynchronously online at a time that best meets their schedule. The result eliminates some of the barriers that can keep students from college, such as unexpected issues with transportation, childcare or even illness.

“Ideally, we want to see every student on campus, in the classroom with their instructor and their peers,” said Hill. “However, the reality of our students’ lives means that sometimes they just can’t make it here. Having these other options gives them more flexibility and options to keep them from missing classes and falling behind. We continue to see a number of our students take advantage of this flexibility.”

The first semester of the year recently wrapped up. Hill is encouraged by the results of the first few months.

“Operating in this pandemic world means we have to be flexible and open to rapid changes. We continue to monitor the situation and are prepared to adjust as needed,” she said. “If there is one thing this last year and a half has shown, it is that our students are resilient and focused on reaching their goals. They are not letting anything get in their way.” 

A Heritage University student sits near the Teepee and checks her phone during a break from studies on campus.