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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2003)
6 NOVEMBER 1, 2003 Smoke Signals nt AM Q Spirit Mountain Community Fund grant and long time Tribal support make it possible nd nan J m !i I ittrt & By Ron Karten The crowd circled around the northwest cor ner of the building and out into the streets. Traf fic detoured. Parking spaces sat roped off and idle. Chairs were scarce. It was so beautiful, yet too hot in the sun and too cold in the shade. Work on a big new dorm continued in the background. All this as the ceremony to open Portland State University's (PSU) new Native American Student and Community Center began. Here was the best sign yet that the university is succeeding in its effort to make PSU, long a small-city, commuter school into one with a core, with a heart, where people not only go to class but stay and study, bring their children and build community. And 'community' was the message of dozens of luminaries from state and Tribal heritages, from architects and designers, artists and stu dents, Veterans and even a Portland Public Schools Native Montessori class, who welcomed a crowd that could have been a thousand strong, and whose energy was greater than that. "So many starts, so many disappointments," said former Oregon Governor Victor Atiyeh. "Now, that's all behind us." Atiyeh was instru mental in securing $1.2 million in bonds for con struction of the $4.5 million, 11,000 square-foot project, according to emcee Tom Ball, a Klamath Indian and Research Associate at the PSU Or egon Social Learning Center. "In an urban area," said Terry Cross, Execu tive Director of the National Indian Child Wel fare Association, "in the context of asphalt and buildings, you find a sense of community by gathering. We have created a place to gather. For many, this will be the first experience of a university campus. "We are here to dedicate a building, but I call on all of us to dedicate ourselves. This is a cen ter that belongs not just to the city and to the region, but to the Tribes. The real test is how we use it." . i . . 'own-.,. r r .- t- gtjf ' jt J "I See It As A Vision" Grand Ronde Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle Kennedy spoke with passion at the opening celebration. sirs" tr 11 If n ; w2 Ji It i 4- -v.fi , I fMTj I II - Uka T 1 a iJM r-i 'ill" j. ' V- '"4 .it.- K What Is Old Is New Again After ten years of hard work, planning and fundraising, the Portland State University N.A. Student and Community Center opened its doors on Friday, October 24. The student center will be a home away from home for the hundreds of Native students from around the country who attend PSU. "I see it as a vision," said Cheryle Kennedy, Chairwoman for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. "All people have certain gifts, and vision is one of them. (This vision was fulfilled in this building) so we could take our rightful place. "When we look at the banks of the river that flows through Portland, these are the homes of our ancestors. They used to have their villages here. These were the highways of my people. "This building will serve for generations to come ... (a place where) we can all come together and give honor to each other. It shows our will ingness to embrace one another," said Kennedy. "Education is a key value of the Spirit Moun tain Community Fund," said Spirit Mountain Community Fund Director Angie Blackwell. The Community Fund contributed $250,000 to the project. The Fund's "commitment to lifelong learning" also supported the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government. PSU students initiated this project back in the 1980s, according to William Elk, a former officer of PSU United Indian Students of Higher Edu cation, who took his turn pushing the project forward starting in 1996. "Students were talk ing about it ten years prior," he said. "He was like a burr in our side," said Kathryn Harrison, Tribal Elder and former Chairwoman of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ron.de, who singled him out as a driving force for the project. "I thought, 'Crazy kid, what makes you think you'll collect that much money.'" Elk said he knew the project was on its way when former PSU President Judith Ramaley gave the group $35,000 for architectural draw ings and set aside a piece of land for the project "if we could get the fund-raising started." Elk is now manager of Information Systems for the Wildhorse Resort, a project of the Con federated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reser vation in Pendleton. The Umatillas also contributed to the building fund, along with the Siletz, Warm Springs, Nez Perce Tribes and the Oregon Indian Education Association. Many Indian associations, indi vidual Indians and Native families also contrib uted. Nineteen individuals served as Native American Community Advisory members and 17 Tribes were represented at the opening cer emony. Following 90 minutes worth of speeches, Kathryn Harrison cut the ribbon, and after wards said that as she cut it, she thought, "Oh, I just wanted to cry for all those students who went to school here and had this vision, and for their families, who stood by them." With the ribbon cut, the crowds surged into the building from all sides from the west with the classrooms, offices and computer room and from the east, with the well lit Gathering Area the so-called Civic Side and Wild Side. The Gathering Area is on the Wild Side with six poles rising like teepee poles that appear to go up through the roof. Above, the poles con tinue skyward above a courtyard... well, the de sign team says it beautifully: "The Wild Side is organic, constructed of brick, stone and block with light penetrating the building in mysterious ways. Lines of light in the roof spine filter day light into the central gallery and provide a way home at night. A courtyard for the students and community honors the salmon and extends the i w4 1M T if If 1 v , I ' ' . V pi !i 14 tt.' , ... - r ,r ftnnrir 1 jni-iimnliii in t tlnuMMIwrii j.J..jaikA.,l &Bj3LLrf, ., r-Ttromill .1. All Indian Access Natives from all over Oregon were on hand to celebrate the opening of the student center. Grassdancer Amanda Wright (left), Traditional dancer Rosa Frutos, and Junior Miss Mak-Klakas Queen Rebecca Kirk (right) danced in the Grand Entry. A
