Smoke Signals 3
JULY 1, 2006
Lane Community College Longhouse Breaks Ground
Ten years and $800,000 in the bank leaves about $300,000 still to go.
By Ron Karten
Lane Community College (LCC)
President Mary Spilde called it
"Phase One of a long-held dream."
LCC Native American Student Pro
grams Coordinator James Florendo,
before joining with his brother, Brent
Florendo and Southern Oregon
University Native American Stud
ies Program Director David West
for the opening song, said that this
would be "the first of many" Grand
Entry songs.
Wednesday, June 21, was a beau
tiful, sunny, breezy day when more
than 100 joined together at the top of
a hill high above the school's running
New Ground Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle Kennedy
helped out with the ground breaking at the Lane County
Community College held on Wednesday, June 21 .
track and looking across the coun
tryside to Mt. Pisco, "where Native
Americans gathered," according to
Janet Anderson, Director of the LCC
Foundation.
The day has been more than 13
years in coming, since Frank Mer
rill first floated the idea. Merrill
and others representing the dream
have been pitching it and securing
funding at countless gatherings
since. The $1.1 million needed has
been slow in coming, as is often
the case, but the effort has been
relentless in all the years. In fact,
this groundbreaking comes partly
on the great confidence supporters
have in the on-going effort, because
the project remains $300,000 from
its goal. It also rides in on the gen
erosity of LCC students who have
committed to a three-year, $3term
assessment to the project, anticipat
ing an additional contribution of
$250,000 to $300,000.
The Spirit Mountain Community
Fund contributed $100,000 to the
project.
In 1995, the Lane County Board
of Education committed $250,000
from the college's Capital Repair and
Improvement Fund to the longhouse,
and though today the college is reduc
ing its operating budget and laying
off staff, the commitment to the
longhouse stands. "We are following
through on our promises," said col
lege President Mary Spilde.
"The dream is finally coming
through," said Sandin Riddle, Na
tive American Student Association
President.
"I'm hoping we get the same love
and respect that they get at the
University of Oregon," said Happi
Matthews, LCC Student Body Presi
dent.
Between the efforts of
LCC students, faculty,
administration, commu
nity and Tribes, Emcee
James Florendo said, "It's
truly a community proj
ect." This will be the first
longhouse built at an
American Community
College not affiliated with
a Tribe, said Roger Hall,
LCC Board of Education
Chair. "I hope and be
lieve that this house will
become hallowed ground,"
he said.
For Grand Ronde Trib
al Council Chairwoman
Cheryle Kennedy, an
important part of the
longhouse is the sense
of sovereignty that it
will promote. Often in
her travels, she said, she
encounters people who
"are just amazed that
Native Americans are
still alive and thriving.
And students are just
as amazed," she said.
Again and again, how
ever, she has seen how
places that promote talk
about Indian culture,
also promote a vital re
spect for Indian sover
eignty. According to the site
plan, the design of the
longhouse "will reflect a
symbiosis of traditional
and contemporary construction
methods, with ma
terials that are de
rived from Mother
Earth. Situated on
a prominent site
with axial relations
to the cardinal di
rections, the build
ing will provide a
landmark for the
campus and be a
gateway introduc
tion for visitors to
the campus. With
the major ceremoni
al entry facing east,
a story telling and
teaching circle adja
cent to the building
will be encompassed
by carved cedar to
tems, honoring the
armed forces of the
United States. En
tries, both east and
west, will lead to a circular Hall
of Honor, a place to honor the
nine Tribes of Oregon. The Hall
Celebration Tribal Chairwoman Cheryle Kennedy shares a laugh with
Southern Oregon University Native American Studies Program Director David West
as Frank Merrill, a driving force behind the longhouse effort, looks on.
of Honor will be an interpretation
of a pit house or Hogan with the
light source radiating from above
through timber framing. Neigh
boring the Hall, the Longhouse
Room will be of traditional propor-
ning to move its Health and Wellness
program, and others as well, to LCC
in the near future.
"I think it's important to have
a Native presence on campus,"
said Tribal member David Lewis,
"I hope and believe that this house will
become hallowed ground."
Roger Hall,
LCC Board of Education Chair
tions and structure, representing
a place that had familial, sacred
and traditional modes. It will be
a place of gathering on the college
grounds. The "smoke hole" above
will provide light to the room and
longhouse roof will reflect the pat
terns of the sky."
"We're completing the circle and
acknowledging the part that Native
Americans played," said Anderson.
"It's a perfect place now and for the
future."
For Tribal member John Chantell,
Tribal Services Representative of the
Tribe's Eugene Satellite office, the
groundbreaking was a homecoming.
"I was here for four years," he said.
"It's like a family reunion."
And, he added, the Tribe is plan-
a Ph.D. candidate at the nearby
University of Oregon (UO). "These
kind of things start Native Studies
programs."
When UO's Longhouse caretaker
Gordon Bettles sang to ready the
group for the actual groundbreaking,
he said, "You gotta sing and you gotta
dig with a good heart."
Nick Sixkiller, a Siletz Education
Specialist, follows nine Siletz stu
dents currently attending LCC. He
sees in the future longhouse a "com
fortable setting to focus on school
work, a place for sharing culture and
heritage with other Tribes and non
Indians who will better understand
Indian culture as a result.
"It should be open to all, and at
the same time, it should encourage
n "
atf t31.a iWL -1 i-
"Thank You For Being Here" LCC Native American Student Programs
Coordinator James Florendo (at the podium) welcomes over 1 00 people to the
ground breaking ceremony on the Lane Community College Campus in Eugene.