The Establishment of D-Q University. An Example of Successful Indian-Chicano Community Development.

Deganawidah-Quetzalcoatl University (DQU), like most American Indian and Chicano efforts, was not created without serious difficulties. During the first stage of DQU's establishment, from 1961 through the early part of 1970, very little positive response took place. Although hundreds of letters and proposals were sent to tribal leaders, government officials, and private agencies, few Indians were enthusiastic and saw the value of developing an educational philosophy more relevant to their communities. Most were apparently awed by the task's difficulty; non-Indians were usually hostile or indifferent. When acquiring the site (a 650 acre Army Communications Center 7 miles west of Davis), occupation, court action, and public education-lobbying had to be used. The site's occupation by Indian elements ultimately created a new set of problems for the movement which threatened, from time to time, to cause the entire effort to fail. These problems arose because: of the nature of the movement as an alliance of Indians and Chicanos; of the bringing together of adults and youth ranging in age from the upper teens to the early sixties; the movement included both academic (faculty-staff-students) and community people; and of the bringing together of persons with different life-styles and values. Also, the initial funding proved exceedingly difficult because no agency, major foundation, or religious denomination stood ready to provide money. (NQ)