"Oglala Lakota College was started 35 years ago to provide higher education opportunity to residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. There were jobs available on the reservation that required a college degree, but students had to leave the reservation to attend college. So tribal officials decided to start their own college. This fall, OLC will expand to another reservation with a center on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.

Stepping into the void left by the bankruptcy of Si Tanka University, OLC will open a campus at Eagle Butte. "College students were being deprived of the opportunity of continuing their education," OLC president Thomas Shortbull said. As many as 250 students could study for degrees at the campus.

The Eagle Butte center will be OLC's 11th campus - nine are scattered across the Pine Ridge reservation and one is located in Rapid City. "Every large community (on Pine Ridge) has a center," Shortbull said. "We are unique among colleges in that we are completely decentralized. We go to the students, instead of students coming to us.""

Get the Story:
Editorial: OLC provides education opportunity (The Rapid City Journal 7/2)

Relevant Links:
Oglala Lakota College - http://www.olc.edu

Related Stories:
Oglala Lakota College to open at Cheyenne River (06/08)
Oglala Lakota College assumes control of Head Start (09/20)
Opinion: Oglala Lakota College has positive record (07/11)
Fired faculty question Oglala Lakota College (07/08)
Oglala Lakota College turns to wind energy (11/22)
Oglala Lakota College to graduate largest class (06/16)
Tribal college pow-wow to mark start of Lakota New Year (03/03)