"When news came across the wire Thursday afternoon that, indeed, United Tribes Technical college in Bismarck finally was funded $3.5 million for operations, I knew there would be a great sigh of relief from Dave Gipp, longtime president of the college.
Gipp's name is as synonymous with UTTC as drums are to powwows. This 30-year veteran of skirmishes with the government has proved he is well worth his presidential status when it comes to the tribal college movement.
This hasn't been easy for Gipp.
His trek across the country to Washington is a well-worn path. This is the fifth year UTTC has been left standing outside the funding cycle. They pound on the doors of the government for funding regularly. And it seems not unlike those American Indians of olden days who battered the doors of the forts for a pittance of the government's promised food."
Get the Story:DORREEN YELLOW BIRD COLUMN: Tribal college funding pays (The Grand Forks Herald 3/24)
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