From left: Otoe-Missouria Tribal Council Members Melanie Harader, Wesley J. Hudson, Ted Grant; Bacone College Board of Trustees Chairman Archie Mason (Osage); Otoe-Missouria Tribal Council Chairman John R. Shotton; Bacone College President Dr. Ferlin Clark (Navajo); Otoe-Missouria Tribal Council Members Darrell Kihega, Courtney Burgess, Alvin Moore Sr. Photo courtesy Bacone College

Education | National

Historic Indian college secures charter from Otoe-Missouria Tribe

Monday, August 12, 2019

The following is the text of an August 9, 2019, news release from Bacone College and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe. The Otoe-Missouria Tribe has joined the Osage Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in issuing a charter to Bacone College, a historic Indian university in Oklahoma.

The Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians voted unanimously to charter Bacone College on August 8, 2019. Otoe-Missouria Tribal Council Chairman John R. Shotton executed the resolution at the Otoe-Missouria Tribal Headquarters in Red Rock where he formally announced the tribe’s decision to charter Bacone College as it applies for tribal college status.

“This partnership is important in our effort to provide higher educational opportunities for our students, “ said Chairman Shotton. “Education is a key that we believe will open many doors of opportunities for our students and our Otoe-Missouria people.”

The Otoe-Missouria Tribal Council resolution chartering Bacone College as a Tribal College is the third resolution from an Oklahoma federally-recognized tribe, including the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Osage Nation.

“We appreciate the Otoe-Missouria Tribe’s leadership in forming a consortium of Oklahoma tribes to transform Bacone College into a Tribal College,” said Dr. Ferlin Clark, Bacone College President. “The leadership of our tribes uniting to help us become a tribal college will help sustain Bacone College into the long-term future, it’s good medicine.”

“The support from the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, along with the Osage and Keetoowah Tribes, and other tribes we are talking to, is a movement to unite our Oklahoma tribes around our fire of education,” said Archie Mason (Osage), President of the Bacone College Board of Trustees. “It’s time for our Native American nations in Oklahoma to come together, both small and large tribes, to invest in the education of our children and grandchildren.”