Fort Lewis College

In 1910, the U.S government offered to transfer ownership of the military base and Indian boarding school in Hesperus, Colorado to the state of Colorado in exchange of the promise that the property would become an insitution that offered equitable education to Native American Students tuition-free. This collection features the perspectives of Indigenous students who attended Fort Lewis College during the 1960s and 1970s and includes many interviews regarding the Fort Lewis College Tuition Controversy (1971) in which the state briefly rescinded tuition waivers for Native students. Many interviews featured in this collection express ranging reactions to that decision including Native students from many Tribal nations, a local newspaper owner, Fort Lewis College faculty and President.