- Founded in 1880, Bacon College has evolved into an Indigenous-led educational institution that fosters intertribal community and offers academic degrees.
- Currently, the university is facing financial difficulties, plagued by mismanagement, unstable leadership, and lawsuits.
- Due to financial difficulties, Bacon School has suspended classes and is facing permanent closure.
The hallways of Bacon College are cold and dark. No lectures can be heard in the main hall, only the steady hum of the space heaters that keep the offices warm.
Although students are not attending classes here this semester, they still need to work on it. The university’s historic buildings have leaks that need to be plugged, mold that needs to be removed, and valuable pieces of Native American art that need to be saved from ruin. Not to mention creating a plan to permanently prevent university closures. For the remaining nine employees, it’s a daunting task.
But on this rainy December morning, the university president is fulfilling DoorDash orders. Interim President Nikki Michael said of salaries: “If we have the money, we can pay them.” Even she has to find a way to make ends meet.
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Founded in 1880 as a Baptist missionary college with an emphasis on assimilation, Bacon College transformed into a Native American-led educational institution offering intertribal communities and academic degrees. With permission from the Muscogee Nation Tribal Council, Bacon School’s founders used treaty rights to establish the university at the confluence of three rivers where tribal nations have met for generations. did.
A Chickasaw warrior statue is on display at Bacon College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, on January 8, 2024. Native American schools are nearing the brink of closure as years of poor financial decisions, inconsistent leadership, and disrepair threaten schools that were once havens for Native scholars. ing. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford)
Throughout the 20th century, this center was Bacon’s Native American Art Program, which produced some of the most important Native artists of the time, including Woody Crumbo, Fred Beaver, Joan Hill, and Ruth Blalock Jones.
They and their contemporaries pushed the boundaries of what was considered “Native American art.” During a period of intense hostility toward tribal sovereignty by the United States, Bacon became defined by the exchange of ideas created by Native faculty and students and representing new opportunities for Native education and academic thought. .
“Bacon was the only place in the world where that could happen for Native Americans,” said Robin Mays, a Cherokee and Muscogee who attended Bacon in the ’70s and taught silversmithing there in the ’90s. . “It’s a tragedy to think it will be abolished.”
The university has been plagued by poor financial choices and inconsistent leadership for decades, leading to flashpoints between management, students, and staff over the university’s mission and cultural direction. I am.
Some have accused the recent administration of embezzlement, fraud and intimidation, resulting in multiple lawsuits. Students expressed frustration with a lack of resources and cultural competency among some school leaders. The university has also struggled to maintain its accreditation.
Last year, the lawsuit devastated Bacon’s finances. Ultimately, Michael made the decision to suspend his spring semester classes. She hopes the postponement is temporary, but if the university can’t raise millions of dollars, Oklahoma’s oldest continuously operating university will likely close. .
“We have endured more than 140 years of terrible decisions,” said Gerald Cournoyer, a lecturer hired to restart the university’s art program in 2019.
“It was difficult to supervise Bacon because of the lack of leadership,” said Cournoyer, who is also a prominent Lakota artist. Some presidents focused their time and money on athletic programs, while others focused their time and money on Mr. Bacon’s Baptist missionary roots. “This is what you get when you don’t put any money, nothing, even $20 or $10, into a fundraiser.”
While Patty Jo King served as director of Bacon’s American Indian Center from 2012 to 2018, leaders decided to create a state-of-the-art replacement for the 80-year-old building, which houses many treasured Native American artifacts. wanted to build a museum. art.
“We didn’t even have the funds to keep it open 24/7,” said King, now a retired Cherokee professor, author and scholar.
King said Bacon’s financial debt was already catching up to her even when she first came to campus. Student dormitories lacked hot water, staff salaries were significantly lower, and graduation rates for students remaining at the university were low.
Still, as much as she and other faculty members tried to make it a place where Native students could find community, Ms. Bacon’s old problems never went away. Like Cournoyer, she left heartbroken after years of trying to rebuild.
The old museum is currently vacant. The remains were moved to another location where they would not be exposed to extreme temperatures.
The remaining staff acts as caretakers of the historic stone building, which predates Oklahoma and is itself an important part of the past. The fireplace in Ataroa Lodge’s museum is made from stone sent to the university from Indigenous communities across the country. One from Sequoia’s birthplace, one from Sitting Bull’s grave, and one from the field where Custer died. There are 500 stones in total, each of which is filled with memories.
Interim President Michael and others are cleaning the building in hopes of hosting graduation ceremonies and student gatherings soon. Other staff chase away the looters. Rare paintings still hang on campus, including those of members of the Kiowa Six who achieved international fame a century before him, as well as those of Muskogee painter and alumnus Johnny Diacon. included, and his work can be seen in the background of several episodes of the television show “Reservation Dogs”. .
A few years ago, experts at a Tulsa museum warned that many of the paintings were contaminated with mold and that mold could spread to other artwork nearby. Leslie Hanna, a Cherokee educator who serves on the university’s board of trustees, said she’s concerned, but with broken gas lines, a flooded basement and a large amount of debt, the cost of repairs will be low. He said it was far down the list.
Bacon College’s current financial crisis is due in part to a lawsuit filed by Midgley-Hoover Energy Concepts, a Utah-based heating and air company, against the college over more than $1 million in unpaid construction and service costs. It originates from. The Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office put Bacon’s property up for sale twice last year to settle debts. The auction has been canceled both times, most recently in December.
MHEC owner Chris Aubert told KOSU last month that he intended to purchase the historic property. MHEC’s attorneys have not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Associated Press.
Alumni have questioned the validity of the property sale, pointing to treaty rights governing the campus and its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. A lawyer for the university declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.
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Michael said he doesn’t know what caused the auction to stall, but he’s grateful for more time to save Bacon.
According to the American Indian College Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps Native Americans access higher education, there are only a few dozen tribal colleges nationwide. Tribal universities must be sponsored by a federally recognized tribe and Native Americans must make up a majority of the enrollment. But unlike many of these universities, Bacon College is built on its identity as an intertribal school, a quality that former staff and alumni say makes it special. .
Bacon, now a private institution, receives no state or federal aid. Its finances have long relied heavily on student tuition fees, and it now has no students. Michael said it was a miracle the university was able to stay open for so long, given its financial situation.
“Looking back on this now, I think this was set up to fail,” she said.
