The Gathering Place

A HISTORY OF NOR + H IDAHO COL EEGE 路

FRAN BAHR

F ive years in the making, The Gathering Place chronicles the evolution of North Idaho College from its early days, when the fledgling college was housed on the third floor of Coeur d'Alene City Hall, into the vibrant modern campus now situated on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene. Today, North Idaho College includes outreach campuses in Boundary, Benewah, and Shoshone counties, as well as the Workforce Training Center in Post Falls, Idaho, and serves over 4,600 students.

Informative, entertaining, and often surprising, The Gathering Place reveals the true grit of

Depression-era families who, determined to educate their children despite overwhelming obsft des, saw the college through its precarious ~ years. Anyone who has ever enjoyed the NIC uperience firsthand, whether as a student, a faculty or staff member, or simply a visitor, Will

REGIO NAL HI STOR Y I $39.95

THE

GATHERING PLACE

NORTH I DAHO COLLEGE

THE

GATHERING PLACE

A HISTORY OF NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE

Fran Bahr

Copyright Š 2008 North Idaho College All rights reserved.

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10 09

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4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States.

jacket photographs: The background photograph is of students at the entrance to lee Hall,

circa 1963. On the front of the jacket, from left to right, the inset photographs show an aerial view of the campus, taken in 2005; students fro m various academic programs in front of Lee Hall in 2006; and graduates of the class of 2007 tossing their hats (a detail of which also appears on the spine). On the back of the jacket are a nursing student, circa 1995; two students at the 2006 graduation; and members of the 2006 women's volleyball team celebrating a win. All photographs courtesy of North Idaho College.

Interior layout and jacket design by A. E. Grey.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bahr, Fran.

The gathering place : a history of North Idaho College I Fran Bahr. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-9815210-0-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. North Idaho College- History. 2. North Idaho College-Pictorial works.

3. Universities and colleges-Idaho- Coeur d'Alene. I. Title.

LD3993.B34 2008 3 78.796'94- dc22 2008028921

iv

To the students of North Idaho College-past, present, and future.

CON TEN TS

Acknowledgments

1 The Gathering Place

ix

3

2 The Beginning: 1933- 35

13

3 The College Comes into Its Own: 1935- 39

25

4 A Home for t he Junior Col lege: 1940-49

35

5 N IC Comes of Age: 1950- 62

49

6 The Times ... They Are a-Changin': 1962- 68

65

7 The junior College Grows Up: 1969- 86

81

8 Building Bridges: 1986- 97

101

9 Gathering in a New M illennium: 1998-2007

125

10 Cardi nal Pride in NIC Ath letics

149

11 Arts and Culture

169

12 Yap-Keeh n-Um

183

Af terword Loo king Forward, Looki ng Back

189

Bibliography

195

Index

197

vii

ACKNOWLEDGM ENT S

N

orth Idaho College is exactly that: a college serving the students and communi-

ties of North Idaho. The college employees and community members gather here to make possible higher education for those who want and need it. Since 1933, this jewel of North Idaho has appreciated and used its heritage and facilities to serve the region.

The Gathering Place: A History of North Idaho College is an attempt to picture the evolution of this institution from its extraordinary beginning to its present position as a vital element in North Idaho's thriving community. The Coeur d'Alene Tribe's part in this story reveals its remarkable role in providing the physical and spiritual foundation upon which the college stands. Many people helped on this book who deserve recognition.

The idea for this project started in i999 when NIC trustee Sheila Wood and vice president of college relations Steve Schenk suggested to chairman Bill Nixon that a college history could help explain the birth and development of this remarkable institution. Nixon subsequently appointed trustees Sheila Wood and Rally Williams to chair a committee charged with that task. ix

The college must thank history committee members for their gift of countless hours and support: retired librarian Mary Sorenson; retired business instructor, division chair, and trustee Betty McLain; retired English instructor George Ives; librarian Denise Clark; executive assistant to the president Donna Ward; and public relations director Erna Rhinehart; additionally, alumn i coordinator Sara Fladeland, who with good-natured determination took on the enormous project of collecting and preparing photographs; and perhaps most important, former English instructor and trustee Sheila Wood, who conceived of and bird-dogged the project over eight years of fits and starts, finally guiding it to fruition.

Special thanks must also go to the first writer for this history, Robert Singletary, longtime N IC music and history instructor and local h istory expert. He volunteered many hours of initial research and rough drafting for chapters 1 to 6. Past presidents Barry Schuler, Bob Bennett, and Michael Burke also spent many hours generously providing information about their tenures. Also working beyond the call of duty, athletic director Al Williams brilliantly composed a large portion of chapter io .

Thanks must also go to two local newspapers-the Coeur d'Alene Press and the

Spokesman-Review-and to all the NIC journalism students who have written about the college since 1933, providing an abundance of news and colorful stories. Thanks too to the Musew11 of North Idaho, which shared many of the early photographs found in the first half of the book.

The North Idaho community has helped create this book, much as they created this college seventy-five years ago. One cannot help but find inspiration and joy in the many hands joined together to create good from so little.

x

THE GATHERING PLACE

CHAPTER 1

THE GATHERING PLACE

B efore the white man crossed the Great Plains and swept into the Pacific Northwest, before fur trappers scratched open the pathways Lewis and Clark later followed and mapped, before the Jesuit Black Robes carried Christianity into the wilderness like ravens clutching shiny trinkets, before the miners, farmers, ranchers, realtors, and tourists, the spit of land tucked into Lake Coeur d'Alene's northwest end sat shadowed in great forests of cedar and pine.

This land gave fish, deer, roots, berries, and multitudes of gifts to her people, the Coeur d'Alenes. Indeed, Yap-Keehn-Um, or"the gathering place," had not been silent, but for untold centuries had witnessed the laughter of children, the solemn councils of chiefs and elders, the ordered life of a vigorous culture. These early inhabitants particularly loved this point of land at the Spokane River's genesis, where the tribe's bands would meet in the heat of sum.mer to hunt and fish, gather food, play games, dance, feast, and swim . Then came the white man to interrupt these traditions.

For a time the whites and natives seemed incapable of accepting one another. indeed, this gap has taken

i50

years to close. Before North Idaho College and the

Coeur d'Alene peoples joined hands in the i997 Nine-Point Agreement, tribal mem3

Father Nicholas Point on the Coeur d'Alene Indians late in 1842 or early in 1843, Father Nicholas Point set out from St. Maries and founded among the Coeur d'Alene Indians the Mission of the Sacred Heart on the St. Joe River near the southern tip of Idaho's Coeur d'Alene lake. Because of recurrent flooding, in 1 846 he moved the mission to its present location, on a low hill adjacent to the Coeur d'Alene River. He wrote this in his journals about the wildlife in the area:

bers would be driven from their gathering place to the reservation south of the city of Coeur d'Alene, policed by Fort Sherman troops until the fort's abandonment in 1900, shunned for decades in North Idaho, and humiliated in ways typical of native tribes across the country.

Meanwhile, North Idaho Junior College would take root in 1933 in downtown Coeur d'Alene and soon transplant itself onto the tribe's former summer

What a vast collection of animals! And, sad to say,

campsite to grow and serve the commu-

probably not one of them has not at some time

nity. By the twenty-first century North Idaho College would become the edu-

received homage from the Coeur d'Alenes. The most celebrated ones in the history of their medicine are the bear, the deer, and the calumet bird. The most curious of all is perhaps the wolverine. This animal, which is only as large as an ordinary sheep, has many features in common with the bear. like the bear, it climbs to the top of the tallest trees, and it has, in the muscles of its paws and neck, such prodigious strength that it has been seen to carry off whole deer and to climb, bearing animals larger than itself. Next to the roe deer, the animals most hunted by the Coeur d'Alenes are deer and the bear.

cational hub of North Idaho, a gathering place for all inhabitants.

Who were the Coeur d'Alenes? They called themselves Shee-Chu-Umsch, "the ones who were found here," and inhabited the waterways of the St. Joe and St. Maries Rivers, all of Lake Coeur d'Alene, portions of the Coeur.d'Alene River to the lake's east, and the Spokane River to within twenty miles of Spokane, Wash-

SOURCE: Nicholas Point, Wilderness Kingdom, Indian Life in the Rocky Mountains, 1840- 1847: The journals and Paintings of Nicholas Point

ington. A diplomatic people, the Coeur d' Alenes lived peacefully with one another and their neighbors, the Spokanes to the west, the Pend Oreilles to the north, the Flatheads to the east, and the Nez Perce to the south. Hunters and gatherers, the Coeur d'Alenes moved through their territory, according to the seasons, for camas and other roots, berries, fish, birds, deer and elk, and, once they acquired horses, buffalo in western Montana. Their summer camp

4

Coeur d'Alene Tribe leaders, circa 1891 . Chief Seltice is in the front row, center. Museum of North Idaho photo.

at the juncture of Lake Coeur d'Alene

practices, and have been considered

and the Spokane River promised a spe-

since early times as a tribe possessing a

cial time each year to rest, renew friend -

rather high standa rd of morals" (4).

ships, and enjoy their beautiful home.

Not until the Coeur d'Alenes joined

These inhabitants at the gathering

th e Spokanes, Yakimas, and Palooses to

place were honorable people. In 1927-28,

resist the deluge of whites into their ter-

field researchers Franz Boas and James

ritory did serious trouble begin. On a

Teit, in their Forty-fifth Annual Report of

butte near Rosalia, Washington, the

the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution,

tribes united to defeat Colonel Edward Steptoe and over 150 soldiers in May 1858.

described the Coeur d' Alenes as "more

Though successful, their victory was

serious and reserved than some of the

short lived when a few months later

neighboring tribes." The report notes,

Colonel George Wright with six hun-

"They pay much attention to religious

dred army regulars rousted the victors.

5

found the army's presence oppressive.

Vvhile the Fort Sherman garrison discouraged Coem d'Alene natives, it proved a godsend for the white community. In addition to the much welcomed military presence and two-story hospital, approximately fifty other structures dotted the site, including a row of officers' quarters, assorted barracks, quartermaster and commissary buildings, and Soldiers at Fort Sherman gate, circa 1890.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

As an object lesson, Wright hanged twenty-four chiefs and shot over seven hundred Indian ponies on the prairie

a library, school, chapel, and amusement hall. The fort resembled a small town.

A jumble of tents and crude cabins, the city of Coeur d'Alene soon evolved into a bustling community as it serviced the garrison's needs for wood, meat,

close to what would become the IdahoWashington state line. To this day, elders tell Coeur d'Alene children stories about the screams of dying horses and the ruin of the Coeur d'Alene lifestyle.

Traveling the road to and from Spokane, pioneers-and, years later, motoristscould see the ponies' sun-bleached bones off to the north.

Although the Coeur d' Alenes refused to participate in later Indian wars in southern Idaho, choosing instead to stay on their reservation, they experienced another blow in i878 when the Fortyfifth Congress of the United States established Camp Coeur d'Alene (later named Fort Sherman) on the same site as their summer camp. Although bands later camped on the lakeshore, they 6

General William Sherman. Museum of North Idaho photo.

Sherman Avenue looking west, circa 1890.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

Military band concert at the Coeur d'Alene Inn, circa 1890.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

Horses Come to the Coeur d'Alenes

dairy products, and flour. It' also served as a major crossroads for travelers when

Father John Brown [Louis Suixim] told of

troops reopened the Mullan Road and strung telegraph lines. Soon after, the Spokane Falls and Idaho Railroad ran a line from Coeur d'Alene to Hauser Junction, nineteen miles east of Spokane Falls.

Not surprisingly, culture followed the

the coming of the horse among the Coeur d'Alene about 1750. He said that according to legend, a large concourse of Indians were gathered together about 31/2 miles north of the present DeSmet when they saw a man on the back of a strange animal. The rider turned out to be a Kalispell who remained with them for several days. A number of the Coeur d'Alene attempted to ride the horse as soon as they learned that he was gentle. All fell off of the animal, except one man who managed to stay on, very proud of his achievement! A short time later the Coeur d'Alenes acquired a horse of their own from the Kalispell, and still later, as horses became more numerous, they were able to acquire other of these valuable animals from the Pend'Oreille, Spokane, and Flathead .... Governor Isaac I. Stevens, during his stay among the Coeur d'Alene in 1852, reported that one village which numbered 60 persons had 200 horses in its herd.

SOURCE: Jerome Peltier, Manners and Customs of the Coeur d'Alene Indians

building of the fort. An 1896 SpokesmanReview article reported that to celebrate holidays and special events at the fort's auditorium, both army personnel and civilian women presented plays, band recitals, dances, and parties. To the pleasure of the community, the post was also visited by traveling theatrical groups and by thespians of nearby communities.

While the community grew, the Coeur

d'Alene tribe kept to the reservation, appearing infrequently in town. One Fourth of July, though, city leaders invited the Indians to join in celebrations by participating in foot and horse races for cash prizes. James Kiehn relates the story in his 1970 study, Fort Sherman, Idaho: It seems that there was a cavalry horse at

the fort which was reputed to be the fastest in the area. The local gamblers feeling that the Indians were a "soft touch" promoted a race between the army horse and an Indian pony.

Williams [a city resident] remembers that the Indians accepted the challenge and brought forth a horse which was so pathetic that the audience broke into laughter. The course of 8

Fort Sherman schoolchildren, circa 1898. Museum of North Idaho photo.

the race was laid out from Third to Seventh

the century, the Coeur d'Alene public

streets on Sherman Avenue. Much to the sur-

school system nourished, serving over

prise of everyone, at the sound of the starter's

two thousand students by 1933. How-

gun the pony sprang to a commanding lead.

ever, the Great Depression dashed

The cavalry horse never had a chance. (82)

dreams or a postsecondary education for those 20 to 25 percent of high school

This triumph, no doubt, helped in some

graduates who typically moved on.

small way to mitigate the tribe's defeat

Struggling families knew college would

by the military.

be virtually impossible. Luckily, the

As Coeur d' Alene's economy boomed

vision of one passionate educator,

these early years, so did its population.

buoyed by powerful community sup-

The army school, open to both civilians

port, led to the founding of the fledg-

and military, quickly outgrew the fort's

ling North Idaho Junior College in i933.

small structure, as did the tiny Coeur

It would be sixteen more years before

d'Alene public school. Consequently,

the college found its way to beautiful

city leaders decided to build a two-story

Yap-Keehn-Um in 1949.

Since its fragile beginning, NIC has

frame school in i898.

Although the federal government

matured into a premiere community

closed Fort Sherman around the turn of

college, serving over 4,600 credit stu9

View of Fort Sherman, looking east, circa 1890. Museum of North Idaho photo.

dents and upwards of 10,000 noncredit students in 2007. Vvhile facing the challenges of an increasingly complex technological age, the college still fulfills the ancient site's tradition as a community center, as attested to in its mission statement: North Idaho College is committed to student success, teaching excellence, and lifelong learning. As a community college, it provides quality educational experiences for its students and the community.

Central to the evolving needs of a growing community, NIC is still a gathering place, bringing together, in the words of the Coeur d' AJenes, "the ones who were fo und here," as well as the ones found here today, and the ones yet to come.

11

l_ ERMA GORt>ON

VIVIAN HAGADON E

EDVARD THOMP.SrN

C.L,._,.3

DOROTHY CARIN

M 11...0

C~OR.TON

LEONA JOHN SON

,. "l f.~l~CN'T

PAUL L BUHF\MESTtR

.JAME~

MAR IAN C.RANE.Y

WILLAR.D

C.DA. JUNIOR COLLEGE CLASS OF .Sr< .... CT l\"Y

JOHN

DINGLE.I'\

C10ROON CHA~E

IMOGf. N E

SPOHN

1935 MAu'R1c£i-5AM"P.soN

MINNIE .o.NDER50N

J. 0 . E.lTEL OR.E 15~AC.H

\NINI FRED JOSEPH

MAR.IAN

Al\IASTATIA ARA.ISON

CARL~ON

flEU8EN EDMIN.STE1'.

TAIMIE. E.R1c1<5oN

DOAN E \'3R.AKEMEYER.

I

EVELYN M" DO"IALD

-

CHAPTER 2

THE BEGINNING

1933-35

F orged in the heart of the Great Depression, Coeur d'Alene Jun ior College became a reality because of the unlikely accident of a stranger who came to town with a great idea. Only in America could a textbook salesman convince an eco nomically stressed commu nity to embrace a n ewfangled notion and in three months' time open a junio r college.

Like the rest of the country in i933, residents of Coeur d'Alene a nd other North Idaho communities had empty pockets. Most famil ies simply could not afford to send their children away for a university education. Enter Moritz A. Brakemeyer. No stranger to learning, Brakemeyer had earned a bachelor of arts in German and history from Redfield College in South Dakota, a master's in education from Hamline University in Minnesota, and a doctor of pedagogy from the Minnesota College of Education. Before taking work in sales for the American Book Company during the Depression, he had held the post of public school superintendent in South Dakota and Minnesota.

Fervently believing in the country's new junior college movement, Brakemeyer began lobbying for a possible junior college soon after he settled his fam ily in Coeur 13

"The President's Message" Econom ic conditions, or other reasons, may prevent your attending the University of Idaho, or some other university or college. Do not become discouraged, for a college education is available to all who really desire one and have the ability to complete its required courses of instruction. The Jun ior College invites you to complete two years of your college work within its halls, thereby greatly reducing the total cost of the four-year college course. The Junior College offers to you courses in the fu ndamentals, that will lay a firm foundation for the technical courses to be taken at the university, as well as broadening your outlook upon the possibilities the future holds in store for you.

d'Alene. While the movement might have been new in the West, the concept itself had existed since the turn of the century. The father of the junior college movement, President William Rainey Harper of the University of Chicago, introduced the idea to his co nstituents in and by 1912 close to fifty junior colleges dotted the East and Midwest with a combined enrollment of three thousand

1891,

students. Typically known as the "people's school," junior colleges found homes close to the communities they served, being specifically structured to respond to people's needs. Undoubtedly, Brakemeyer recognized their value.

SOURCE: M. A. Brakemeyer, Coeur d'Alene Press, Junior College edition, September 18, 1933

Moritz A. Brakemeyer, president, 1933- 35.

North Idaho College photo.

14

Coeur d'Alene Chamber of Commerce members, circa 1922. Museum of North Idaho photo.

On June 21, 19331 Brakemeyer presented his con cept to the Coeur d'Alene

sought other endorsements and within

Chamber of Commerce directors, under-

three weeks gained the backing of the

scoring that the proposed college woLLld

Coeur d'Alene School District and its

not compete with the University of

Parent-Teacher Association, the Rotary,

Idaho but would, in fact, supplement its

Kiwanis, and Business and Professional

offerings with a two-year program for

Women's clubs, as well as the City of

students unable to leave home. He

Coeur d'Alene. He also placed several

argued that by enrolling one hundred

supportive editorials written by leading

students at $35 per semester and using

educators in the Coeur d'Alene Press.

membership meeting. Encouraged, he

available space in the city in lieu of

Convinced Brakemeyds plan could

building expensive new facilities, the

work, a group of enthusiastic citizens

college could be funded.

took it to the people. On July 13, Mayor

The board liked Brakemeyer's plan

John Knox Coe presided at a citizens'

and agreed to present it to the next

meeting in the high school gym to dis15

cuss the feasibility of a junior college. He reminded the audience that financial distress deprived many young adults of a

dent of the Business and Professional Women's Club, also pledged that organization's full support.

college education, and then E. R. Whitla from the Kiwanis Club pointed out

Although intrigued by the idea, many parents questioned how advo-

Coeur d' Alene's ideal setting for a college 路with its beautiful mountain lakes. Mrs.

cates could solve the obvious problems of tuition, recruitment, facilities, and

H. R. Mcintyre, president of the ParentTeacher Association , emphasized her

start- up funds. To find answers, Mayor Coe appointed a feasibility committee

organization's 100 percent support of the

of ten, chaired by Brakemeyer, to iden-

concept, adding her concern that many girls who couldn't afford a university

tify necessary steps to open a college by fall. They identified three issues needing

education could manage a local junior college. Mrs. Grover C. Cardwell, presi-

answers before comm un ity leaders could move ahead:

Coeur d'Alene City Hall, Coeur d'Alene junior College's first home, circa 1933. Museum of North Idaho photo.

16

i.

Would the University ofidaho accept

2.

credits from the proposed college?

Would enough students enroll to meet basic operating costs?

3. Were adequate, free facilities avail-

able somewhere in the commun ity to house the college?

Brakemeyer and J. J. Rae, superintendent of the Coeur d'Alene School District, tackled the first issue by motoring to Moscow to meet with University of Idaho President M. G. Neale. A practical man, Neale immediately understood that a junior college in North Idaho would initiate students 路who might otherwise forego college into the educational sys-

Third floor of City Hall, Coeur d'Alene junior College, circa 1933. Museum of North Idaho photo.

tem. In two years, they could transfer to a four-year institution, hopefully the U of

The city cotmcil addressed the third

I. He offered help by suggesting a cur-

question by offering free use of City

riculum and a process for selecting fac-

Hall's third floor for classrooms and

ulty members. He also introduced Brake-

administrative offices, agreeing to allow

meyer and Rae to deans and department

building alterations and supply central

chairpersons who assmed them standard

heat. The council also approved college

freshman and sophomore courses, taught

access to the city's library, located on

by approved instructors, would earn full

City Hall's second story.

U of I credit.

These issues now resolved, the com-

Meanwhile, the Parent-Teacher Asso-

mittee hurried to meet its September

ciation surveyed neighborhoods through-

deadline. Within the month, it drafted

out Coeur d'Alene to estimate how many

articles of incorporation to establish

higb school graduates would attend fall

Coeur d'Alene Junior College as a pri-

semester. With over sixty affirmatives and

vate institution funded with tuition and

a potential twenty-five or more students

gifts. It also named itself the first board

from surrounding communities, the fea-

of directors and in short order hired

sibility committee felt sufficient i_nterest

four full-time and four part-time

existed to start fall classes.

instructors.

17

A work crew transformed City Hall's third floor into five classrooms, a president's office, an auditorium with a stage, a storeroom, and a lavatory. They calcimined and painted all rooms and cleaned and oiled the floor before installing newly purchased lighting fixtures, slate blackboards, desks, and laboratory equipment. Meanwhile, Brakemeyer and board members labored over the eighteen-page 1933-34 Coeur d'Alene

junior College Catalog.

Coeur d'Alene Junior College classes began September 18, 1933, with fifty-five students, growing to seventy-four within the next few days, but still below tbe eighty-five predicted. To earn a

transferable associate degree, students would complete sixty-six credit homs: twelve credits of English, eight of science, twelve of social science, twentyeight of electives, and six of physical education.. In addition, the college offered its first technical program, a secretarial degree cosponsored by Coeur d' Alene's Whitney Business College.

That historic 1933-34 school year was marked by many firsts, including the first basketball and baseball teams, orchestra, glee club, school newspaper, yearbook, and student government.

Students enjoyed school dances, drama productions, and a golf tournament. In May 1934, the first graduation of transfer students transpired with both formality and celebration. Traditions started in 1933 continue to this day, most notably

the convocation series that continues as the widely popular Popcorn Forum.

Another beloved activity, basketball, helped school spi rit soar when the Coeur d'Alene Junior College basketball team took down Gonzaga University with a score of 29 to 27. Coached by high school coach Harold "Telly" Telford, the "Jaycees" also faced Kinman

George Sonnichsen, first student body president, 1933-35. North Idaho College photo.

18

Business College, Spokane Valley Junior College, Cheney College, Whitworth College, and the University of Idaho freshmen, winning eight out of fourteen games, a laudable record for a firstyear team.

Not to be outdone, performing art students tested their skills on the community at large. The Coeur d'Alene Junior College orchestra, directed by music director and violinist Ray Fahringer, and the glee club, directed by Frank H. Evans, appeared at the downtown Roxy Theater and toured the North Idaho high schools during the spring of i934. In February the dramatics class pre-

sented The Thirteenth Chair, with Ellen Bungay, the English and speech instructor, directing. The Jaycee Journal reports

Healing the Past

the event was a whopping financial success, netting a $40 profit.

Besides immersing students in the arts, Brakemeyer and the faculty planned a ten-part convocation series with the goal of promoting knowledge and the free flow of ideas. Featuring some of the best speakers in the North-

On November 11, 1934, a marker was dedicated in Coeur d'Alene City Park to honor the site as the home of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and later of Fort Sherman.

Present were tribal chief Joe Seltice and his son Reginald Andrew. Also attending were W. E. Merriam,

nephew of the fort's first commanding officer, bugler joe Burzynski, and garrison veterans Martin Meehan and Sergeant Ludwig Roper.

west, convocation topics included geographical formations, marriage, plays

PHOTO: Memorial commemorating the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and the Fort Sherman Garrison, 1934. Museum of North Idaho photo

and poetry, religion, agriculture, and family rearing. The religion series, a particularly controversial subject, prompted an editorial titled "Food for Thought" in the February Jaycee Journal: Well, what are you now? Are you a Mormon, Jew, Catholic, or Protestant? Or did you ever really think about it before? The series of lectures just completed should at least give a basis for comparison of religions.

Dr. Tanner on Mormonism, Rabbi Fink on Judaism, Father Linden on Catholicism, and 19

Reverend Lyman Winkle on Protestantism have presented clearly and honestly their premises and beljefs, not with the thought of influencing any student but merely to give them some different Ideas to compare and something to trunk about. I can only say that anyone who has missed any of the lectures has, to say the least, been unfortunate.

Even in its infancy, Coeur d'Alene Junior College began building the college's tradition as a public forum for the expression of diverse ideas and opinions.

This personal engagement took another form in the students' quick formation of a student government. The

ti on to the Jaycee Journal, the journalism class, taught by Ellen Bungay, also publfahed the first CJC yearbook, the Lewa (a word that, according to an inscription in the copy of the 1934 yearbook now housed in the college library, means "play the game to the end"-the school motto at the time) .

This first year wound down with Frandsen urging students to "finish strong." He cautioned that "good attendance means good grades. Don't let the warm spring weather keep you from attending school." Coeur d'Alene Junior College held its first graduation at the First Presbyterian Church, with former

Associated Students of CJC held its first meeting in early October and sponsored a number of activities during the first year, many of them dutifully covered by the Jaycee Journal.

The Journal, first published in January 1934 and edited by Robert H. Frandsen, initially distributed spotty mimeographed copies but by 1935 published a polished, readable paper. Frandsen apologizes in his first January editorial, saying, "This first issue is terribly ragged and poorly organized as most first attempts are.... We sincerely believe that with your faithful support and cooperation we will overcome [our difficulties] and add the Jaycee journal to the list of triumphs for Junior College extra-curricular activities." This young staff did indeed reach that goal. In addi20

Margaret Lee, first g raduate, 1934.

Idaho College photo.

North

U.S. representative Burton L. French delivering the commencement address.

In spite of this first yea1-'s triumphs, problems dogged the college. That spring, even though the CJC had affiliated with the Association of Independent Colleges, the University of Idaho, in spite of earlier promises, refused to accredit alJ courses, noting that science courses had inadequate laboratory equipment and space and the library lacked sufficient holdings. Because of this, graduating students would not be able to transfer science courses. The most serious roadblock for the new college, however, was insufficient financing. With tuition the only source of income and enrollment not meeting

"Jaycee Journal Name Selected for Paper))

expectations, CJC would end the 1933-34 school year in serious debt.

Aware of these looming financial problems, Brakemeyer launched a vigorous recruiting campaign in the spring of 1934路 Accompanied by the glee club and orchestra, he visited several area high schools and parent-teacher associations, spoke to civic organizations, and wrote editorials in the Coeur d'Alene Press. He highlighted successes the struggling college achieved its first year, and savings for students attending a junior college. Addressing the most ticklish issue, Brakemeyer assured everyone the UI would soon accredit all courses since other area colleges had already accepted them. He also predicted that

The Jaycee journal is the name chosen by the journalism students for their first issue of which appears today. The paper w ill be mimeographed and distributed each Friday of the second semester by members of the Journalism class.

The editorial staff is headed by Robert Frandsen and Jack Danby. College items and national news of interest to college students will be featu red. Contributions from college students will be selected and reprinted under the supervision of Miss Victoria Scott who fills the post of exchange editor. Other members of t he staff are: John Dingler, sport writer; Evelyn McDonald, society and personal news.

SOURCE: Jaycee Journal,

January

26, 1934

PHOTO: Cover of the first Jaycee /ournol, 1935. North Idaho College

artifact.

21

Coeur d'Alene Junior College would

Interior. Above all else, UI awarded

enroll 125 students in the fall semester.

A busy summer on Brakemeyer's

Coeur d'Alene Junior College ful l accreditation for all courses, excepting zoology.

part produced an expanded curriculum, including art, chemistry, journal-

With pomp and ci rcumstance, twenty-

ism, play production, and intercollegiate debate, an additional full-time instructor, and a chemistry lab. Considering the curriculum expansion, a strong publicity campaign, and a successful first year, college officials and

CJC's two-year degree program.

In spite of the celebrations, worried college officials pored over the college finances, agreeing that tuition alone

supporters expected fall enrollment

could not fund the college. In fact, Doane Brakemeyer notes in an inter-

would meet expanded operational costs

view with David Osterberg t hat the sit-

and pay debts from the 1933-34 school year. Unfortunately, only seventy-five students enrolled for the fall semester,

uation was so dismal his father Moritz had "cleaned out his own savings" to

with five more registering for spring.

buy supplies for the school. Early that

Nevertheless, in all aspects except

spring, Brakemeyer sought support from the Coeur d'Alene Chamber of

numbers, Coeur d'Alene Junior College

Commerce for legislation to establish

could boast a successful second year.

junior college taxing districts already

The Jaycee Journal grew into a four-

put forth by Boise Junior College advocates. Unfortunately, the effort failed.

page, five-co lumn newspaper, publishing not only news but students' creative writing. Participation in the college orchestra and glee club expanded, and a student pep band now played for the basketball games. Moreover, the new associated student government packed the school calendar with dances, socials, basketball games, concerts, plays, and guest speakers. Those worried about accreditation could finally relax when

To compound these economic difficulties, Moritz Brakemeyer, college founder, first president, and most vocal supporter, resigned just a week before the i935-36 school year, accepting a position as educational advisor with the Civilian Conservation Corps. Brakemeyer's sudden departure left the board of directors, the staff, students, and community in total shock. Skepticism over

CJC earned a place among accredited institutions of higher learning in the

the college's future must have plagued the minds of many in the community.

1935 edition of the educational directory

Following an intense meeting, the board of directors elected to delay fall

published by the Department of the 22

four proud students graduated in May, among them the first group to complete

Sponsors Club, circa 1933. Museum of North Idaho photo.

semester until mid-September to deal

helped stave off c red itors, som e of

with the crisis. Rather than hastily hire a

whom even forgave outstanding debts.

replacement, members appointed sci-

The i936 student body dedicated the Lewa

ence instructor Lester

J. Dalton

as act-

to this group of determined women:

ing dean in addition to his role as math, chemistry, and zoology instructor. They

We dedicate this edition of the "Lewa" to

also cut faculty to three full - time

the members of the Sponsors Club who,

instructors in addition to Dalton and

through their sincere and active interests

part-time music and sports instructors.

have made this a successful year for the

By the time classes began, only thirty-

Junior College

eight studen ts sat in desks at City Hall.

Du ring this dark interl ude, the board

Desperate, the board of d irectors

and many community members refused

searched for solutions. T hey decided to

to let the college crash. O n November

offer the school's fi rst summer session

10, 1935,

a group of community wom en

at a

10

percent tu ition d iscount if stu-

orga nized a Coeur d'Alene Junior Col-

dents pa id 50 pe rcent of fees by May.

lege Sponsors Club of parents, teachers,

Hoping to satisfy the college's outstand-

and a lumni-anyone interested in the

ing debts, they also issued $5,000 in

college's

money.

bonds, in $50 denominations. In addi-

Although the Sponsors Club only raised

tion, in perhaps their most important

several hundred dollars through card

decision, they appointed Orrin E. Lee, a

parties and other events, little improv-

teaching fellow and graduate of the

ing CJC's dire financial situation, their

University of Idaho, as the new dean

efforts boosted local morale by broad-

and administrator for Coeur d'Alene

casting the college's benefits to the pub-

Junior College.

welfare-to

raise

lic. Their firm belief in its value also 23

CHA PT ER 3

THE COLLEGE COMES INTO ITS OWN

1935-39 C oeur d'Alene Junior College might have perished had it not been for the perseverance of Orrin E. Lee, the last president of Coeur d'Alene Junior College and first president of North Idaho Junior College, the last president to preside in City Hall and first to bring NIJC to its new home on the tribe's ancient ground, the gathering place.

A former student of Ricks College with bachelor's and master's degrees in education from the University of Idaho, Lee was selected by the board of directors because he had attended a junior college and still had deep connections with the University of Idaho.

For the next three years, President Lee fought on two educational battlefronts to save his new charge, eventually solving the problem of low enrollment and campaigning successfully for a bill before tl1e Idaho state legislature designed to provide tax dollars for junior colleges.

Meanwhile, students, blissfully unaware of the battle in their midst, flocked to barn dances, ice-skating parties, and tugs-of-war. They even stood up to the faculty on November 11, 1936, when a majority of CJC attendees signed a petition demanding suspension of Monday afternoon classes on Armistice Day. Although some faculty objected, the students quickly overruled them. At the school year's end, the i936 25

NIC Early Years

Lewa appeared with these words on its last page:

My college experience began with fall semester 1934 at Coeur d'Alene junior College ... .

Our book is little, but the idea behind it is

Classes were held on the upper two floors of Coeur d'Alene City Hall and included free use

big. It is not size but content that matters to

of the city library in the same building, which

us, and this little book embodies the memories of a pleasant year of work and play spent

also served as a study hall. I remember the very creaky stairs and the frequent wail of fire

at the Junior College.... Let us hope that after

sirens as fire engines responded to calls from their first fl oor headquarters below....

in public only with the help of wig, false teeth,

Although costs were low, many of us

and cain [sic], we will still have the strength to

very possibly would have had great difficulty in getting those first two years of college any-

page through our annual and smile beam-

where else in those days of the Great Depression. But when it came time to move on- in my case to the University of Idaho-an unforeseen problem arose. Financial times had always been tough for what then was a small private college, and the acting dean in charge of the college operations had not

we have grown old and feeble and can appear

ingly, and perhaps screw up our whiskers, at these youthfu l student friends and teachers, even tho it be necessary to first adjust our pince-nez (or will it be a monocle?).

So long, and till we meet again, here or at St. Peter's you all have the best wishes of the Editorial Staff.

been paid all his salary. The result was that he held the student records hostage. I finally got a letter from him certifying that I had completed my two years satisfactorily, but to this day I can't recall whether I used that letter to get into the University of Idaho or if he relented and turned the records loose.

SOURCE: Art Manley, "Frequent Wail o f Fire Sirens: NIC Early Years,"

in A Patchwork of Praise, ed. Dawn Atwater-Haight and Fay Wright

Orrin Lee, president, 1935-44. North Idaho College photo.

26

Winter skating party, Circa 1939. Museum of North Idaho photo.

CJC, in spite of its troubles, had once

Still, these stopgap measures did not

again graduated a group of students

solve the coUege's profound need for a

who would move into their futures bet-

solid financial base. Plumbing every

ter educated.

The college, however, desperately

likely source of funds, Lee visited and

needed money. In spite of Lee's lastrecruitment efforts, fewer than

Boise to lobby for a junior college bill sponsored by Boise Junior College leg-

fifty students enrolled the fall of i936,

islative supporters. The bill authorized

only a slight increase over the previous

junior college boards of trustees to "levy

year, and it was dollars that prevented

upon the taxable property within the

many from attending. Seeking help, Lee

district a tax not to exceed

approached community businesses for

each $100.00 of assessed valuation."

scholarships and part-time jobs for stu-

Thus, a $5,000 property and home

dents. The adult night school program,

would be levied $10, a sum that would

sponsored at the college by the Ameri-

provide desperately needed operational

can Legion and Works Progress Admin-

funds. Unfortunately, supporters seemed

istration, generated another small income source he used for bare necessities.

concentrated in the Boise, Coeur d'Alene, Rexburg, and Twin Falls delega-

111 inute

phoned local businesses and traveled to

20

cents on

27

College cruise on Lake Coeur d'Alene, circa 1939. Museum of North Idaho photo.

tions, while vocal critics appeared

to North Idaho civic groups. When the

strongest among other North Idaho legislators, who viewed the ~ill a potential

1939 state legislature convened in Janu-

threat to the University of Idaho.

introduced Senate Bill 31, which the

While the Senate and House passed

28

ary, Senator Ed Baird of Ada County Senate passed forty-three to eight and

the bill on March 3 and 4, 1937, Governor Barzilla W. Clark vetoed it, despite a

the House passed five days later.

flood of telegrams from Coeur d'Alene.

governor. While the legislative vote

Though disappointed, Lee did not concede defeat, promising to win the fight

strongly supported the measure, not all citizens approved. In fact, to this day

with the state government.

controversy exists about taxes levied on

A historical decision sat before the

After starting his doctoral program

local property owners to fund North

at Harvard in the summer of 1938, Lee returned to Coeur d'Alene to begin a

Idaho College. An editorial appearing in the University of Idaho Argonaut soon

fa ll semester with flat enrollment. Im-

after the passage of the bill reflects this

mediately he began contacting legisla-

long-standing dispute. The writer states,

tors throughout the state and speaking

"Idaho's educational situation certainly

approxicii:..te funds nee eset.r:; to t:.:l:e col , e:e -ohru ;-oo.r 4mt duo college this ~et.r tuitions from ~ :i gov es~ ~ed

Old debts

~gacm

.,,.3 , 40J

.,.;400 500 of .1hioh ,,1, lv 1:: t-lurioe

Bills duo locully ~li21:1.both ·•D

(

..,13 . 63 36 . 00 20140

Des: ert :iugru: Bowl Copo ' s Dinglo ' s

175 . 00

.,,978 . plede&ed l.:cC . on lllst drive of which .,,615 11t.s ollected

)

LI B ralary 9/lf>/34 9/20 12/21 7/7/35 7/12 Evans

Umphrey salary

;,. 4oeer-ee.lary

-·.

.L ester

. ....

.

•;

3/7 $35 . 00 3/18 25 . oo 25 . 00 4/8.

3/7 .3/18

~1 ton-salary

-

-

25 . oo 25 . 00

3/7 i/11 3/18 -4/0 5/30

6/4

_, ;_J

1/7/35 1/16 1/18

J ·;,r mstrong- salar:v 3/7 • 3/18

'135 . oo-

Q/8

se.l~r:"'

Chas Douglas salary 3/7/35 3/18 4/8 5/29 5/30

.Ji& . 00

2/ 25

.... ,

Ii :aer ard

v50 . oo 50 . 00 50. 00 25 . 00 20. 0i.l

4/6

oi35 . 00 6 . 00 19 . 00

H S McC 6/10/35 Cam paign exp •

25 . oo 50.00 10. 00

! ~.~:,._.. -

·~-------

.."\.'.

Copy of an early college budget, circa 1939. North Idaho College artifact.

~55. 00

61.15

.;25 . 00 25 . 00 58 . 00 ~35 . 00

25 . 00 25 . 00

82 . :;o 40. 00

.;35 . 00 25 . oo 25 . 00

Board of trustees, circa 1940. Left to right: Dr. G. 0. Kildow, Anna R. Edminster, James Burns, Sr., E. A. Seiter, G. 0. Wendt (bursar), Charles Russell, Richard Penman. Museum of North Idaho photo.

30

needs remedying, once and for all. This

However, in a letter to President Lee he

week the state legislature passed and

stated, "I have just written a letter to the

sent to the governor a bill to permit cre-

. governor aski11g his signature on the

ation of junior college districts. It's just

J.C. Bill and have also been working on

another of the beclouded horse trades that have lent pungency to bickerings

some of my friends here to send cards to the governor. I have sent in 10 cards

along educational lines in the legisla-

so far from Lindley Hall, and Ed John-

ture .. .. So, Idaho's legislature drives another wedge to open another avenue

son is getting some cards and letters from Sweet Hall. If it isn't too late, I feel

of taxation on a people who cannot

that this will help." To the great relief of

adequately support the educational institutions they already have."

North Idaho parents, students, faculty,

After reading this criticism, President

Cla1路ence A. Bottolfsen signed the bill

Orrin Lee contacted Art Manley, a CJC and University of Idaho graduate, ask-

into law 011 February 8, 1939.

President Lee immediately initiated

ing him to respond to the editorial.

the process to certify CJC as a state jun-

Manley, then enrolled in graduate classes, wrote a guest editorial in

ior college. The first step required the

response but was denied publication .

Junior College, to circulate petitions in

and community members, Governor

interested party, named North Idaho

the eight Kootenai County high school

fa ll of 1939 North Idaho Junior College

districts: Coeur d'Alene, Post Fa ll s,

proudly opened its doors Lo sixty-four

Rathdrum, Worley, Rose Lake, Harrison,

students, a number ballooning to one

Athol, and Spirit Lake. AlJ approved the

hundred by the first week of October.

plan but Rose Lake, Athol, and Spirit

Finally, families could afford the $25

Lake. Lee then forwarded the petitions

tuition for in-district county students,

to the state board of education, which

thirty-seven for out-of-district county

in turn approved the formation of a

residents, and fifty for others. Books

junior college district on April 24, 1939.

and supplies averaged $s and $15 per

To ensure citizen support, the bill then

semester while other expenses included

directed the app licant to present the

a $1 per credit hour lab fee for science

issue to voters. On June

Kootenai

classes and a $4 rental fee for typing

County taxpayers enthusiastically en-

classes. For students from other areas,

dorsed the junior college district by a

room and board in a private home in

margin of 1,095 to 473. ln possession of a new name, full

Coeur d'Alene ranged from

accreditation, and tax suppor t, in the

NIJC set up a program for slllde nts to

2,

$20

to $30

per month . To help defray these costs,

Coeur d'Alene Junior College student volleyball game at McEuen Field, circa 1938.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

31

The Coeur d'Alene Press lH \!.1R

~~LL

G

S E P T E M B E R, . N I N E T E E N . B U N D R E D

E A N D . T H I R T Y-T H R E E

~~oUNC! No t/Te opemi1g of

COEUR D'ALENE'S

Long Life to the Coeur d'Alene Junior College

T~o~t~ ~~:;c0 !{r:: ;m~:r:~~~o~~~rcd~~~~.'~:~;:~c:b~r 1i~~ 1

Tnclud1it in tho cclition i& n w«tlth o! in!otma.tion con!X'rnin,g i.h<' coU("~<', ilt. fA•'ttlty, itt etirriciulorn nnd ita pl&n or O'J)eJ'tltiOU. TbcN l\r~ 11)JI.) llietoriool And infonn11llvc tu1:icle.s c:on~mhi>: Coca.r d'A.l0;ne 11nd KootoJW oouoty. The aim {If tht• l-\ltti1>n l!-1 to ndvcrti~o this city nnd county and tho .runior Co11ego thruouL fd.ltho Md th<' nonh\'l't!"of.

If th~ Junior Qoll1.~ cao aurvivo th~ ite finJl y°"r, itd t\Jluro is MSUl\'tl. A'ud il tau ~u.rvi•a---:t.nd will nrvh·a.-it we all put our ehouJder. to lbc- wl;C(I}. Tn lin,•e 1.i 11u~ htl Junior C.01\ega in Coe\T't' d'Ale.n,e 1"-ill m~ much to tht. tOOlll'lMlty-••(hu,; nio1ml· ty, cullurnUy~ tio2Lnto.itilly o.od aocially. Lonit life to tba. Coour t1 'Allwt- Jttnior olJ<-gc!

The Coeur d'Alene Press announces the new junior college, September 1933.

earn part of their college expenses through a program sponsored by the National Youth Association.

Because of the burgeoning student population, Lee faced new challenges.

He increased the faculty to seven fulltime and eleven part-time instructors and negotiated with the city to flow classes into the second floor of City Hall, where the city library, holding about i5,625 volumes, was reserved for college students until two o'clock each day. The new civic auditorium, located in the city park, served the college fo r basketball games, concerts, and plays, while social function participants met in the Odd Fellows Hall, the Veterans Hall, and the Masonic Temple.

North Idaho Junior College had finally come into its own. The ideas of textbook salesman Moritz Brakemeyer, backed by determined community

"Long Life to North Idaho Junior College" There will dawn a new era for those interested in higher education when North Idaho Junior College opens its doors to students of the Idaho Panhandle ... . Those who have been interested in the junior college know that the past six years have been trying ones and that only through the cooperation of the merchants and people of this community has the school been able to survive. The untiring efforts of such individuals as M. A. Brakemeyer, A. Grantham, 0. E. Lee and members of the sponsors club, various boards and the present board have contributed to the success of this school during its early years.. .. The aim of today's edition is to give widespread publicity to the new college in order that people of this area will become better acquainted with the institution. The North Idaho Junior College will mean much to the com.munity-educationally, culturally, financially, and socially. Long life to the North Idaho Junior College!

SOURCE: Coeur d'Alene Press, August 30, 1939

members and successive presidents, had snowballed into an institution that in the new millennium has fulfilled the 1933 benedictory prediction of the Coeur d'Alene Press: "The North Idaho Junior College will mean much to the community-educationally, culturally, financially, and socially. Long life to the North Idaho Junior College!"

33

CHAPTER 4

A HOME FOR THE JUNIOR COLLEGE

W ith the new name of North Idaho Junior College and the sanction of county and state, NIJC faced packed classrooms for the i939-40 school year. Everyone knew Coeur d'Alene City Hall, even with additional rental bu il dings, cou ld not long house the student population. However, after the tensions of the past six years, it was indeed a good problem to have. Over the 11ext decade, the college would solve its housing problem in spite of World War II. By early 1940, the college building committee and board of trustees focused their search for a permanent campus on either the city-owned Coeur d'Alene mill site near Tubb Hill (now McEuen Park) or county-owned Winton Park (the former gathering place of the Coeur d'Alene Indians). The latter, a thirty-two-acre tract in the old Fort Sherman military reservation, had been donated to the county by Winton Lumber Company with the caveat that it be used for either a hospital or educational institution.

President Lee recruited students to canvas neighborhoods, asking residents which site they preferred. Results showed many college and city officials favoring the mill grounds, located near the central beating plant and business district, because of its potential for joint college/city development of a library, gymnasium, swimming 35

Potlatch Potluck

pool, auditorium, stadium, baseball field, and tennis courts. However, most

Near the end of the semester [early 1940s], the college student body was invited

by Potlatch Forest Industries to conduct a reforestation project on the north slope of Tubbs Hill. ... As a climax to our cooking class (something equivalent to a term paper, or even a Doctoral thesis), we male chefs were invited to provided the noon lunch for the hungry workers.

respondents chose picturesque Winton Park, whose spacious lake property invited future expansion, even though critics argued it was too far for students to walk to work or home for lunch.

While deliberations continued, word spread about the new junior college, pushing up enrollment 20 percent by

fa]J i940. Pressured to act, the board We decided that Spanish rice would be the main course, supplemented as I recall by hot dogs, carrot sticks, and lemonade and pop. On the morning of the event, while other students labored on the hill, our cooking class embarked upon our duties. All went well, although the rice nearly got away from us! We had decided to prepare it in a large electric roaster with the thought that it would be easy to transport, and to maintain its heat. And so it was, and so it did, but as the rice preparation continued, it rose perilously close to the top of the roaster. As one of the "chefs," Don Campbell, remarked, "I never would have thought that rice could expand so much!"

asked for an informal county vote, with results favoring the park by 1,317 to 83i.

Proceeding quickly, the board selected Spokane architect George Rasque as project leader, whose subsequent plan included a two-story administrative/ classroom building and a vocational arts building at an estimated cost of $i35,ooo, nearly $1,956,252 in 2006 dollars. The main building would house fifteen classrooms, science labs, an administration office, a library, and a small auditorium. The industrial arts building featured a large vocational shop, heating

Anyway, we got it all together, trucked it across what is now McEuen Field to the base of the hill, and after dispensing it, received a healthy dose of acclaim for our accomplishment.

Hunger may have been in large measure responsible for the applause!

plant, and chemistry laboratory.

While the architect and building committee labored over plans, the board of trustees called a special bond election for $125,000, restricted to NIJC district taxpayers and requiring a two-

SOURCE: Doug Bell, "Potlatch Potluck," in A Patchwork of Praise, ed.

Dawn Atwater-Haight and Fay Wright

thirds majority to pass. To inform the public of NIJC's needs, President Lee placed a detailed statement in the Coeur d'Alene Press, noting a marked increase in enrollment, the need to add voca-

36

tional education offerings, the financial and logistical burdens of renting facilities around town, and the woeful inadequacy of science labs, a problem haunting the college since the beginning.

To everyone's disappointment, only 842 people voted at the June 24 special

Delta Kappa Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa One of the college's longest active organizations is Phi Theta Kappa, a two-year honor society ded icated to scholarship, fellowship, leadership, and service. The Delta Kappa chapter of North Idaho j unior College was founded in September 1941 with five members: Alice Erickson, president; Mildred Wyckman, vice pres-

bond election, which failed by a mere 64 votes. A Coeur d'Alene Press article reported that an unusually light turnout may have occmred because individuals believed the election would pass easily.

Perhaps the earlier vote confused the public. Convinced taxpayers favored the college's building plans, a former trustee, Mrs. Hazel Cardwell, appeared before the b oard on August 11 with a petition signed by 700 qualified voters

grade point average in twelve credits of college-level

who agreed to support the bond. She

courses and maintain a 3.2 or better to retain mem-

persuaded tihe board to put the question to the people once again.

Meanwhile, the NIJC board risked moving ahead with the Mechanical Arts Building construction, even as students continued climbing the stairs to the increasingly cramped City Hall. Once NIJC's attorney completed the Winton Park deed transfer, the board directed Lee to use $10,000 to begin construction in the fall of 194i. The National Youth Association (NYA) assisted by contributing labor and $1,ooo in mate-

bership. Students learn leadership through service to

ident; Douglas Bell, secretary; Harvey Hemingway, treasurer; and Robert Kruse, reporter. Mercy J. Gridley was the sponsor.

The Golden Key Newsletter of May 1942 reported that members voted to bring ten cents to each meeting rather than charge dues. If that amou nt was not sufficient to cover expenses, the members would be assessed for the balance.

To become a member, students must obtain a 3.5

the college and the community. Opportunities for scholarships are one of the benefits of membership.

Since its inception this organization has thrived. Since 2000 the Phi Theta Kappa students have volunteered numerous hours for national organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, March of Dimes, and United Way. Additionally, they helped a local soup kitchen for the homeless, a roadway litter cleanup project, and several cancer research and prevention fundraisers. Interacting with one another and national members, students find a cohort of people as dedicated to learning as they. In fall 2007 there were 126 active members.

rials, providing its workers could use the facilities after completion.

At the same time, college supporters organized to promote the second bond 37

Farragut Naval Training Station, trainees learning to row a six-oar board in the choppy waters of Lake Pend Oreille, circa 1942. Museum of North Idaho photo.

election planned for September 23.

$125,000 bond by a vote of 1,168 to 744.

Brandishing signs with the slogan "A

W11ile the election carried in Coeur

Home for the Junior College," over sev-

d'Alene and Post Falls, Bayview, Rath-

enty supporters met in the college audi-

drum, Worley, and Harrison residents

torium September 15 to organize litera-

soundly rejected the proposal. Did vot-

ture delivery to taxpayers. Organizers

ers, still struggling from the Great

directed teams to canvas every college

Depression, sense a cloud on the hori-

district household and explain the col-

zon? On December 7, 1941, just two and

lege's needs and community benefits.

a half months after the election, Japan

In spite of publicity and support, taxpayers once again turned down the 38

attacked Pearl Harbor, throwing the United States into World War II.

Like other colleges across the coun-

running. This student exodus also

try, North Idaho Junior College began

caused a faculty exodus, leaving only 40

losing students to the draft or new jobs

percent of the 1941 group. Faced with

created by the war machine. Student

little choice, President Lee dropped

enrollment dropped to eighty in the

classes with small enrollment or offered

spring of 1942, and to fewer than fifty in

them in alternating semesters . The

1943-44. The newly built Farragut Naval

question of expansion, for the time

Training Stat ion on Lake Pend Oreille,

being, became moot.

twenty miles north of Coeur d'Alene,

While academ ic enrollment slowed

rLI nior College

siphoned off men and women with its

to a trickle, North Idaho

attractive salaries and ties to the war

focused instead on defense-related pro-

effort. Processing as many as twenty

grams, including shipwright training,

thousand draftees at a time, the mono-

first aid, and international code. The

lithic training station required a huge

most

employee pool. Other local industries

involved the federally funded Civilian

like Ohio Match Company replaced

Pilot

fighting men with women who were

launched at NIJC in i940. Announced

more than willing to keep businesses

by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in

extensive Training

program, Program

though, (CPTP),

Farragut Naval Training Station, trainees learning to march, circa 1942. Museum of North Idaho photo.

39

40

1938, the CPTP's mission was to teach

located seven Civilian Conservation

twenty thousand college students a year

Corps (CCC) buildings on Beauty Bay.

to fly. Although Roosevelt avoided men-

Used during the Depression to lodge

tioning national defense, everyone knew

CCC workers assisting the National

the United States trailed Europe in both

Forest Service, these bui ldings were

pilots and training aircraft. Doing its

floated across Lake Coeur d'Alene to

part to bolster national security, NIJC

NIJC and reconstructed on concrete

trained four hundred students in en-

foundations to provide barracks and

gines, aircraft operation, civil air regula-

Training Service (WTS) to teach cross-

tions, navigation, and meteorology. In

country flying to air fo rce pilots. While

addition, participants completed thfrty-

the college housed troops for $i.8o a day

five hours of actual flight training, qual-

and charged $50 for ground school

ifying them for private pilot's licenses.

course work, Buroker Hicks personnel

Another defense program launched

then transported them to Weeks Field,

in March 1943 at the war's height

site of today's Kootenai County Fair-

required a partnership between NIJC

grounds, for flight training.

and Buroker Hicks Flying Service,

To accommodate the forty-seven

which had contracted with the War

pilots each semester, President Lee

classrooms at little cost. For meals, men walked to the west end of the partially constructed industrial arts building.

Donning several hats during this period, the dean of men, Perry Christianson,

Pilot Training

coordinated the ground school and

North Idaho junior College, which occupied the second

flight schedules while President Lee

and third floors of City Hall, was entering the War Training

organized food and housing. When tbe

Service's Pilot Training Program, providing ground school instruction for army or navy recruits assigned to Buroker Hicks Flying Service ....

By mid-1943 our flight program would grow to thirtyeight flight instructors and two hundred students. Just transporting them to Weeks [Field] each day would pose a challenge. Early on, Brick [an instructor] used station wagons, but as the WTS brought in more recruits, we loaded them in side-rail trucks like a bunch of cattle.

When I look at their photos now, I'm reminded of Jews being hauled to concentration camps ....

It's a good thing we accomplished so much that first summer because we were unprepared for Idaho wintersespecially this one. The first snow fell around Thanksgiving with temperatures dropping below 32 degrees and snow piling up. Then came the deep freeze. Temperatures dropped to 35 degrees below zero....

The [flight] gear helped some but not enough. Except for take-offs and landings, most advanced flight maneuvers

Aviation mechanics class, circa 1945. of North Idaho photo.

Museum

-spins, stalls, chandelles, and lazy eights-took place above 3,000 feet. Since air cools two degrees for every thousand feet under standard conditions, the temperature was at least six degrees colder than on the ground, often times more. Each flight lasted one hour. The students didn't notice the cold as much, but the instructors, who often had three flights in a row, walked like boards at the end of a shift. We complained, but we all survived.

SOURCE: Gladys Buroker, with Fran Bahr, Wind in My Face:

The Story of Gladys Dowson Buroker, Wing Walker, Parachute jumper, Balloonist, and Pilat Exlroordinaire PHOTO: Gladys Buroker, circa 1943.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

41

Aviation mechanics class, Gladys Buroker, instructor, circa 1945. Museum of North Idaho photo.

WTS discontinued the flight school pro-

d'Alene Athletic Round Table, an organ-

grams in early i944, NIJC had graduated

ization supporting college athletics,

over three hundred students.

teamed with the city and U.S. Forest about

Service personnel to plant trees along

American troops and Hitler's aggres-

the dike road bordering the new cam-

sion, the board of trustees and Presi-

pus and lake on three sides. At a celebra-

dent Orrin Lee moved ahead with

tory All-Forestry Day in spring i942,

build ing plans, purchasing two Merrian

Mayor 0. W. Edmonds christened the

Park land tracts adjacent to campus in

road Rosenberry Drive, to honor a Win-

1942, including the Colonial Apartment

ton Lumber Co mpany employee whose

Building for $4,000 ($49,382 in 2006

foresight in the thirties guided the com-

monies) and Lot 19 of the abandoned

munity to designate public use areas.

fort for $n,ooo ($148,148 in 2006) . The

Following the dedication, participants

latter, west of the campus adjacent to

planted 300 Russian elms, 150 Douglas

River Avenue, included two houses for

firs, 50 honey locusts, 350 silver poplars,

which the college collected rent.

and 800 Siberian peas along the dike,

Despite national anxiety

42

While college officials handled these

some of which still stand. Slowly but

purchases, community members, al-

surely, the fragile college was beginning

though plagued by the war, remem-

to branch out into the institution it was

bered the new campus. The Coeur

destined to become.

Having stood by NIJC through the

demic curriculum, one vocational course,

early war years, President Orrin Lee,

and a night school program, Kildow

lured by opportunities in the navy,

scheduled all classes and activities other

resigned May 1944, applying for an offi-

than vocational ones in City Hall or

cer's commission and commencing

downtown buildings. Meanwhile, the

active duty that fall as lieutenant junior

thirty-two-acre campus, with its aban-

grade in the U.S. Navy. He placed sec-

doned CCC barracks and partially com-

ond in a class of five hundred at officer's

pleted building, sat vacant.

training school, served in the Pacific

That uncerta inty didn't last long, to

and the Indian oceans, and continued

the board 's considerable rel ief. W ith the

as public information officer for the

defeat of German and Japanese forces,

northwestern states until i954.

NIJC, like educational institutions

Hard-pressed to replace Lee's intelli-

across the country, filled with World

gent leadership, the board looked to a

War II veterans armed with the GI Bill

known academician, George Kildow,

instead of weapons. The i945-46 school

who took charge three days after Lee's departure. Longtime superintendent of Post Falls School District, Kildow had worked not only as superintendent in Worley and in Montana school districts, but also as a college instructor and a 1940-44 trustee. He was well qualified,

having earned a master's in science at Washington State College and having completed graduate work at the University of Washington and American University in Washington, D.C. This transition presented a frightening case of deja vu for college supporters. Kildow began his presidency in the fall of 1944 with an enrollment of fewer than thirty academic students and only five full-time instructors, including himself. Could NIJC survive this drain of students, faculty, and leadership?

Forced to offer a stripped-down aca-

George Kildow, president, 1944-62, photo circa 1955. North Idaho College photo.

43

"Alma Mutterings" My empty halls are lonely now and only a few faint memories of happy yesterdays are left for me. The coke dispenser has been taken away and the janitor, cleaning out the lockers, has found my last secret treasure, an old chemistry book. Yes, I, ye old Alma Mater, am soon to be replaced by a newer, larger building; and my walls will echo student laughter no longer. I often wonder what will become of me and hope for something better than just being that part of town referred to as "high above the city jail."

SOURCE: The Lewa, 1949

44

year ended with ninety-three academic students, and the 1946 fall enrollment nearly doubled that number. Again, college officials faced the happy predicament of too many students in too little space.

To accommodate this student body, the buildings committee rented the former Interlake Transportation building on Front Street, the third floor of the Powell Building, and the Roxy Theater early mornings and afternoons for classes and assemblies. In addition, carpenters remodeled the entire second floor of City Hall for commercial, study hall, and library purposes, while the civic arena, on the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, became the basketball court. Truly, in a physical sense, NIJC had路become a "community college."

Along with this enrollment increase came a request from thirty students for NIJC to adopt the watchmaking course abandoned by the short-lived Farragut College and Technical Institute, a venture conceived by North Idaho towns to recycle the postwar Farragut Naval Training Station as a college. Kildow reported this request to the board in April i947, estimating the $n,360 needed for equipment and salary would be offset by $20,286 from thirty students' tuition.

The board enthusiastically approved Kildow's recommendation, after which Eldon Rainey, program director, opened the first class session on May i. In

November the board of trustees directed

ment. Howe began instruction on Octo-

Kildow to purchase the Rainey and Hau-

ber

gen Instrument Shop at Weeks Field.

approval, for a salary of $300 per month.

The postwar euphoria along with the

This acquisilion gave NIJC the country's only combination watchmaking and aviation instrument repair program.

Shortly after the board accepted watchmaking, it approved another desirable program, proposed by \Malter Howe: a one-year radio degree. This program would prepare students for a radio license and included basic electronics and radio theories, radio speech, and marine radio operation experience.

While the state division of vocational

1,

only three weeks after board

GI Bill brought students to NIJC in ever-increasing numbers to enjoy these new offerings. In the fa ll of i947, 265 men and women registered, attended by nineteen facu lt y, absolutely bursting the seams of Lhe current City Hall quarters.

In addilion to the new lechnical programs, Lee had added over lwenty academic courses to the curriculum to meet students' needs. With this unpre-

education paid 40 percent of the instruc-

cedented growth, the board of trustees reintroduced Lhc issue of a major build-

tional salary, the college provided the

ing program. They quickly decided to

balance and pledged

first complete the Mechanical Arts

$2,000

for equip-

NIJC watchmaking school, circa 1947.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

45

Building's north wing and then put another bond election to the taxpayers to finance the construction of a large administration/classroom building.

Coeur d'Alene builder Walter M. Varnum took on the north wing of the Mechanical Arts Building in early September, adding a 52.5' x 80' structure with a boiler room and a 65' smokestack, for $40,520 . In addition, architect George Rasque designed the interior to accommodate an aviation engine shop, science laboratories for physics and chemistry, a darkroom, and an oilburning heating plant capable of heating both this building and the proposed administration/classroom building.

As the Mechanical Arts Building neared completion in the fall of i947, NIJC officials tested the waters by publishing building options in the Coeur d'Alene Press with a questionnaire insert to be mailed to the college.

Watchmaking program cartoon from the 1947-48 Lewo.

dred students and an auditorium/ gymnasium to seat three thousand.

The gymnasium would be equipped with showers, locker rooms, kitchen facilities for feeding large crowds, and stage and dressing rooms. Estimated

â&#x20AC;˘ Proposal 1 called for an administration/

cost: $496,000.

classroom building to accommodate five to six hundred students, but with no gymnasium or auditorium. Es-timated cost: $300,000. â&#x20AC;˘ Proposal

2

called for an administra-

tion and classroom building to accommodate five to six hundred students and a gymnasium/auditorium to seat eight h1mdred. Estimated cost: $450,000. â&#x20AC;˘ Proposal 3 called for an administration/ classroom building for five to six hun46

With these options now in the hands of the public, the trustees scheduled a June 8 bond election, seeking $496,000 (over $4 million today) to build the long-awaited administration/classroom building. For the next three weeks, worried college advocates mustered support for the levy by soliciting endorsements from community organizations and running large ads in the Press listing

Mechanical Arts Building, circa 1945. Museum of North Idaho photo.

reasons to vote "Yes!" Voters approved the bond by a vote of 972 to 419, passing by a heavy margin in Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls but typically failing in Rathdrum, Worley, Harrison, and the Belmont communities.

Kildow wasted no time hiring George M. Rasque and Sons to draw the blueprints and Spokane's Halverson Construction Company to build the structure. Builders broke ground in April 1949 and finished that December, mark-

ing a new era for North Idaho Junior CoUege.

47

CHAPTER 5

NIC COM ES OF AGE

1950-62

"G ood-bye

to the old. Hello to the new!" This sentiment reverberated across the United States in the five years following World War II. North Idahoans, like the rest of the nation, focused on rebuilding their li v~s. At North Idaho Junior College, students prepared to bid farewell to the cramped quarters in Coeur d'Alene City Hall and move to historic Fort Sherman, site of the new campus. During the holiday break, faculty members and students engaged in an institutional rite of passage as they hauled load after load of furniture, boxes, and equipment across town. At Yap-Keehn-Um, the gathering place, future generations of North Idaho students and their children would begin their college educations.

In January i950, community members watched proudly as students filled the classrooms: young women who had stepped into wartin1e jobs, returning to more traditional roles as teachers, secretaries, housewives, and mothers; war-worn soldiers who had returned home in the late forties, settling into civilian life. Boys with crew cuts married girls with pillbox hats and white gloves, aspiring to the little tract homes popping up in the suburbs. However, first they needed an education.

49

The board of trustees held its first meeting in the new building o n January 9, i950, and in March named the new

building Lee Hall in honor of Orrin E. Lee, the college's second president.

Perry Chr istianson, dean of faculty, welcomed 265 incoming students by the fall of i950: This year should be a banner year for all of us. We have an efficient and enthusiastic faculty with the best of equipment. T his coupled with a student body ... [with) a definite objective and a seriousness of purpose should bri11g gratifying resu lts. As we gradually establish our routine let us be sure that it does not become a rut. Let's make the most of it!

Make the most of it they did. Both students and faculty chipped in for spring campus cleanup to make the grounds presentable and welcoming.

While English and speech instructor Dr. Earl Priddy with his own funds planted beds of roses, shrubs, and perennials around Lee Hall, other faculty planned a lasting horticultural tribute to future generations, says the November 1959 NIJC Review. Someone remarked over coffee, "Why don't we get starts of ivy from our alma maters and plant them here?'' As a result, Lee Hall and Christianson Gymnasium now display ivy from four different institutions: the ivy on the east, north, and west sides comes

-THI DAHO

IOR COLLEGE ... HOME OF THE . ..

ARDINALS FOUNDED 1939

TURN LEFT AT LIGHT.. FOLLOW ~CARDINALS

..,..- 1 NIJC entrance sign, circa 1950. Museum of North Idaho photo.

50

Moving Day The start of the Christmas break on that Friday in 1949 had a decidedly different appearance. As we pulled up to our College "home" above the City Hall on the corner of Fifth and Sherman, we were greeted with some strange sights. First off, there was a full-sized Stoddard moving van parked at the front door, and who was that in his old work

The day wore on. Most of the 300 or so students were starting to drag a little as the new building began to look more and more inhabited, and the upper stories of the old City Hall were becoming more forlorn and bedraggled.

In the meantime, without a lot of fanfare, Marie Krider had sneaked a beautiful little

clothes climbing in the back-wow! None other than our good old president, George Kildow. Of

Christmas tree into her new library, and had been decorating. And as dusk fell, a lot of dog-

course, all of us were dressed the same way. It was ... MOVING DAY! Goodbye to the old, HELLO TO

tired students, teachers and maybe a wellwisher or student's wife or two, called it quits

THE NEW! We were all professional movers that day.

and retired to the library where a lot of little gifts and cookies and treats awaited us all. As

There was our librarian, Marie Krider, packing up

we collapsed on the floor and took a moment

our whole library in cardboard boxes with us "peon students" forming a line to carry them down to the van. The stronger guys were wrestling with desks, cabinets, chairs, chemistry equipment, you name it. A bunch of us wanted to take the old worn-down sofa from Preston Onstad's room, where we spent many days trying to see what Chaucer and other early English

to really see what the day had w rought, it began to occur to us just what had. Think about it; the students had a personal hand in bringing all the familiar trappings over to this lovely new place. They had the honor and privilege of being able to say that they were the FIRST ones to inhabit it and bring it to life as a wonderful, going institution.

giants were really talking about. Milton was from "nowheresville," but Onstad was a wizard at getting us to thinking as he wou ld light up his pipe,

SOURCE: J. Ray Cox, "Moving Day," in A Patchwork of Praise, ed. Dawn Atwater-Haight and Fay Wright PHOTOS: Moving day, circa 1949. Museum of North Idaho photos.

climb up on top of his desk, and start to tweak our minds. However, that sofa didn't get to go; it was simply too scruffy and beat up to make it to the new digs at our gorgeous new building ....

51

Lee Hall administra tion building and gym, and the birth of a parking problem, circa 1950.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

52

from West Poin t, thanks to Engl ish and

offerings by closing the aviation engine

Spanish instructor Colonel John McFarland; the ivy on the right side of the south entrance comes from the University of Idaho and the University of Southern California, compliments of Everett Besola; and plants on the left side of the so uth entrance originally grew at the Southern Oregon College of Education (co ntributor unknown). Each October, with new classes in session, that ivy turns brilliant red, a living legacy to all students and faculty.

As the next few years ticked by, a comfortable routine settled over the new campus, although enrollment fluctuated again during the Korean War. President Kildow updated vocationaJ

and路school radio programs while adding automobile mechanics, industrial arts, home economics, and engineering. He aJso added ten adult education night courses at the request of "working people who didn't have time to attend classes in the daytime;' according to the campus newspaper. Once again the college responded quickly to community needs.

While the auto mechanics classes occupied the east end of the Mechanical Arts Building, the industrial arts program, including welding, woodworking, and machine shop, moved into a former Farragut Naval Station building trucked onto campus. In addition, the popular home economics program

offered instruction in clothing funda-

and introduction lo music literature, as

mentals, food preparation, home nurs-

weU as elementary analysis, compara-

ing, and textiles, as well as art structure

tive government, educational sociology,

and design.

biology, physiology, organic evolution,

New academic courses also flooded the curriculum during the fifties as

and field zoology.

While this updated set of courses

NIJC grew and students expected varied

provided a solid educational curricu-

transfe r courses and more electives.

lum, it was students who infused NUC

This menu included small business

with activ ity and color. Fledgling cam-

accoun ting, medical shorthand, med-

pus jo urnalists eagerly reported news of

ical field experience, conservation edu-

student events in the Legume, Cardinal

cation, music methods for elementary teachers, and arithmetic methods. Other

Peep-Squenk, Cnrdi11al Press, ]nycee ]our11al, and the Panhnnrller, mimeographed

courses were language methods, litera-

newspapers distributed periodically

ture survey courses, creative writing,

throughout the late forties and fifties;

Students participating in campus cleanup day, circa 1955.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

53

Ivy, legacy of Lee Hall's first faculty. North Idaho College photo.

Automotive class, circa 1950.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

Home economics class, circa 1950. Museum of North Idaho photo.

the Leiva, a college yearbook, was published from i933 to 1975. The college's oldest newspaper began as the North

Idaho Junior College Review (NIJC Review), published from i950 to i975, when it morphed into the Cardinal Review. In i982, the paper was renamed the Senti 11el, as it is still called today. The Journalism

Department,

formally

established in the fall of i946, sponsored all excep t the earli est publications.

The NIJC Review reported students joining the Spanish, Home Economics, French, Veterans, Dames, Ski, and Newman clubs as well as the Lutheran Student Association and Presbyterian Young People's Club. Through these

Student hard at work in biology lab, circa 1950. Museum of North Idaho photo.

venues young Idaho adults debated, studied, sledded, skied, sipped tea, caroused, and ice-skated . While stu-

anchors, and rich music" provided the

dents and faculty settled in at the new

perfect setting for the Associated

site in the early fifties, they probably lis-

Women Students' Harbor Lights For-

tened to the popu lar holiday songs

mal. Three months later the paper

noted in the N1JC Review at the time:

announced the upcoming spring festi-

"Rud olph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,"

val dance, during which the girls should

"Frosty the Snowman," and Bing

wear spring dresses and carry stuffed

Crosby's "Vvhite Christmas" and "Silver

animals and the boys should dress in

Bells." It's a pretty sure bet that any-

jeans and compete by growing prolific

where students could plug in radios,

beards.

these tunes filled the rooms.

Other clubs offered a different type

Since hit tunes have always triggered

of entertainment. The Dramatic Club

dancing and romance in young Ameri-

and its Delta Psi Omega members pre-

cans, NIJC social gatherings promised

sented Je1111y Kissed Me, the story of a

plenty of action during the fifties. The

naive country girl who gets a makeover

November 1950 Review reports that

to snag a boyfriend. That month the

"twinkling stars,

Engineers Club visited a meeting of the

rustling

formals,

55

Valentine's Day dance, circa 1955. Museum of North Idaho photo.

Idaho Professional Engineers, where, the NIJC Review comments, "Not only did our engineers absorb some knowl-

around which some prehistoric person had

edge, but they had it impressed upon them that engineers are in great demand right now." Clearly, these organizations offered ample opportunity for students to socialize and learn.

Perhaps th e most unique student

great glaciers receded. Arrowheads were dug

organization in the fall of i950 was the Archeology Club. The NIJC Review describes a cave dig in Medimont, Idaho, near Rose Lake, east of Coeur d'Alene: Shovels began bringing up chips of flint, splinters of bone and ashes of a campfire 56

once warmed himself and cooked his food.

Apparently someone had lived there after the

up under feet of charcoal and debris. Here were the relics of a van ished people.

Mr. Preston Onstad, the faculty advisor, told the news reporter that the club found punches, scrapers, and pestles used by women to clean hides or grind food, as weU as jade fashioned into a chisel and a pipe. The paper reports that "the site is deemed so valuable, professional help may be called in." These many clubs and social activities bespoke

Field trip to Seiter cannery, circa 1955. Mr. Seiter is on the left.

a closely knit campus quite content in its new iden tity.

In addition to reporting on student

Museum of North Idaho photo.

Tom Roske: "I don't care, cause I don't live here."

Marvin Fischer: "Duh! What is it?"

dances, plays, and educational field

Mrs. Green: "I am opposed to fluoridation ...

trips, campus publications debated

because the government is exceed ing its

local and national issues such as dress

authority when it not only prescribes

codes, McCarthyism, and Communism

medication but makes it compulsory."

in opinion columns and letters to the editor. One of the hot topics in the early

Another compulsory measure that

fifties was the proposed fluoridation of orth Idaho water systems. Most writ-

was perhaps more difficult for students

ers on this subject cited medical experts

training for males aged eighteen pro-

and community leaders, but one stu-

posed by Harvard University president

dent reporter asked campus readers to

James B. Conant. NIJC Review editor

speak their minds, and then posted the

Bob Johnston asked, "Would it not be

following results:

better to allow men of such age [who

to ignore was the universal military

57

Overview of college, shortly after opening at its current site, circa 1950. Museum of North Idaho photo.

seek deferment) to enter college and equip themselves with the fighting tools of democracy-principles, ideas, and from these develop those who are suited for the officer corps ... ?"

Speakers addressing national debates such as these drew students to the auditorium. U.S. Vice President Alben W. Barkley, for example, spoke to local democrats at NTJC in October 1950. The

Review article says, "The Vice President stated that the enemies of democracy, the Communists, desire strife, unrest and economic disaster so they can move in. He commented further that their infiltration methods had been tried in 58

Student Union under gym bleachers, circa 1950. Museum of North Idaho photo.

Soulh America as well as the United

this." Besides overseeing behavior, the

States." Apparently, the Cold War was

student board also set student prices for

alive and well, even in North Idaho.

Coca-Cola and other sodas at five cents

If students like Ray Cox and his

and sandwiches at twenty-five cents.

friends, who helped move the college out

Adequate for a few years, the cafeteria

of City Hall, had been told in 1949 that

became jam-packed by the mid-fifties,

Lheir new college would need another

what with ballooning enrollment and

expansion by 1959, they would have been

the addition of pop machines, candy

astounded, yet enrollment more than

machines, Ping-Pong tables, a jukebox,

doubled in ten yea rs. From 165 students during Lhe Korean War years, enrollment

and ever- increasing tables and chairs. As the need for expanded services grew,

picked up to a new all-time high of 416

one townsperson saw opportunity. Bob

students by the decade's end, when the

Templin, owner of Templin's restaurant

college staff increased to six administra-

and hoLel on the lake, submitted a plan

tors and twenty-six instructors. Some-

to run Lhe student cafeteria for 50 per-

thing had lo be done.

cent of the profits, an offer the college

While projects were put on the books

resisted. However, before long, the need

as early as 1950 for a student union/dormitory and south wing addition to the

for a proper student union became tied in administrators' minds with the need

classroom building with a separate

to house the growing population of out-

vocational shop, no one thought to

of-county students.

add ress food services. Yet with students

In an attempt to find a solution to problems,

Governo r Robert

so far from downtown, the college was

these

forced to pul together a makeshift stu-

Smylie created a North Idaho Junior

dent cafeteria under the gym's north-

College Housing Commission in i957.

east bleachers next to the concessions

Surveying NIJC students in the fall of

kitchen. This popular spot spawned

i958, Commissioners Burl C. Hagadone,

many headaches for the student board

Larry L. Gardner, and 0 . W. Edmonds

of control, which in 1950 issued a plelhora of rules forbidding cigarette

found that over 17 percent of the student body was interested in renting

butts and ashes on the floor, sleeping

dorm rooms. Based on these results, the

and lying around, being rowdy or using

commission projected a new dorm

profanity, and, most importantly, neck-

should accommodate at least one hun-

ing! The board's 1954 minutes note that

dred occupants. Two years later, the

"card playing is getting out of control

NIJC board of trustees authorized the

and further steps will have to be taken on

housing commission to apply fo r a 59

$110,000 loan under Title IV of the College Housing Act of 1950 for both a dorm and student union. However, the federal agency countered with a suggestion that the college restrict its application to a student union build ing, which could later help pay for a dorm itory.

With loan approval, the board wasted no time hiring architects Ernie Hicks and Ed James and general contractors Hagen and Lunceford to construct a 6,136-square-foot building. Boasting a central meeting area, student administration and publication quarters, and a dining room and kitchen, the facility opened fall semester 1961 and received its name, Edminster Student Union, in a dedication ceremony to Anna R. Ed-

minster, a tenacious college supporter and twenty-year board member.

After negotiating the student union loan, the board then faced the pressing need for additional classroom space. To test public opinion, it first sent letters to every voter in the junior college district, outlining the need for two new building projects, a south wing addition to the ten-year-old classroom builcling and a separate concrete shop building, at a cost of approximately $300,000. The NIJC Review outlined the board's rationale in its November 1959 article, "Bond Issue Survey": â&#x20AC;˘ The library seats only 60 students in

spite of an enrollment of over 400.

Edminster Student Union shortly after opening, circa 1960.

60

North Idaho College photo.

"Scholarship Versus Success" Although my undergraduate and some of my graduate training was in chemistry, I believe I am a philosopher by nature. I like to speculate on

his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it." Upon the first reading that

the cause of things and I have a feeli ng that

doesn't seem to make sense, but when you have read it as often as I have, you will discover

much of man's misery is the result of selfish-

that when you have used your talents in a proj-

ness- thinking too much of himself and showing too little concern for the welfare of others.

ect; when you have become utterly absorbed in

Quile rrequently I have occasion to fly from here to Salt Lake City and the plane usually flies right

in a way that you never dreamed possible. Life

something that is bigger than you are, then you will begin to find your abilities and your talents becomes exciting and meaningful.

over the Great Sa lt Lake. Each time I fly over I scan the shoreline for some sign of life, and so far I have been unable to discover any sign of either

I can think of no group of people better pre-

plant or animal life. I could not help but contrast

pared to accept this lifetime challenge than you who are members of Phi Theta Kappa. God has

that lake and its barren shores with our own beau-

richly endowed you with intelligence; what bet-

tiful Lake Coeur d'Alene surrounded by ever-

ter way could you use it than in service to your fellow man? That would be the surest way to

greens, beautiful pastures and wildlife which is so plentiful here. "But," you will say, "One is a salt lake anrl thP othPr ic; fresh water." True, but what

success and true happiness.

makes them so? Both are fed by fresh streams and

SOURCE: George 0. Kildow, "Scholarship Versus Success,"

rain yet the Great Salt Lake gives up none of its water except what it is forced to give up by evap-

address given at the Phi Theta Kappa National Convention, North Idaho College, Coeur d'Alene, April 22, 1959

oration, while Lake Coeur d'Alene gives up everything il receives through the Spokane River, and the water furnishes power for our mills, lights our homes and irrigates our f ields. It even supplies our drinking water.

Freely the lake here has received; freely it gives.

Jesus said nearly 2,000 years ago that the person who would achieve greatness or satisfaction must be the servant of all. When we start serving others we forget our own problems and our pills and nostrums. He also said, "He who would save

61

• The biology lab provides only 35 spots to an enrolled i40 studen ts.

•

A small 50 by 90 foot shop building is

stuffed vvith the equipment and classroom space for auto mechanics, welding, machine shop, and woodworking programs.

• Home economic classes in food, sewi11g, and art classes are confined to a 23 by 35 foot buiJding constructed m 1949.

Quoti11g President Kildow on the proposed project, the Coeur d'Alene Press wrote that even though the cost to taxpayers would increase three-tenths of a cent or about $i.50 for the average home owner, Kootenai Co unty taxpay-

ers' total costs funded only 57 percent of a student's education, with liquor fund receipts con tributing 14 percent, fees 16 percent, vocational education monies 10 percent, and rentals, etc., comprising the remainder. vVhat a bargain! The letter emphasized that the board was not yet "selling" a bonding proposal but simply soliciting opinion through a straw poll Responders overwhelmingly favored the plan, prompting the board of trustees to call for a $314,600 bond election on January 1960. Although the election failed by 182 votes, a11other bond election for $495,000 passed easily in August 1961, with 3,543 in favor and 1,665 opposed. Soon after architects

Students enjoying the new Student Union, circa 1 960 .North Idaho College photo.

62

James and Hicks of Spokane presented

work with the American Association of

building plans to the board of trustees,

Junior Colleges, where he served as

the board selected McKim-Kizer Con-

president in 1959 and as an executive

struction of Osburn, Idaho, to build the

committee member for many years. At

structure.

NIJC's guiding hand through the

the Idaho state level, Kildow also served as chairman and member of the State

fifties, the ever-p resent, ever-committed

Advisory Committee fo r Vocational

President Kildow, was struck by a fatal

Education, a nd regionally as an accred-

hea rt attack as he worked in his yard on

itation team member of the Northwest

May 3, 1962. The shocked community

Association of Secondary and Higher

was saddened even more because of Kil-

Schools.

dow's recent announcement: he would

Beloved in North Idaho, George 0.

leave the college at sixty-seven (two

Kildow had received numerous invita-

years past retirement), when new facili-

tions from area high schools requesting

ties reached completion.

him as their commencement speaker.

As the news of his death reached

Frequently present in the public schools

educators with whom he had worked,

during visits for guidance work and

Kildow was mourned nationwide. In

testing programs, Kildow was person-

addition to his eighteen -year tenure at

all y known to thousands of North

NIJC, he had earned an impressive rep-

Idaho young people. He would be sorely

utation as a speaker and educator in his

missed.

63

CHAPTER 6

THE TIMES. â&#x20AC;˘ â&#x20AC;˘ THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'

6

I

magine an extreme makeover of U.S. society, from Leave It to Beaver to a growing

antiwar climate, a shift from the conservative World War II generation to the baby boomer onslaught. Imagine a time when the Commun ist threat coincided with Sputnik, the 6rst Russian space launch, and a national effort to pul a man on the moon, fo llowed soon after by the early devastation of Vietnam. The sixties were years fraught with change, growth, and fear, years that truly brought education to the masses and protest to the forefront.

North Idaho Junior College changed in step with the national trends, nearly tripling in size and benefiting enormously from the federal aid flowing to community colleges in the form of building monies, student loans, and vocationaJ programs.

During this decade, Idaho legislators also created junior college districts supported by taxpayers, thus ensuring the system in Idaho would endure.

Alumni of the early sixties visiting NlJC at the decade's end would have found the students very different indeed. Where earlier generations flocked to dances presided over by kings and queens, joined clubs, and participated in faculty socials and teas, later students scoffed at such old-fashioned nonsense. The popular Engineer's Ball of 65

Pep rally, circa 1960.

North Idaho College photo.

the forties and fifties attracted few participants in i969, to the dismay of the

NIJC Review staff. Editorials bemoaned the apathy of these new students, more enamored of miniskirts and long hair than formals .

In fact, the new generation wasn't apathetic; it had just moved on. Even though this change was coming, the first five years of the sixties out\.vardly Study break in library, circa 1960.

College photo.

North Idaho

resembled the late fifties. NIJC seemed the same sleepy, little college students had attended for yea rs. However, educational research institutions predicted a sharp increase in incoming students starting in 1963, as that year marked the seventeenth anniversary of the Japanese surrender. Those babies born between 1946 and 1964 would be tagged the baby

boomers, a huge population bulge of children who would later balk at the deferential behavior expected by their 66

World War II elders, oppose the Viet-

yea r tenure combined with his ad minis-

nam War, and lo ud ly support civil

trative experience as dean of men from

rights as well as the sexual revolution.

1939 to 1947, athletic director and bas-

At NIJC, the first transition marking

ketba ll coach, dean of faculty, and

the new decade was a changing of the

mayor of Coeur d'Alene from i955 to

guard . Although terribly saddened

1961 made him a wise and informed

about President Kildow's death, the

advocate for the college. The board

N f} C community cou ld not have been

could count on Perry Christianson to

in more capable hands than those of

continue Kildow's plans for growth and

Perry Christianson, selected as fourth

cope with the college's rapid expansion .

president of North Ida ho Junio r College

An October i963 NJJC Review article

at a salary of $11,130 by the board of

titled "Sign Leads Way to Campus" high-

J. Burns,

lights a need to accommodate increased

trustees-ÂŁ. A. Seiter, W.

Richard Penman, Mrs. R. W. Edminster,

traffic to the college.

and Charles H. Russell. A math and physical science instructor at the college

Finding the N1JC campus is now much

since 1938, Christiansen's twenty-four-

easier thanks to a large sign al approximately 123

Sherman Avenue, opposite Johnny's

American gas station. Space for the sign was donated by Johnny Merrill, owner of the station and a good booster for ' IJC. Johnny realizes the educational opportunities offered to so many in this are;i at a nominal cost. He was first con tacted about this sign in the spring of i963 by Joe Mathis and Raymond Stone. The pa inting was done by Ted Anderson and Ted Funke at cost and was paid for by the

IJC student body. The sign

was erected by the Circle K Club. Red cardinals have been placed on top of city street signs to guide strangers from the sign on Sherman to the campus itself.

And follow these signs, they did.

Perry Christianson, president, 1962-68.

North Idaho College photo.

During the Christianson years, NIJC enrollment increased steadily, with the 67

Located on Sherman Avenue, the NIJC sign led individuals to campus. Museum of North Idaho photo.

number of registered students growing from 587 to 892 and faculty from 21 to 54. The college budget also doubled from $408,763 to $904,75i. Where students paid $60 per semester for tuition and fees in i962, they paid $110 in '68.

Luckily, North Idaho citizens had supported bond levies in the late fifties and early six.ties, which helped buffer the sudden influx of boomers. The new library wing, named in honor of the late G. 0 . Kildow, housed not only library holdings, but also science laboratories, several classrooms, and faculty offices.

Likewise, the new industrial arts and auto mechanics/body and fender buildings nicely acconunodated rising student enrollment in those programs.

Another major structural change comp leted at this time was the conversion of the heating plant to natural gas.

Space vacated by the library and vocational programs absorbed overflow from 68

other areas. The former library space in the administration buildjng was split into two classrooms and an office for the Home Economics Department, with one classroom adapted for sewing and a new cooking station added to the existing home economics room. The Business Department, located on the first floor of the administration building, also expanded its quarters by the end of the semester, with the typing room moved to a much larger space and the former typing room used for office machines.

Other small changes affected both foot and automobile traffic. That same school year, workers bricked up the door between the administration building and the gym, separating the two buildings so students and faculty could no l'onger cut through the gym to the student union building. Also, the college paved, curbed, and landscaped the area bordering the library wing and new vocational buildings as well as the street fronting the student union building to River Avenue, offering a th ird entrance to the college. To the delight of the Athletic Department, the college developed the area north of the student union building into a baseball field.

Across the street to the east of the SUB sat the long-awaited dormitory, which finally opened in October of i963. That previous spring the NIJC Dormitory Housing Commission had secured a $300,000 loan from the Ho us-

A busy college registration day, circa 1960.

North Idaho College photo.

ing and Home Finance Agency to erect

dian Harold Clawson, moved into the

a two-sto ry bu ilding to house one hun-

dormitory apartment as supervisors.

dred students. In April the NIJC board

Students encountered a few incon-

of trustees agreed to transfer a section

veniences tha t firs t mo nth. NIJC Review

of co llege property on the northwes t

writer Tom Higgins reports that "some

corner of Garden Avenue and College

of the more unlucky fellas had to sleep

Drive to the dormitory housing com-

on the floor unt il their bunks could be

mission for the building's site. After a

put together. ... Also the rooms were

summer of construction, the new stu-

missing other things like desks, cabi-

dent home opened its doors to six:ty-

nets, closets, girls, shelves, drawers and

one men and sixteen women, each pay-

lights. But most of these things have

ing $350 per semester for room and

been pretty well supplied by now, except

board. While student union manager

for the females ... heck."

Wes Hatch also managed the dorm,

However, if the board members

Ann Clawson and her husband, custo-

thought facilities changes were finished 69

for a while, they were wrong. Jn a short

ciation of Junior Colleges)," President

four years, the Edminster Student Union

Johnson approved "two landmark edu-

needed expansion to accommodate the

cation spend ing bills, the Higher Edu-

needs of dorm residents as well as the

cation Facilities Act and the Vocational

expanding student population. Com-

Education Bill," which expanded the

pleted in the fall of i965, this 7,557square-foot, $115,000 project provided

scope of these acts to include two-year

dining accommodations on the main

By the end of the sixties, fifty-eight

floor for an adcLi tionaJ 240 students and

programs administered by the U.S .

a new bookstore a11d game room in the

Office of Education wo uld positively

basement. Included on the main floor

affect junior colleges, with $450 million

was a thirteen-by-twenty-five-foot loLmge/ dining room, available for small lunch-

devoted to building ai1d programs in vocational education. In addition, the

eons and meetings.

National Defense Student Loan, the

NIJC's rapid growth in facilities was not shared by all junior colleges. To

Guaranteed Student Loan, and workstudy programs provided students with

assist these less fortunate institutions,

tremendous advantages. According to

the federal government stepped in, say

the October i963 NIJC Review, that academic year would see seven hundred

Allen A. Witt and the other authors of

America's Community Colleges: The First Century. They note that President Lyndon Johnson believed in education for all, the mark of a true democracy.

Because of his goals and the "relentless lobbying by the AAJC [American Asso-

Kildow Memorial Library, circa 1965.

North Idaho College photo.

70

colleges (209).

thousand students borrow $800 million in eight thousand schools because of the National Defense Education Act, which was signed into law in i958 . Witt points out that, in six more years, 23 percen t of the funding for higher edu-

Students studying in the new library wing, circa 1965 . North Idaho College photo.

cation provided under Title III of the H igher Education Act would fall to twoyear colleges (210) . For the first time in U.S. history, higher education became possible for the masses-not just the intellectual or financial elite who could attend universities. While this was a breakthrough development on the national level, it was nothing new to North Idahoans, who had fi rst addressed the issue with their small, local college twenty-five years earlier.

Not only did the federal government offer assistance to NIJC students, but in 1965 the State of Idaho passed the junior

A new dorm for the campus, circa 1965.

North Idaho College photo.

college bill, House Bill 313, sponsored by former students Art Manley, John Moly-

college, thus reimbursi ng the school for

neaux, Clarence Neider, and William

the nonresident portio n of tuition.

Webster. The bill's function was to guar-

Thus, Lhe bill spread the nonresident

antee "the orderly growth of junior col-

cost of tuition to nonresident counties

leges in Idaho, to assist junior colleges

rather than to nonresident students. In

financially, and to make post high school training more readily available to the

another attempt to help Idaho students,

young people of Idaho," according to the

Bill 121 two years later, which allowed

March '65 NIJC Review. Dividing the state into six junior college districts, the

students in one j unio r college area to

the ldaho legislature also passed House

bill mandated that no more than one

a ttend a different junior college in the state for the home district tuition, with

college could operate in a district until

the local board's permission.

that operating college reached one thou-

Rising educational costs were indeed

sand students, could be valued at $20

a concern for local students and their

million, and could support a high school enrollm ent of at least two thousand stu-

parents. NIJC Review editor Don Heikkila in 1966 reported that "a recent sur-

dents in said district. The bill also

vey of colleges and universities-both

required Idaho counties not housing

public and private-throughout the

junior colleges to provide up to $450 per

United States shows an average increase

year for their students attending such a

of almost 50 percent in tuition and fees 71

Students enjoying the student union game room, circa 1968.

North Idaho College photo.

Students between classes in the lounge area of Edminster Student Union Building, circa 1965.

Norlh Idaho College photo.

themselves and voice their apprehen-

since 1955." He urged students to investigate the federal government's work-

sions. NI]C Review editor Jeanne Man-

study plan, providing part-time employ-

ning writes this about the Communist

ment to students at $i.25 per hour; the

threat in September 1960:

cooperative education plan, in which the school and an employer would work

We should neither underestimate the

together to allow students to attend col-

dangers of our big threat, Communism, nor

lege every other semester; and the Higher

forge t that this threat is stiJI very real. We

Education Act, which allowed students

must not be, as so many prom inent Ameri-

to borrow up to $1,000 per year for

cans seem to this edi tor to be, taken in by

tuition and fees. Heikkila wrote, "Thanks

Khrushchev's Prince-of-peace pose. For wasn't

to the increasing flood of public and private assistance, almost every qualified

it Neighborly Nikki himself who said, "We'll bury you"? (And still means it!)

young person can find some way to This obsession with Communism and

acquire a college education."

Who were these Idaho boomers

the arms race had all but vanished by

securing financial aid and filling NIJC's

1963, perhaps because President John F.

classrooms? They were the children of

Kennedy successfully supported the Test

World War II survivors who now feared

Ban Treaty. Now students could concen-

a World War III. The Cold War became an obsession for many Americans who

trate on a more important issue: appropriate attire. NIJC Review editor Becky

believed the evil Soviet empire threat-

Krause rails against slacks and shorts in

ened the safety of all free peoples. Char-

this ironic editorial in October:

acterized by distrust, suspicion, and misunderstandings, the Cold War fea -

During a conversation I was engaging

tured Americans who feared nuclear

in ... one male student remarked that he was

attacks and Soviets who saw the United

hesitant about asking a JC girl to a dance

States trying to subvert their revolution.

because he was afraid she would wear slacks.

Many feared outright war, unaware that

Why not? If this type of clothing is good

spies or traitors working undercover engaged in most of the hostilities. Out

enough for the library, the JC halls, the dance

of this climate of mistrust came the red

another point to the female versus male

scare, the arms race, and the competi-

superiority contest and wear the same to

tive space race of the sixties.

dances .... We are lagging behind because of

NIJC students, faculty, and staff responded with attempts to educate

a childish sentimental attachment for our

classes, and the SUB, we might as well add

play clothes. Let's take the first step to getting 73

Students of the sixties look the part at a dance.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

NIJC off the footstool and up the ladder.

their dress does not meet standards, they ask,

Ladies and Gentlemen- look the part.

"whose standards?" Young people want to be allowed to set their own. Unfortunately, in an

By i968, the student point of view about dress had radically changed.

artificial environment like college, only one age group is represented.

When dean of women Betty McLain called for a meeting of women students

Undoubtedly, Harris and other

regarding apparel at the request of fac-

women recognized the hypocrisy allowing male students to wear cutoffs in the

ulty members, she announced that shorts, Bermudas, and cutoffs (jeans cut off above the knees) were considered

classroom, while Mrs. McLain forbade

unsuitable for class. With a yardstick in

in th e library. However, the more con-

hand, Mrs. McLain demonstrated the

servative associate editor, Mable Hanson, responded to these uppity girls: "If

appropriate length of dresses and skirts and announced that pant dresses, which

women to wear slacks and shorts, even

we are going to allow so much infor-

closely resembled one-piece short sets,

mality, why not start going barefoot,

and miniskirts were also inappropriate.

growing beards, and calling the instruc-

Reporter Jane Harris briskly responded

tors by their first names?"

Not only was attire a big issue that

in April i968:

fall, but so too was behavior in the new The question of who should set standards

dormitory. A Dorm column appeared

of dress is unresolved. But when students are

in Lhe Review for several years, showing that teenagers will be teenagers. Men's

told by members of an older generation that

74

reporter Tom Higgins wrote in Novem-

NIC Alumnus Jack Fullwiler Looks Back

ber 1963: After the old student union building was completed in It's about time we boys started acting like mature college studen ts, instead of immatu re little grade-schoolers. T he noise, ball games in the hall, goofing off, and playing with the fire alarm is absurd and ch ild ish. But why tear the dorm apart? The marked up halls, damaged door, windows, and rugs, and di rty

the early sixties, t he band The Fabulous Shadows, of w hich I am a member, played many weekend dances in the student lounge. Ray Stone, who I believe was the dean of students at the t ime, gave us a hard time about our " loud music."

Thankfully, we are still playing that loud music and enjoying every second of it. Another member of The

rooms and shower rooms are not going to

Fabulous Shadows, Dexter Yates, has been an active

look very nice for open house. Tearing up the

participant and contributor to North Idaho College.

dorm doesn't make sense, and fo r any damage to the do rm, WE are paying. In fact some of the boys have already lost their $10 deposi t.

Not only did these young studen ts misbehave, but they listened to 路 wild

I am in wonder at the growth of our "little" community college and what it means to our area today.

North Idaho College provides a place to begin a college education for some and complete degrees for others, and it provides an opportunity to change careers for many more.

music like rock and roll. Wh en Review reporter Paul Weenig asked visiting jazz artist Stan Kenton in i960, "Have we lost o ur taste fo r ge nuine popular music?" Kenton a nswered that pa rents perm it teenagers to dictate the " new" music. Weenig bemoaned this state of affairs: "Now on the radio there is the 'Top 10.' The taste for music represents screams, grunts, groans, and gim m icks.

T he music is repetitious witho ut beauty or real rhythm." Weenig's tastes, however, could not stem the tide.

Concern over these issues soon dissipated with the assassination of Presiden t Ke nnedy. Colo nel Mcfarla nd spoke fo r the faculty a nd staff: 75

NIC Alumnus Robert Keeler Remembers

Today a good and brave man gave his life for his country, just as surely as though he

I attended classes at NIC during 1963-64 and have many memories, including the day that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated (November 22, 1963). It was about noontime on Friday, and I was coming down the stairs from my apartment at Third and Garden when my landlady told me the shocking news that the president was dead ... that he had been shot in Dallas. I headed down Garden Avenue towards the NIC campus and remember how quiet everything was in town except hearing the Catholic church bell ringing and ringing.

During spring semester 1964, one of the classes I took was Introduction to Drama. It was the first time that the college offered a course in drama and Mrs. Gale was the instructor. At the end of the semester, we put on a two-night production of Mr. Roberts for the public to attend. Thom Thompson played the lead role of Mr. Roberts and other cast members included Stu Kimball. We all enjoyed taking the class, the production of the play, and of course the cast party on Lake Coeur d'Alene after the final show.

had lost it on the battlefield. No action of ours can bring him back. But we can offer our prayers. I would like you now to offer silent and individual prayer that God will ... give courage and wisdom to President Johnson."

Kennedy's death seemingly ended an age of innocence for American youth.

With President Johnson's ascendancy came an increased involvement in the Vietnam War and the slow but deliberate erosion of traditions. By i965, 28 percent of the U.S. population was enrolled in schools from primary through postgraduate. That year also marked the initiation of a new opinion column in the NIJC Review called SUBversion, suggesting rebellion or more radical viewpoints. In practice, however, it reflected only a slight shift. The first column asked what could most enhance readers' education at NIJC. Students' unanimous response was more space, more teachers, and smaller class sizes. Apparently, the boom had hit; the baby boomers had found their voice.

Along with the boom came concerns about draft deferments. Only twentythree thousand soldiers served in Vietnam in early i965, but a year later nearly two hundred thousand were fighting.

Although college students received automatic deferrals before March i966, the armed forces' increased needs brought

76

about a hundred-q uestion College Qual-

rear; the only way to tell foe from friend is if

ification Test to screen high-performing

he shoots at you .... We are too deeply com-

students from those in college to avoid service. Reporter Don Heikkila writes in

mitted to pull out now. lf we did, it wou1d merely advance the Communists' cause. The

an /\TJJC Review editorial:

American people face the unforeseeable future .. .. The only promise seems to be a

Unlike any war the Americans have

long and arduous struggle, one in which

fought in foreign countries, Viet Nam is an

many sacrifices will have to be made-many

inescapable paradox. There is no front, no

of them human

Electronics class, circa 1960. Museum of North Idaho photo.

77

Christianson scheduled the qualification test at NIJC for May i4, i966 .

Selective Service Director Lewis B. Hershey bad announced that "students with top grades do not have to take the test to retain their 2-S deferment. However, students who make low grades on the test and have a low class standing could be classified i-A and drafted ." This dreaded assessment would cull a number of NIJC men. Interestingly, dming this period Vietnam War veterans occupied seats in the same classrooms as these relucta11t soldiers. Political science had become more than an academic topic.

As widespread concerns dominating daily newspapers found their way into the NIJC campus forum, the college's curriculum advanced to meet the challenges of a new generation. NIJC's his-

78

toric watchmaking school, the only one of its kind in Idaho, closed because of low enrollment. Replacing it were several new programs, heralding the advent of the technological revolution.

In i960, a new Electronics Department enrolled seventeen students, with many more turned away. An NIJC Review article from October i960 notes, "Industrial electronics train the student for a position as a good electronic technician for industry. Students learn basic radio and electronics circuits and black and white television circuits. They also learn advanced applied electronics covering color television, microwave, and radar." By this time televisions had found their way into many American households, which in short time desperately needed the ubiquitous television repairman.

In addition to electronic technician programs, NIJC dabbled in revolutionary instructional techniques, using television to teach a biology course. In addition, a radio speech class addressing all phases of ra<liu program production was launched in i963, with a radio program called the Cardinal Courier broadcasting upcoming campus events on KVNI. President Perry Christianson's resignation in i968 marked the decade's close when at age sixty-three he stepped down as the college's fourth president.

Christianson stated, "I take a great deal of pride and satisfaction in having had a part in the establishment and growth of the North Idaho Junior College. It is a sound institution which enjoys the respect and confidence, not only of the citizens of our area, but also of our sister institutions of higher education m the Pacific Northwest."

79

CHAPTER 7

THE JUNIOR COLLEGE GROWS UP 1969-86

I n retrospect, the 1971 decision to shed "Junior" from the college name seems to have been a prophetic move. The next fifteen years saw North Idaho College grow from a teenager to an adult, from a small local college to a promising state institution, rivaling its sister community college, the College of Southern Idaho. These years took North Idaho through the Vietnam War and the pres idencies of Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan. And in turn, the economy shifted from the bounty of Johnson's War on Poverty to inflation and recession in the Ford and Reagan administrations, with resultant slashes in higher education fw1ding. Meanwhile, NlC enrollment continued to grow with the steady influx of Cali fornians and other populations into the area. While NI C's fourth president, Barry Schuler, struggled to meet the college's and community's needs, faculty and students engaged as usual in the age-old give-andtake of teaching and learning.

Undoubtedly, the transition in the fall of i968 from Perry Christianson to new president Barry Schuler marked a generational change for North Idaho Junior College. Four beloved faculty members retired with Christianson. Dr. Eva Ogg (social sciences), Dr. Earl Priddy (speech and foreign language), Colonel John McFarland 81

(English, math, and Spanish), and Cleve Gaine (automotive mechanics) were replaced by fourteen new faculty members, who infused the campus with fresh faces and ideas. That August, Schuler addressed NIC students and faculty for the first time, predicting, "With students working hand in hand with their professors and administrators, we can develop a fine school here."

The new president at the podium had received an MA in public administration from the University of Minnesota in 1965, had served as the dean of students and dean of instruction at Minneapolis Community College, and had completed much of his PhD coursework in political science when he was hired at NIC.

Making every effort to create a family atmosphere iJ1 the college commw1ity, this vigorous, young leader invited children of faculty and staff to his home that first Christmas to watch his toy trains chug through elaborate track systemstowns and countrysides, curves and straightaways. President Schuler and his wife Ruth always opened their home for holiday events, sponsored welcome-back celebrations in the fall, and entertained U.S. senators, governors, state legislators, state board of education members, convocation and Popcorn Forum guests, graduation speakers, and many other dignitaries-including Buckminster Fuller, the American visionary, architect, poet, and inventor of the geodesic dome.

While Schuler loved celebrations and entertaining, he exercised firm control over the fast-growing college. In spite of a slow local economy, his management practices ensured a balanced budget at each year's close. During his eighteenyear tenure, NIC's annual operating budget expanded from $1 million to over $10 million, with state aid for academic programs growing from $i48,ooo to well over $1 million, and vocational

Barry Schuler, president, 1968-86.

Idaho College photo.

82

fund ing increasing from $153,700 to over $1 million. Schuler also facilitated the physical plant increase from eight to twenty buildings by 1986, along with the purchase of waterfront property adjacent to campus, increasing the campus's North

value from $2.5 million to $19 million.

Clearly, this new president was proving himself an adepl fiscal manager during the inflationary seventies and eighties. Driven by the Vietnam War and exacerbated by the energy crisis, price increases grew so severe that one dollar in 1980 purchased what in 1940 cost fifteen cents. The resulting shock waves left less money lo distribute among educational institutions, the consequences inevitably rippling down to students. NIC's Cardi11nl Re11ieiv (the former NIJC Review) reported in i981 that the State Student Incentive Grant had been cut 35 percent and the Guaranteed Student Loan maximum had dropped from $3,000 lo $2,500. Financial Aid Director Jim Upchurch commented, "The hardest thing about this job is saying no to a request for aid when the need is there staring you in the face." A few years later, in 1983, the

Cardinal Review again reported that "under the proposed budget [put out by Reagan's administration], more than

2

million current recipients would be Barry Schuler demonstrating his train collection to a young man, circa 1970.

dropped from [financial aid] programs

North Idaho College photo.

while all others would experience a reduction in funds they are presently

. .

))

rece1v111g.

Idaho's io/o Initiative made financial planning difficult for

<;talc

instit11tions.

The initiative limited property taxes to

i

percent of the property's market value.

Schuler warned state legislators that the quality of

IC's programs would be 83

Legislator Art Manley Praises Emery Hedlund

adversely affected. At a November 1978 college senate

First as an elected state representative (1965-67) and on through most of the 1970s as a state senator, I had the privilege of participating in several of those name changes, as well as-and more importantly- in (1) obtaining increased state funding for the two community colleges and (2) more particularly, in obtaining state fund ing of buildings at NIC. However, I hasten to add that, while I was more than a willing worker fo r the interests of the successor to my old junior college, our accomplishments, particularly in the critical 1970s, were due more to the efforts of my longtime friend and fel low legislator, the late Emery Hedlund of St. Maries. We both served during that time on JFAC (the Joint Senate Finance, House Appropriations Comm ittee) through which practically all appropriations must pass. Even more important was that Emery also served (by governor's appointment) during that critical period for NIC's building program as chairman of the state's Permanent Building Fund Council, and under Emery's strong leadership of that commi~tee, the NIC building programwith state funds- began and flourished!

meeting he

asked,

"Where's the fat [at NIC] ?" Political science instructor Tony Stewart expressed similar concerns, saying that college leaders should make it clear to legislators that NIC education would change, and students would have to suffer the consequences. At this time, Schuler asked senators to consider possible processes for reduction in force if cutbacks got too bad.

Despite these unforeseen financial challenges, Schuler inherited leadership over a solid institution. A study completed by the dean of instruction, Ray Stone, shows that by January 1969, NIC faculty had

grown

to

sixty-eight

instructors with master's degrees, while staff had grown to fifty-two, one-fourth of whom possessed seven to eight years of training. Enrollment had tripled since 1958, from 350 students to nearly l,ooo, according to the Cardinal Review.

To accommodate those new students, the president and board of trustees

SOURCE: Art Manley, "Frequent Wail of Fire Sirens: NIC Early Years," in A Patchwork of Praise, ed. Dawn Atwater-Haight and Fay Wright

decided to construct three large classroom buildings: the Math/Science Building in 1974, now named Seiter Hall after Ed Seiter, board of trustees chairman; the Vocational Building in 1976, today called the Hedlund Vocational Building after Emery Hedlund, a North Idaho legislator who helped place NIC on the state Permanent Building Fund; and the . Communication Arts Auditorium Build-

84

ing m i979, currently named Boswell Hail after beloved speech instructor Joyce

Boswell.

This

last

facility

increased the instructional space for courses in the arts and humanities, providing a venue for thousands of musical performances, public lectures, theater productions, and other civic and cultural events for many years to come.

In addition to orchestrating a series of building projects, Schuler and the faculty, staff, and students successfully defended the college in 1972 from an unpopular plan to develop the beachfront property bordering its south and west sides. Pack River Company proposed to construct six condominiums.

Boswell Hall, communication arts building,

circa 1980. North Idaho College photo.

In a February Carrf inal Review editorial, Schuler challenged the company's prop-

beachfront from the company fo r

erty rights, noting that "the college

$260,000 in i977.

owns the land on which the dike road is

Jo Webb, a longtime N IC employee

situated plus 19 feet toward the lake.

and assistant to the president, played an

The State of Idaho owns the beach and

instrumental role in coordinating do-

lake bottom below the high water

nations, grants, and labor from sixteen

mark." As for that area in between, he

local organizations to make the pur-

pointed out that zoning laws had long

chase a reality. A February 1972 Cardinal

prohibited any building near schools

Review featured political science in-

and churches that might adversely

structor Tony Stewart and many NIC

affect the institution's atmosphere. He

students who launched the Committee

stated, "Any college needs a certain

to Save the Beach campaign. To garner

amount of space in order to meet state and federal standards .... V-/e are already

support, members canvassed neighborhoods to accumulate 3,500 signatures

beyond our land capacity, and we

on 125 petitions. "It was very rare to

would be hurt badly by the beach's loss."

knock on a door where they didn't

Once Pack River finally withdrew its

know about it," Stewart said. "People

plans, NIC purchased the 3,275 feet of

would say, 'Oh, give me that; I'll sign 85

Josephine Webb (center) and organizers viewing plans to purchase the beachfront property, circa 1970. Museum ol North Idaho photo.

it."' Along with the acquisition of this half mile of shoreline, NIC, under Schuler's guidance, bought over twenty other plots of land in the coming years to accommodate inevitable growth .

Part of this newly acquired space would house one of NI C's most vibrant programs, the registered nursing curriculum, initiated in i969 after the overwhelmi11g success of the practical nurs-

86

about offering an associate of science degree in nursing for fall 1969; however, progress on the initiative had stalled with Christianson's departure. That fall, work on the program revived with the fateful meeting of President Schuler and Beverly Hatrock, NIC nursing program's "founding mother."

Hatrock met President Schuler in

ing program that had been created a few

September i969, when she and her husband were visiting Coeur d'Alene from

years earlier. Before Perry Christianson's retirement, he and a community study group had spoken with the Idaho Board of Nursing's executive director

Virginia to see family and scout out work in the area. While John Hatrock looked into Coeur d'Alene job opportunities, Bev dropped by the college.

fmpressed with her experience as a pro-

ated in May 1972, passing the State Board

gram developer and faculty member for

Test Pool Examinations for Registered

Virginia's first associate degree nursing

Nurse Licensure with the highest school

program, Schuler ended their conversa-

mean score in the state. Thus, it sur-

tion with an invitation for Hatrock to revive the proposal Christianson had

prised no one when the National League for Nursing granted NlC's nursing pro-

initiated should her husband find work.

gram full accreditation in i973. To

Not a month later, she surprised Schuler

accommodate this rapidly growing

with news that John had landed a job,

program, the co llege constructed the

and she left the president's office that

Winton Bu ild ing adjacent to Post Hall,

afternoon as an NIC consultant, her

provid ing classroom and lab space for

task lo develop a health facilities needs

tl1e nursing program and housing NIC's

assessment and budgetary guidelines

first student health services.

for a nursing program.

News of both the practical and regis-

After successfully pleading their case

tered nursing programs created a stir

to the Idaho State Board of Education in

among community members. One

January i970, Hatrock and Schuler

woman, bored with housework once

admitted twenty-eight students to the

her kids left home, read an ad in the

RN program by September, all of whom

Coeur d'Alene Press about

were taught by three nursing faculty,

College's programs. Though the brutal

including Hatrock. The following year,

curriculum nearly convinced former

Schuler hired two more nursing faculty

flight instructor Gladys Buroker that

to accommodate a second class of thirty-

she was too o ld for school, she found

six students. Thirteen students gradu-

her stride in time to play many practical

Nursing students, circa 1970.

orth Idaho

North Idaho College photo.

87

jokes on students and faculty. One day, in the middle of demonstrating how to drape a patient, instructor Diane Granger stepped out of the treatment room to chat with someone. The nursing students, at Gladys's instigation, immediately switched the mannequin on the cot with a live replacement.

Buroker writes in her memoir, Wind in

My Pace: Much to our surprise, Diane returned with a visitor. "You all know Mr. Haught;' Diane said. "He dropped by to visit our class." We glanced nervously at one another, but it was too late to stop now.

"Mr. Haught;' Diane said, doing her best rendition of a teacher. "Our clinical experience today is how to properly drape a patient for an exam." She then turned to the table and continued, "You should never cover a patient's h ead" at which she pulled back the

schools throughout Idaho. One of these area schools was located at NIC, where former Idaho State University vocational instructor Clarence Haught assumed leadership of NIC's vocational education. With state funding, NIC added one or two programs a year, the first being drafting and practical nursing, followed by welding and machining, and finally millwright.

With more students and equipment than room, Haught secured additional space in the late sixties through a lease/pt1rchase agreement with Idaho Forest Industries to house the motorcycle mechanics and millwrights on River Avenue. In the early seventies, NIC drew more students by adding carpentry, law enforcement, television, office occupatiqns, computer programming, and data processing programs, along with the widely popular forestry technician

drape.

"Boo!" Fay yelled. Diane jumped at least three feet, turning crimson from head to toe while Mr. Haught, director of vocational education, laughed until tears ran down his face. (178)

Nursing was only one of several NIC vocational-technical programs to put down roots in the late sixties and early seventies. Soon after passage of the nation's Vocational Education Act of 1963, the state board of vocational edu-

cation had assigned six area vocational 88

Television program, circa 1975.

College photo.

North Idaho

Hedlund Vocational Building shortly after opening, circa 1976.

North Idaho College photo.

program, which, according to the Cardinal Review's October 1975 issue, was "highly rated by the Society of American Foresters [and J receiv[ ed] inquiries from students all over the United States."

As these programs gobbled up even more space, NIC finally acquired state building funds and constructed the Hedlund Vocational Building in i976. New curriculum additions added in the midto late seventies included truck driving, mari ne mechanics, and refrigeration . In

NIC Mobile Learning Center, circa 1975.

North Idaho College photo.

addition, the home economics program was e.xpanded to offer many skills to

demic homemakers program developed

women both on and off campus. To

about the same time.

meet the needs of women who were

Directed by Beth Blair, the academic

unable to attend classes on campus, NIC

home economics program focused on

remodeled a recreational vehicle into a mobile learning center, complete with a

the hotel/restaurant, fashion merchandising, dietetics, and child development

kitchen . This vocational component,

programs, all incorporating the philoso-

directed by Linda Lewis, eventually evolved into the Displaced Homemakers

phy of teaching students through the practicum method. Blair, having taught

Program. Interestingly, a parallel aca-

at a California high school with an on89

site preschool, believed in the benefits of providing students a natural environment for hands-on experience while offering a service to students, faculty, and staff. While the college eventually dissolved the academic home economics program, the enormously popular NIC Children's Center and child development program remain active to this day.

Because retraining employed people was another prime responsibility for the state division of vocational education, NIC added short-term evening classes in welding, machining, carpentry, etc., at each of the area vocational schools in local and outlying area shops and at local high schools. By early 1980, the popularity of these classes required the addition of dedicated staff. Schuler reassigned Bernie Knapp from drafting and civil technology to lead this program, which was later awarded the State Program of the Year for three different years. After his retirement, this program morphed into the Workforce Training Program, which continues under the leadership of Dr. Robert Ketchum.

These new programs in vocational education mirrored a national trend to develop programs and services for all students, not just those gifted intellectually or privileged financially. To this end, Schuler launched two innovative academic programs at NIC in advance of many institutions. NIC's fust remediation program appeared in i972 with 90

a reading/study lab in the McHugh Building (now the Fort Sherman Officers' Quarters) under the direction of Edwina Gustafson, who was hired to create and direct the college remedial programs. The NIC Learning Center evolved to help students not only with reading, writing, and study skills but also with tutoring in almost every discipline. The October i972 Cardinal Review encouraged students to look into this "enormously popular program" offered at "no cost to you." In addition to the Learning Center, Schuler charged the Mathematics Department with developing a math lab to enhance math skills for entering students. In i978, a career center was established to enhance student success. At its opening, Director Gar路y Coffman commented, "People spend a good deal of time and money going to school without specific goals.

People who utilize the service fill their goals, rather than just filling space."

Not only did community colleges work to fill learning gaps, but a few sought to provide for the gifted. Working with area public school superintendents, Schuler spearheaded an innovative program for high-achieving students. The Early or Coordinated College Enrollment Program encouraged gifted juniors and seniors in area high schools to take college courses in subjects not available in their schools, while still completing high school grad-

uation requirements and participating in extracurricular activities. This program has evolved across the United States into a vibrant new approach to education, now known in the state of Idaho as dual enrollment.

While most students and programs resided on campus, college leaders decided to expand college offerings to satellite campuses, another hallmark of progressive community colleges. Schuler initiated an evening school program in Coeur d'Alene and satellite campuses in Sandpoint and Kellogg, where working adults, as well as interested young people,

could

enroll

in

college-level

courses, practical training, and hobby or special interest classes. Off-campus enrollment has increased steadily since

"NIC Business Department Has Acquired a New "Brain" The Monroe 770 Electronic Calculator, according to Business Instructor Mrs. Betty Mclain, weighs only 28 lbs. and can solve arithmetic problems in milliseconds. Its "brain" is its ability to remember-it can store total and provide a readout at a later date.

SOURCE: Cardinal Review, December 1968

these beginnings, with many commu-

PHOTO: The Monroe 770 Electronic Calculator, circa 1968. North

nity members citing these programs as critical in their personal, educational, or

Idaho College photo.

career advancement.

Paralleling another community college trend to meet students' needs, community colleges across the United States began to add personal services. Upon Schuler's arrival, he quickly appointed Les Hogan as dean of students and gradually added two full-time counselors, a student health nurse, a financial aid director, a veteran's advisor, and a student activities director. In addition, NIC also sponsored hospital/medical insurance coverage for students, a service common at colleges and universities 91

but clearly the exception at cornmuterbased community colleges.

Another student benefit came through the auspices of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and the Mountain States Community Col lege Association, allowing students from community college districts or unserved areas to attend

students transferring to EWU to pay instate tuition in exchange for allowing Spokane Community College service area students to attend NIC for in-district tuition.

Of all the new services offered at this time, perhaps the most promising for bored students was the new outdoor

community colleges in any participating states without paying out-of-state or out-of-district tuition. Consequently, NIC accepted many students from western Montana, particularly Mineral

recreation program coordinated by student activities director Dean Bennett.

Student apathy had long been a problem at NIC; the outdated dances and teas of the s.Lxties no longer interested the more "hip" students who preferred

and Sanders counties. In addition to this service, NIC and Eastern Washington University entered into a tuition

to spend their time at locaJ bars and offcampus parties. Offering alpine and downhill skiing, wilderness moun-

reciprocity agreement, allowing NIC

taineering, and kayaking, Bennett hoped

Students participating in the outdoor recr'eation program, circa 1980.North Idaho College photo.

92

to draw single and married students with families to these much healthier, exciting activities.

NIC experienced a steady progress during this eighteen-year period, not only because of President Schuler's efforts but also because of many faculty and staff. A strong relationship developed with local government when NIC instructors Perry Christianson and Ray Stone, subsequently college president and college dean, served as city council members, with Stone later serving as mayor of the City of Coeur d'Alene after his retirement. In his capacity as council member, Dean Stone played a key role in securing federal funding for the Communication Arts Auditorium Building (now known as Boswell Hall).

Likewise, life science instructor Jim Burns served many years on the Panhandle District Board of Health; registrar Karen Streeter served as a council member for the City of Post Falls; business office assistant Glenmar Fullmer also served as council member for Fernan Lake Village; and carpentry instructor Walter Carlson acted as a trustee for Lakeland School District 272.

In addition to volunteering in local government, faculty donated thousands of hours to activities benefiting both college and community. Take, for instance, political science instructor Tony Stewart, who would do about anything to raise money for a deserving

"Understanding NIC Role Essential to State Funding" The junior-community colleges in the State of Idaho are treat路ed like the poor relations of the educational system of the state. Like all poor relations, they are sometimes scorned, sometimes loved, depending upon the changing moods ,of the more fortunate family members. When the poor relation begins to sprout his creative wings, have more children and varied programs for those children that really meet their needs, the more fortunate family members are very apt to say "somebody is getting very uppity in this family. Why don't they just go away and stop embarrassing us all with their request for more attention and more funding." The major problem facing the juniorcommunity coUeges in the State of Idaho is that very few people in the state understand their mission or their purpose: transfer programs, paraprofessional programs, vocation-technical programs, continuing education programs and a community service program that meets the needs of the students in the broadest possible sense with the highest quality of instruction and the best equipment available to help with that instruction.

SOURCE: Ray Stone, guest editorial, Cardinal Review, February 1978

93

Tony Stewart preparing to eat a live goldfish at the M uscular Dystrophy Dance Marathon fund raiser, circa 1980. North Idaho College photo.

94

cause. The February 1980 Cardinal

instructor Pat Richards to promote a

Review shows him eating a live goldfish

series now known as the Popcorn Forum

to raise $soo at the Muscular Dystrophy

that brought nationally known speakers

Dance Marathon, for which he acted as

and programs to campus for a week

master of ceremonies. On a different

each spring. Following the live pro-

note, English instructor Jim McLeod

gram, Stewart and a panel of campus

organized a summer bagpipe program,

and community members interviewed

drawing bot h national and interna-

the speakers on an N IC-produced tele-

tional participants, an d accounting to

vision program known as the NIC Pub-

this day for the w heezy, screechy

lic Forum, which until 2008 broadcasted

cacophony caused by students learning

to listeners in all of Idaho, portions of

to p lay this challenging instrument .

Montana, Washington, Oregon, Ne-

Possibly the most sustained faculty

vada, Wyoming, Utah, British Columbia,

effort, though, began with a partnersh ip

Alberta, and parts north. The forum

between Tony Stewart, foreign language

evolved into weekly programs and by

instructor Leona Hassen, and radio-TV

2005

had hosted i,650 shows.

Stewart got the idea for the Popcorn

'~Person

in My Own Right"

Forum from the University of Tennessee, which sponsored a Penny Lecture Series. Excited about the idea of an annual program on provocative topics, he convinced social science chairman James Crowe to sponsor the series and the Associated Students to purchase popcorn. The formal mission statement for the series reads as follows: The North Idaho College Popcorn Forum presents an annual symposium for the purpose of examining a broad range of questions, issues, and problems. The Popcorn Forum provides both the college campus and the wider community a p latform for the free expression of divergent viewpoints. The

Forum also seeks to awaken in each of us our full potential as thinkers and doers.

Many years later, CNN commentator Bill Press said he knew why Stewart

When I came to North Idaho College in the late 1970s, I was terrified. I thought college was a place for eighteen-year-old high school graduates. What would they have in common with a thirty-year-old, soon-to-be-single mother with only a GED diploma?

My first class, English 101, was a further shock. I had definite ideas about what an English professor should look like. The young man with a bushy brown beard, leather sandals with no socks, jeans and a Mickey Mouse T-shirt was not it. But he taught me certain rules: No more than one exclamation point per paper.

Sentence variety-only one compound, complex sentence per paragraph. Show, don't tell. He showed that compassion was an integral part of teaching and living. When he conferenced with me about my first essay, he discovered I was working night shifts as a nurse's aide in St. Maries, living in Harrison and trying to manage a household that included my three children, two sisters, a foster daughter and her husband and child, and my husband, as well as taking a course load of 16 credits in science and humanities. With his recommendation, I became the English Department work-study student. ...

called it the Popcorn Forum. If you take a kernel of popcorn and put it under intense heat, it blossoms into a wonderful nutritious food. Likewise, the forum puts ideas under intense scrutiny until they emerge as clearer understandings and plans on which people can act.

Of the 208 speakers during this period, guests included well-known names such as

Dr. Buckminster Fuller,

"the Planet's Friendly Genius"; Julian Bond, national civil rights leader; Carole King, songwriter and political

For the five years that it took me to gain acceptance into and complete the RN program, George [Ives] and the rest of the English Department staff encouraged me in my studies, commiserated with me in my s,etbacks, rejoiced at my successes, and taught me that there was more to an education at NIC than just completing a program. I came to believe that I was more than the sum of my life roles; for the first time I was valued because I had intrinsic value as a person in my own right.

SOURCE: Linda Farrell Erickson, "A Person in My Own Right," in A Patchwork of Praise, ed. Dawn Atwater-Haight and Fay Wright

95

activist; Dr. Daniel Ellsberg, lecturer and writer on nuclear arms; Frank Church, U.S. senator; and Grover Kranz,

tions and consider legal ven ues for achieving their goals. NIC student Ronald G. Colstad made this disgrun-

anthropologist and bigfoot expert. Perhaps the b iggest coup for a speaker was Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee,

tled comment in a letter to the editor in the December i968 Cardinal Review.

who in February 1974 gave a two-hour speech on Watergate, packing the gym with close to three thousand people.

Just as these years under the leadership of Barry Schuler took the college from the sixties to the eighties, they

Unpopular ideas and people are strangers

took students from Woodstock and Watergate to Nikes and Miami Vice.

Though this period suggests America's youth cared more for stuff than for ideas, NIC students who attended Senator Baker's speech and other thought-

to our campus. Only the ideas considered to be safe are allowed here. Little Joh nny and Susie must be protected from the cruel world .... Despite the "in loco parentis" attitude of some Deans of Women, college students are not children but rather they are adults and should be treated as such.

In March 1969, the Review reported that the NIC student board had issued this resolution:

provoking events learned to ask quesIt. is the consensus of the Student Board that, in regard to the recent faculty discussion concerning classroom absences, absences may be recorded : however, absences shall not detract from the student's overall score on his exams or his ftna l grade, thus preserving the individual's freedom by placing scholarship above routine.

Nearly seven years later, in i975, the NJC board of trustees rejected a student board request fo r $500 to sue the state board of education for denying legal possession of alcohol on state college campuses. Altho ugh their ideas didn't always Senator Howard Baker and NIC delegation entering the gym, February 1974. North Idaho College photo.

96

bear frui t, students felt safe to e>.--press their ideas and criticize the status quo.

Most students, however, just wanted to attend school and have fun. What could be more entertaining than a catapult contest, conceived by anthropology and psychology instructors Duke Snyder and Don Sprague? The object was to vie for entry into the Guinness Book of World Records by competing with other local colleges. The October i975 Cardinal Review published rules for the contest, which specified that the catapult was "not to exceed $1,000 in materials [and would] be revised from year to year for the annual event." President Schuler

Reflections from Charles Durand, ASNIJC president, 1970-71 North Idaho Junior College provided the nonacademic types like me the opportunity to climb a little higher than anyone could have expected. My primary goal in going to college was to accept a draft deferment; otherwise, I would have been happy to have skipped the whole experience. My strategy for academic success was to seek out "good students" and hang out with them. Some of the people I met inspired me to change, and we became lifelong friends: john Keebaugh, the student council member who taught me to think; David Risley, the campus know-it-all who taught me to read and laugh at myself; George Ives,

publicly demonstrated his support by placing the rallying cry bumper sticker on his car: NIC Catapulters Plunk Your

t he English professor who taught me to write; Tony

Magic Twanger. Powered by a quarter-

Student government interested me primarily because

mile of surgical tubing, NIC's catapult

it fit in with my social agenda. The perks included a

tossed a 25-pound beer keg 526.37 feet to outdistance the nearest competitor, Montana State University, by 216.19 feet.

While engineering students planned their giant slingshot, others enjoyed different activities. Creative Writing Club

leadership scholarship, an office in the student union building, a secretary, and access to the facu lty senate and the college president. During 1970-71 I had the

students published their work in the college newspaper. Returning student Roberta McCoy penned her poem, "Mom as a Student"; the last stanza reads: I get mad if I see I am falli ng behind To try that much harder I've made up my

mind

I've got to make good, it would cause me a rage

Stewart, the sociology teacher who taught me to listen more and talk less.

opportunity to visit the other college campuses in Idaho and this led to a desire to improve our student facilities. The student board voted for increased student fees to go toward improving campus parking and adding on to the student union building. It is quite a joy to see the North Idaho College campus in

2007 and see a dream come true.

As ASNIJC president I took great delight in calling President Schuler almost daily and asking him if there was anything new that I needed to know about.

Although cordial, he rarely shared much, but he did answer the phone. I learned great lessons at NIJC despite my indifference toward higher education. The experience allowed me to grow and seek more.

To be a college "drop-out" at my advanced age.

97

Another student, Bill Hanks, wrote "The Grey Ghost;' an elegy to his car, which apparently had won many a drag race. you ghost in grey party plymouth; rode the rural route frightfu l fury II dodge ditcher

Tuki

i race you, waste you you gravel throwing tire fryer;

No one on NIC's college campus left without meeting ltsuko "Tuki" Nishio, a diminutive Japanese woman with an iron will. Tuki earned her degree from Coeur d'Alene junior College in 1943 and served as registrar at NIC from 1946 to February 1988, for a phenomenal total of forty-one years of service.

President Barry Schuler tells two stories about Tuki, the first demonstrating Tuki's character and scrupulous attention to detail and the second her total devotion to college records, even in the face of authority. One night a security guard, who worked part-time for the college and part-time for the Coeur d'Alene Police Department, created a bogus folder in t he registrar's office, making it appear he had a degree in law enforcement. When Tuki picked up the folder the next day, she noticed something fishy. In short order, she

grab that hill, cross that creek chrysler's crisis; i scratch you, smash you chevy stamper; i grab your gea rs

grating you to the graveyard grey ghost.

McCoy and Hanks's interest in writing could well have been triggered by the efforts of Miss Virginia Tinsley, English instructor, who agreed to act as advisor for a new literary magazine, today the Trestle Creek Review, urging

figured out the guard's ruse. He lost his NIC job, of course, and was fired by the Police Department.

students to contribute short stories and poems. In a late sixties Cardinal Review, Tinsley said, "We are seeking to produce

After this, Tuki permitted only office staff to have keys

a professional, high-quality magazine which will display the talents that cer-

to the registrar's office. When President Schuler also requested a key, she refused. He had quite a time convincing her he needed it in case of emergencies.

PHOTO: ltsuko Nishio, circa 1965. North Idaho College photo.

98

tainly exist in NIJC students."

Performances from rock to classical and athletic events from wrestling to basketball also entertained students and community members. The Creative Writing Club scored a coup by bringing

Students prepare to fire the catapult at the catapult contest, circa 1975.

Students studying on the beach, circa 1975.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

North Idaho College photo.

Northwest poet Richard Hugo to NIC to read selections from his book Good Luck in Cracked Italian. In addition, Shirley Lorene and the Dream Factory performed "Rock Around the Clock," by

the campus. During the last two years of his tenure, an intense dispute arose over how much control the chief administrator should exercise over the student

Bill Haley and the Comets, and ÂŤAlley

dents, staff, and members of the broader

Oop," by the Hollywood Argyles, while

community disagreed with Schuler's position and decisions related to the issue. The ensuing controversy, which lasted over a year, led Schuler to conclude NIC's interests would be best

at another concert, Harpers Bizarre played selections from their album Feelin' Groovy. On a more classical note, the Canadian Opera Tour Company performed Rossini's Barber of Seville.

Then, in i976, the college had the good fortune of drawing jazz pianist Walt Wagner. Indeed, from these and many more performances, NIC students had access to a broad spectrum of cultural entertainment.

Through these performances, sporting events, curriculum expansions, and financial difficulties, Schuler guided the college with a steady hand. However, a rift widened between the president and

newspaper. A number of faculty, stu-

served by his pursuing other opportunities in higher education. President Barry Schuler resigned on December 31, 1986. Dr. Walter Browe, NIC's first interim president, took the helm for six months, calming the choppy waters, while the college conducted a national search for a new president.

99

CHAPTER 8

BUILDING BRIDGES

1986-97

R esident Schuler's departure ushered in a new era at North Tdaho College. Schuler had served the college for eighteen years, maintaining a tight rein on the budget and effectively managing the college during years of a flat state economy. With the economic upswing of the late eighties, it appeared the coll ege would have the finances to evolve into a dynamic institution. The search began fo r the right person to lead the co llege into the future. After fall semester 1986 under interim president Dr. Walter Browe, North Idaho College welcomed as its president Dr. C. Robert Bennett, previously president of Gogebic Community College in Ironwood, Michigan . Bennett's outgo ing personality and personal style quickly invigorated the campus and the community.

Meanwhile, students just kept on truckin'. They boogied to their favorite local band, Black Happy, skateboarded at the city's newly designated park, mountain biked, and belly laughed at comedy acts on campus. They listened to the wizardry of acoustic guitar player Michael Hedges, the increasing virtuosity of the Spokane Symphony, the rhythms of music instructor Terry Jones's North Idaho Jazz Ensemble and Gerard Mathes's machine-gun-shaped violin. They took dates to NIC theater pro101

Iraq must withdraw from Kuwait completely, immediately, and without condition. Kuwait's legitimate government must be restored. The security and stability of the Persian G ulf must be assured. And American citizens abroad must be protected.

The NIC students reaction in general was supportive, as reported in a fall 1992 edition of the Sentinel, NIC's recently renamed student newspaper. In a survey of 230 students, over 80 percent sup-

Bob Bennett, president, 1987- 97.

North Idaho

College photo.

ductions like The Importance of Being Earnest, admired artwork in the newly designated Union Gallery, laughed with cowboy poet John Jay Kulm, and either played or watched baseball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, wrestling, and track and field.

Th is is not to say that they didn't face serious issues. Students debated abortion, gay rights, and, perhaps the most worrisome, the 1991 Persian Gulf War, about which students predictably disagreed. On January 16, 1991, President George H. Bush announced the onset of Operation Desert Storm in these words: So if there ever was a time to put country before self and patriotism before party, the time is now. Our objectives in the Persian Gulf are clear, our goals defined and familiar: 102

ported the U.S. position, and 73 percent said they had friends or relatives serving in the Gulf, with one student commenting that she knew one hundred people there. Not everyone agreed about the need for U.S. interference, however.

One student wrote in a letter to the editor, "To believe that the kinder, gentler George Bush is less criminally insane than Saddam Hussein is analogous to believing the Titanic merely stopped in the North Atlantic for party ice."

Faculty views on the war aired in an October 1992 issue of the Sentinel demonstrated the college's mission in supporting open debate. Philosophy instructor Tom Flint commented, "We may win the battle for Kuwait, but revenge is a big part of [Iraq's] code, and I don't think we can sustain a presence in the Middle East." Anthropologist Duke Snyder said, "The question in my mind is-What happens to Hussein? Politically, there is a danger in

leaving him alive." History instructor

"Into the Light"

Judy Sylte pointed out that "the prospect of lasting peace in the area seems dim when issues are viewed in the con-

Four years ago, as a forty-two-year-old ch ild of the sixties who once took Tim Leary very seriously, I found

text of the Islamic people, who are fighting a war to preserve their way of

myself contemplating David Bowie's words from the early seventies: "You better look out all you rock and

life and beliefs." And political scientist Tony Stewart quipped, "Congress's place [is] to take the lead and say that we will never supply a dictator like Hussein [with armsj again ."

rollers .. . pretty soon you're gonna get older." After too many years of cocaine-fueled extended adolescence, playing guitar in various rock bands for paychecks that sometimes contained negative numbers, I stood neck deep in my midlife crisis as the idea of change ascended my horizon.

It's interesting that two years before the campus argued politics on this new war, NIC student and Vietnam veteran Sonny Kinsey rolled his way to Washington, D.C., in his wheelchair to crusade for the plight of Vietnam vets

The metamorphosis of any idea, from the realm of imagination to the land of concrete, parallels the birth process in the amount of pain and effort required . I took the first step in my rebirt h as a human being by getting sober. ... My first day of classes found me in deep self-doubt. What was I doing here? What made me think I could pull this off . . . ? When I finished

that first semester with a 3.92 GPA, I felt ready to walk on water, and knew that I could make my dream come t rue . .. . I just completed my first semester at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, w here I'm majoring in Speech Commu nications and studying for my endorsement in Elementary Education . I managed to get a 3.94 GPA this semester, and can see some light at the end of the academic tunnel. (I'm in my junior year) .. .. This fall I became an Alumni Association board member, w here I hope to pass on to present students some of the good feelings I have for the school.

SOURCE: Mike Pace, "Into the Light," in A Patchwork of Praise, ed.

Dawn Atwater-Haight and Fay Wright

Students gather for a study session, circa 1985. North Idaho College photo.

103

exposed to Agent Orange. The November i990 Sentinel repor ts Kinsey "has been in and out of hospitals for the last i8 years and at age 38 he is afflicted with

and forge strong ties with businesses.

Upon his arrival, Bennett found vocational dean Clarence Haught to be the only administrator with longevity. Busi-

multip le cancers, emphysema, an amputated leg and other illnesses."

Behind this phenomenal web of activity, the NIC board of trustees, chaired

by Dr. Jim Barton, worked bard to give the college stability and standing in the

ness dean Rolly Jurgens had been hired

by President Schuler only two years earlier, as had Steve Schenk, director of public relations. Interim president Browe

community. It charged Bennett with two specific objectives in addition to normal presidential activities. The first was to form a strong administrative team, and the second, to embrace the community

say, formerly the admissions director, as interim student services dean .

Following the board's directive, Bennett speedily designated Conners and

had appointed Dennis Conners as interin1 academic dean and David Lind-

Lindsay as permanent deans for in-

The /1 Andrus Sisters" entertain Governor Cecil Andrus during a campus visit, circa 1990.

North Idaho College photo.

104

struction and student services, respectively. He further announced that Schenk's position would be elevated from director to dean, with the added responsibilit)' of directing the recently formed College Foundation. The perfect man for this job, Schenk possessed the sophistication and wit to forge important relationships in the community at large as well as within the campus community.

With the exception of Conners and Haught, that team stayed together the remainder of Bennett's presidency at NIC. Conners resigned in 1993 to become the vice president of Harper College, near Chicago; he was replaced by Dr. Jerry Gee. Haught retired in i995, replaced by Dr. Barbara Bennett (no relation). President Bennett also named Kathy Christie, former interim instructional dean, to remain as assistant dean of academic affairs.

Bennett's second charge-to extend educational services to towns and rural areas in the Idaho Panhandle's five northern counties-became his trademark for the next ten years. His virtuosity in garnering the public eye made the college multitudes of friends.

This task began immediately. Within a week of Bennett's arrival in Idaho, he was invited to speak at an annual luncheon hosted in Boise for state legislators and the Idaho governor. Bennett introduced himself to state leaders and put

President Bennett (right) meeting w ith Washington Water Power Company executives. North Idaho College photo.

North Idaho College in the spotlight.

Two weeks later, he traveled to Boise again, making NIC's budget request to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC). This rapid introduction to state political leaders created a positive image for Bennett and NIC tlu路oughout the next decade.

After the two Boise meetings, Bennett formally met the Panhandle community at the Coeur d'Alene Resort, a make-or-break meeting. In his remarks, he underscored the board's directive for NIC to participate actively in community affairs. Even though the word community was not a formal part of NI C's name, he insisted the board understood its community college role and took its mission seriously.

105

NIC's importance to regional businesses. Later, Bennett utilized these business connections when he began soliciting support for funding. His early work served the college well.

Strengthening the College Fo un dation, established under President Schuler in 1977, also melded the institution to the community. Steve Schenk, formerly a talented newspaperman, whose wife Gretchen was editor of the Coeur d'Alene Press, collaborated with the president to achieve this goal.

Almost everyone loved Schenk's mod¡â&#x20AC;˘

Carpentry students working on the NIC Foundation Really Big Raffle house, circa 1980. North Idaho College photo.

Proving that commitment, Bennett worked off campus as much as on campus his first months as president- actu-

.~

106

ally, that focus continued throughout his presidency. Each week he met CEOs of local businesses and industries, descending into Silver Valley mine tunnels, wearing a hard hat while touring mill sites, and flying in small planes over Lake Coeur d'Alene or Kootenai Lake and the surrounding forests. On each visit, he asked to meet plant employees, several of whom predictably praised their alma mater, NIC. This entree allowed the president to discuss

esty and great sense of hwnor. For example, when asked by the Sentinel staff in August 1992 to write a little abo ut his NIC employment, Schenk wrote, "I will complete my eighth year at NIC! Now that's pretty amazing. Not quite equal to my favorite tabloid headline, 'Statue of Elvis Found on Mars.'

But a real surprise to me." Since Bennett's presidency, the Foundation's worth has ballooned from $600,000 to over $ 10 million.

Enthusiasm for the Foundation had skyrocketed when Bennett asked Foundation board member Lola Hagadone if she and her husban d Duane would host a luncheon for the Foundation board of directors. A powerful Coeur d'Alene family, owning not only the local newspaper but numerous properties, including the Coeur d'Alene Resort and golf course, the Hagadones obliged en

masse. The couple invited NIC board

through a lottery called the Really Big

and Foundation board members to an elegant dinner at their summer home on Lake Coeur d'Alene, a11d later to a Christmas party at their winter home, conferring prestige on the college and energizing both boards. As a result,

Raffle, initiated in 1993. Planners agreed to sell no more than four thousand tickets at $100 each, increasing the excitement and the chance to win. Ticket sales paid fo r home-building materials, with the remainder devoted to student scholarships, program needs, and grants.

Since this program's inception, the Foundation has netted over $2.1 mil-

Foundation members found the impetus to take on several fundraising projects for NIC. The Foundation's first big venture transformed the NIC carpentry program into a surprising income source.

Instead of building a home each year for a designated buyer, the program administrators collaborated with the Foundation to raffle the residence

lion . In addition to benefiting students and teachers, the raffle's publicity and financial success bolster community interest in the college.

Another fundraiser drew attention from community members interested in performance arts. After attending a Hay-

Really Big Raffle house under construction, circa 1980.

North Idaho College photo.

107

NIC Workforce Training Center groundbreaking, June 13, 1994.

den Lake Country Club concert where opera singer Kay Damiano entertained for a local charity, Bennett asked the soprano if she would perform 路with the NIC orchestra. Discussing the idea further with her husband, Hal, and NIC

108

North Idaho College photo.

Hal Damiano persuaded Northern State Bank to underwrite the event by covering production costs. Since then, planners路 have continued finding sponsors, earning over $300,00 in fourteen years' time. As a side note, the Damianos, at the urging of Snyder, provided seed funding

orchestra director Todd Snyder, she suggested an agreement: Hal would direct and produce a show of excerpts from The Music Man, starring Kay and area artists. Monies from the first show would help fund the Fort Sherman Officers' Quarters renovation, and subsequent shows helped fund the NIC Children's

of $s,ooo to the NIC library to purchase a CD collection.

The success of these two ventures enabled the NIC Foundation to fund other projects, one of which, the Workforce Training Program, strengthened continuing education. The program's

Center, which provided care and preschool education to NJC students' children. The first show, in i992, drew such crowds it became an annual spring variety show, raising an average $25,000 each year. In addition to producing the show,

purpose was to deliver credit-free open enrollment and customized training courses to working adults in the community. When Bennett hired Dr. Robert Ketchum in i990 to direct that program, the small campus space restricted

his efforts to work with business and industry. Frustrated with the grindingly slow process to secure state funding for new buildings, Bennett approached the Foundation to build a Workforce Training Center in a Post Falls industrial park west of Coeur d'Alene. The board embraced the challenge, and in 1994 built a thirty-eight-thousand-squarefoot facility, formally dedicated on October 27.

This success increased NIC's credibility with area businesses and indus-

NIC Workforce Training Center, shortly after opening, October 27, 1994.

North Idaho College photo.

trial leaders, state legislators, and the public. Ketchum quickly joined the business community in recruiting Harpers Man ufacturing, a fu rniture manufacturer from California (today named Flexcel) to relocate in Post Falls.

One key reason for the manufacturer's decision was NIC's ability to secure state fun ding to train new plant employees. Since then, the Workforce Training Center has collaborated repeatedly with the business community on projects beneficial to the area, wh ile the training center's enrolli11ent has skyrocketed, with a head count of over thirteen thousand students in 2006.

Another Foundation project was one Bennett believed could tap the college's greatest asset- i ts age. Many community members began their education at NIC and could provide muscle fo r the college with their support. He approached the Foundation for money

Each January, the NIC Alumni Association hosts its annual Wild Game Feast dinner.

Proceeds from the event fund the NIC Alumni Association scholarship program.

North Idaho College photo.

109

Members of the Alumni Association board of directors and the 2006 Alumni Association scholarship recipients gather for a photo. North Idaho College photo.

a College Alumni Association in i996.

ships totaling $}5,000 to more than forty students. In addition, members actively

Since its mission was to encourage a

promote NIC through community

lifelong interest in North Idaho College,

events in the five northern counties.

to collaborate with the college and form

the new association director immedi-

Although the Foundation provided

ately began research to recruit as mem-

m uch-needed funding, the college still needed increased revenues from tradi-

bers individuals holding twelve or more academic credits at NIC. Free to anyone

110

tional sources. However, that need

who wishes to join, the Alumn i Asso-

seemed far from satisfied, at least .i n the

ciation's current membership totals over three thousand individuals, with

niJ1eties. For a time (in i992 and again

communication established witb more

in i996), Idaho institutions faced passage of a devastating i% Initiative,

than twelve thousand. Rewlions and special events such as the Wild Game

spurred on by property tax reformer Ron Rankin . The initiative stated, "The

Feast fundraiser, serving delicacies such

maximum amount of tax on property

as ostrich, emu, and rabbit sausage, help

subject to assessment and taxa tion

former students stay connected. Yet, the alumni do far more than attend social

w ithin the state of Idaho shall not

events. Monies raised through this and

exceed one percent (1%) of the assessed value of such property, after all statu-

other activities have provided scholar-

tory exemptions applyi11g to such prop-

erty have been applied." The Idaho State

How Molstead Library Got Its Name

Tax Commission Property Tax Analysis estimated the 1996 initiative would trim

NIC's new library/computer center received no official

funding to state institutions by nearly

name until 1997 when then vice president of college relations and development Steve Schenk proposed the campus's newest building be named the Molstead

20

percent.

Tax reform such as this was a na-

tional mantra, with President Ronald Reagan asserting in a State of the Union address, "We cannot win that race [to

Library after donor extraordinaire Jessie Molstead.

buggy programs that waste tax dollars

A pioneer resident of Kootenai County and an elementary school teacher, Molstead bequeathed property valued in excess of one million dollars to NIC upon her death in 1994. Molstead's gift continues as the

and

college's largest source for student scholarships.

the future] held back by horse-andsquander

human

potential."

Rankin and his supporters took that to mean Idaho institutions. The October 1992 Sentinel reports, "If the initiative

Schenk noted regarding the Molstead memorial, " It's wonderful how a family that cared so much about

million dollar budget cut." Painfully

helping people is now going to be recognized throug h a facility that probably means as much or more to education as any other building on campus. It

aware of this potential devastation,

is said that a library is the heart of an institution. If

NIC's numbers man, Rolly Jurgens,

that's true, NIC's heart just grew better."

passes, the effect on NIC will be a 2.5

even donned his winter hat and coat on vacation days to walk around campus

SOURCE: "Jessie's Gift," Sentinel, November 19, 1998

with a boldly printed sandwich board, Vote No on 1%. Fortunately, both attempts failed in their respective November elections.

Even in that difficult environment, Bennett secured building funds with innovative problem solving. Before Bennett arrived, the college had struggled to convince the state legislature that NIC needed a new library. Always faced with more requests than dollars, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) resisted prioritizing NIC's request. Now armed with growing community support, Bennett took a new 11 1

"College Joins World with World Wide Web"

tack. He told JFAC members if the state would pledge two-thirds of the library's

When the Internet came to NIC the world came with it. When NIC's home page goes online, NIC will go to the world. NIC will now fully be a part of the information age with pages on the World Wide Web, joining many other colleges and universities. According to Erna Rhinehart, public relations specialist, the Internet, which has been on campus about a year, has benefited both students and faculty.

It enhances the learning experience by providing access to information that was previously unavailable, out-of-date, or too timeconsuming to obtain. "It opened up a whole new world for all of us," Rhinehart said.

Regarding the decision to take NIC to the next level in the information age, Rhinehart said, "Technology was coming down the highway and we knew we had to get on board." Steve Ruppel, computer services director, said, "When we became aware that other organizations were putting themselves on the Web, we started thinking about putting ourselves on the Web too."

cost, he would enlist community support for the remainder. JFAC members, intrigued with the idea of local dollars helping the building effort, catapulted the library project to the top of the list.

Now Bennett and the board, under chairman Jack Beebe, needed to find matching funds. They began by meeting with Duane Hagadone, who had previously hosted the Foundation dinners.

Also impressed with the notion of local support, Hagadone pledged the fust $30,000, hoping others would follow his

lead. Within three months, the capital campaign earned enough money to build NIC's new library/computer center.

Piggybacking on NIC's efforts, the Univ-ersity of Idaho administrators proposed funding an additional wing for this new library/computer center, with high-tech classrooms to be used by the faculties of both institutions, and as

SOURCE:

Sentinel

April 25, 1996

administrative offices for UI personnel.

Quickly accepted, this joint effort spurred further collaboration such as a series of in-service meetings between the UI and NIC division chairs and smoother student transfer among their respective programs. Several years later, following NIC's success with the Post Falls Workforce Training Center and Community Education Center, UI administrators decided to also build a research center in the same location.

112

This cooperative planning provided

The old science building used by the

more educational opportunities to

Maintenance Department for depart-

North Idaho citizens than could ever be

ment storage was remodeled to accom-

offered by a single school.

modate growing Business and Computer

With these buildings completed, the

Science departments. It was renamed

time came to update other campus

McLain Hall in appreciation of former

facilities. The old Sherman School,

business instructor and chairperson

which had hosted several generations of

Betty McLain, who headed NIC's board

Coeur d'Alene children, was remodeled

of trustees through the mid-nineties.

to accommodate administrative offices.

Even the relatively new performing

Before lhe new library facility was com-

and fine arts building built during

pleted, UI also remodeled its administrative offices located in that building.

Schuler's presidency received a spit

After the university staff moved, space

Hall in honor of recently deceased

was allocated for the administrative

speech instructor/administrator Joyce

offices of Lewis-Clark State College. As

Boswell, was repainted, dressed in new

a resull, more and more students could

stage curtains, and furnished with deep

complete four-year degree programs

green carpet. The makeover complete,

while never leaving Coeur d'Alene.

former president Barry Schuler re-

bath . The building, renamed Boswell

Lee Hall, the oldest classroom build-

turned to celebrate the auditorium

ing on campus, benefited from a radical

being named for him in appreciation of

face-lift. Carpenters gutted and remod-

his leadership at NIC.

eled classrooms and administrative

Perhaps the most historic building to

offices to accommodate new computer

receive major remodeling was the Fort

technology needed by instructors and

Sherman Officers' Quarters (FSOQ) .

administrative staff. They also con-

Built in the late eighteen hundreds, it

ve1ted the old Lee Hall library into a

remains the second oldest building in

vibrant space for the Learning Center, a

Idaho after the Cataldo Mission. One in

move necessitated by environmental

a row of homes for officers, which

concerns when the center was located directly above the diesel and auto body

stretched from today's Molstead Library to the west corner of Garden Avenue,

shops. Christianson Gymnasium, lo-

the FSOQ was the only house left and in

cated on Lee Hall's opposite wing, was

bad need of repair. Once Congress

repainted, its locker rooms remodeled,

decommissioned the fort, established in

new second-level theater seats installed,

i872 to maintain peace in the area, the

and the gym lobby expanded.

college rented the structure's second 113

Fort Sherman soldiers, circa 1894. Museum of North Idaho photo.

Remodeled Fort Sherman Officers' Quarters, circa 1990. Museum of North Idaho photo.

floor as student housing. Later, janitors

Not only did the campus's physical

filled the apartments with discarded

profile change, but so did its buffet of

college furniture, with only one-third of

programs, one of which initiated part-

the first floor housing faculty in drafty,

nerships with community colleges in

unattractive offices. On October 29,

Japan and South Korea. This program,

1979, the state placed the building and

driven primarily by the Hagadone Cor-

surrounding district on the National

poration, capitalized on these countries'

Register of Historic Places.

exploding economic growth during the

When President Bennett sent a

eighties and nineties, when tourists

request to the state board of education

began visiting the United States and

for monies to renovate the building, the

North Idaho in increasing numbers to

members appropriated the dollars.

speak English and learn about Western

Carefully restored by local contractors,

culture. Seeing an opportunity to

the dilapidated structure soon appeared

extend a hand of friendship, the execu-

from the outside as it once had, bathed

tives of Hagadone's new Coeur d'Alene

in pale yellow paint and wrapped in a

Resort approached Bennett and the

right-angle veranda to sit on in the

Chamber of Commerce about sending a

warm afternoons. They converted the

delegation to Japan to attract Asian

interior into modern faculty offices,

tourists to North Idaho and provide new

except for the formal dining room,

program opportunities for the college.

which was restored to period style and

The Hagadone Corporation assumed all

reserved for important meetings. The

the costs for the first delegation to Japan.

campus eyesore was thus transformed into both a historic monument and a

The trip resulted in a sister college agreement between NIC and Ikuei

functional bui lding, providing much

Junior College in Takasaki, a city

needed space for the college's growing

located ninety miles north of Tokyo in

facu lty.

Gunma Prefecture. This agreemen t

Bennett also got the ball rolling on

drew Japanese students, faculty, and

two last renovation projects-the stu-

administrators to Coeur d'Alene, where

dent union building and the Children's

they lived at the resort and attended

Center. By the end of his presidency,

classes at NIC. Philosophy instructor

plans had been completed and student

Jim Minkler, who spoke Japanese, con-

funding secured for the remodeling of

tributed to the venture by interpreting

the student union building, and the

for the Coeur d'Alene delegation. Later,

College Foundation had paid for a

he and his wife, Yoko, a Japanese citizen,

revamp of the Children's Center.

helped NIC host its Japanese guests.

115

Even tho ugh some criticized this program, arguing that the exchange program had become too much of a business venture for the visitors' bureau, these efforts paid off when a similar agreement emerged between NIC and another college near Nagasaki, Japan, and still another in South Korea. Besides the obvious benefits of strengthening continuing education and filling rooms at the resort, the visiting students brought their native music and entertainment to the North Idaho public.

President Bennett and a member of the Japanese delegation, circa 1980. North Idaho College photo.

These initial exchanges led to additional par tnerships in Chinese cities where NIC offered programs to emerging industries for workforce training.

Another enormously important curricular development, a new humanities program, grew out of the efforts of history instructor Judith Sylte. An October i990 Sentinel reports that "last week NIC was officially notified by NEH the college was awarded $96, 373 [the largest grant ever for the National Endowment for the Humanities] for the organization of a Humanities Department and various other activities to promote humanities on campus and in the community." Sylte, project director, with

The sister college agreement results in multicultural sharing, circa 1980. N orth Idaho College photo.

116

other faculty members developed the first ever humanities class: Montage: An Introduction to the Humanities. Monies also brought innovative educator Parker Palmer to campus and provided $10,000 to the library for purchase of

humanities materials. This program continues to provide classes, workshops, and events for faculty and the campus community.

Of enormous pride to the NIC campus, the Sentinel staff, under the gentle guidance of journalism instructor Nils Rosdahl, continued its record of bringing home national awards. The May 1991 Sentinel reports, "Sponsored by the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Collegiate Press, the award [Story of the Year] was given for 'excellence in reporting and leadership in the college press."'

The newspaper took second in the nation for a six-part series on domestic violence, securing the newspaper's

"Chili Cook-off A Gas" Big hats and accordion players appeared at this year's chili cook-off along with 118 other people. The event "spooned in" $422 for United Way. "Each year gets better and better," said Lucinda Ade, executive director for United Way. "It's one hour of fun followed by five hours of indigestion."

The judges who shared Ade's job of choosing this year's winners were NIC board member Betty Mclain and NIC President Bob Bennett. This year's winner was the fine arts department taking first place with "Spicy Pumpkin Chili." .. . The library staff's "Mad Mary's Voodoo Chili" took the Most Spirited award, possessing the crowd with their chili.

"It's made from Black Magic and black beans," said

ranking among the top college papers in the country. The Sentinel also won the

cook James Curtis. "It evolved and mutated on us."

Rocky Mountain Collegiate Press General Excellence Award-an honor bestowed on the best newspaper among

The People's Choice award went to the science

smaller two-year colleges in fourteen states. But even while they worked hard to produce a professional weekly publication, students still had fun with their

department with "Dead-on-Arrival Chili." David Cunnington, who appeared last year as a woman for the science department, joined Rhena Cooper as the "terminal care physicians" this year.

SOURCE:

Sentinel

October 1995

headlines. One, fo r instance, "North Jdaho Sail ing Club Breaks Wind," in the April 1994 issue, shows that kids will still be kids!

Another proud moment for NIC came with the news in i987 that Dr. Virginia Tinsley Johnson had won the coveted William H. Meardy Faculty Member Award. The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), recognizing 11 7

E\

Dr. Virginia Johnson, receiving the coveted William H. Meardy Faculty Member Award, reciprocates by presenting an Idaho potato lei, 1987. North Idaho College photo.

teaching and learning as the central purpose of community colleges, presents the award annually to say thank you to all faculty members. The award is

dent population. Having discovered the beauty of North Idaho, visitors looking for new homes arrived by the droves to take advantage of low housing costs and

named in honor of ACCT's founding executive director, William H. Meardy, who championed the concept of faculty excellence as the foundation of success of the community college movement.

The first woman and westerner to receive the award, Johnson presented

a sin1pler lifestyle. The Idahoan resentment toward Californians (always an undercurrent) began heating up publicly. Karin Lau, an editorial writer for the Sentinel, took on native Idahoans in January i991 with her article "Californian Resents Prejudice, Harassment" after her sister found an abusive note on her car

Meardy with an Idaho garnet tie tack and an ldaho spud lei as gifts from her home state to commemorate the event.

This remarkable expansion in NIC programs mirrored an increased growth in North Idaho communities and stu118

parked on campus. Lau stated, "We are not here to take away anything, but rather to get away from an unnatural way of living.... We have brought some of our environmental awareness and

concern; economic growth and new joos; and money-lots and lots of money, among many other things."

To accommodate this population increase, the NIC board of trustees wisely directed Bennett to establish a long-range plan for the college. Forming a committee of instructors, staff, administrators, board members, and students, he asked them to re-craft the college mission and formulate objectives and plans ensuring NIC could meet the Panhandle's changing needs.

As these requirements became apparent, the department chairs told Bennett teachers needed more technology to enhance instruction. Bennett subsequently created a staff development director position and buttressed existing staff development opportunities. In the years to come, the NIC Foundation would fund many initiatives proposed in this NIC Strategic Plan.

Because of this renewed vigor on campus, Tony Stewart, creator of the Popcorn Forum, took on an innovative challenge. He proposed a new format for the forum called the Chautauqua, a performance strategy that would bring American heritage to life with first-person characterizations of historical figures by humanities scholars.

Where did this concept originate?

According to an essay titled "What Was Chautauqua?" (prepared in connection with the Library of Congress's callee-

A Dream Fulfilled I remember a boy from Spirit Lake whose dream was to become an MD. He worked hard in all his classes and was a 4.0 student. I remember him as the one tutor who could tutor every single math and science course NIC offered.

A challenge for him in the application to medical school process was an essay stating why he wanted to become a doctor. Over the course of a summer vacation, he and I met on several occasions and I helped him craft that essay. After that I didn't hear from him for several years.

Then one morning, unlocking my office door, I noticed a note taped on it. Opening it I read, "Sheila, I was accepted to medical school in Wyoming, and I'm in my second year. Thank you so much for helping me."

SOURCE: Sheila Wood, former director, Developmental Education

119

tion "Traveling Culture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century"), Chautauqua companies in the early nineteen hundreds traveled the countryside all over the United States, providing

Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment to fight racism and hatred burrowing into Idaho cultme. Faculty, students, and civic leaders provided leadership that eventually led to the

cultural entertainment and education, including lectures, concerts, movies, and plays, to millions of attendees. Attempting to resurrect this popular education movement of the early twentieth cen-

demise of an Aryan Nations compound located near Hayden, north of Coeur

tury-and re-create the passionate dialogue found inside Circuit Chautauqua tents-many colleges and universities in the eighties began hosting scholar performers who impersonated historical characters while discussing current issues facing the country. In the first

between Stewart and Gritz would last for several more years with surprising results later that decade.

Lessons of civic responsibility for

such symposium at NIC, Dr. Clay Jenkinson, a nationally known historian,

students-part of the college's general

received rave reviews for his rendition of

education objectives-also developed

Thomas Jefferson. Since then, North Idaho has been visited by Mother Teresa (played by speech instructor Mona Klinger), Mother Jones (librarian Denise Clark), Mary Wollstone-

through a small 1997 $12,000 initiative funded by the College Foundation and directed by Kathy Christie, assistant vice

craft (Dr. Virginia Tinsley Johnson), and Ernest Hemingway (George Ives), not to mention Albert Einstein, John Adams, and a host of others. Of course, the entire community attends the NIC Chautauqua free of charge.

During this same period, NIC also became the hub for the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, which later collaborated with the 120

d'Alene. In i992, instructor Tony Stewart, president of the Kootenai County Task Force, took on Bo Gritz, a Populist Party presidential candidate, whose attitudes Stewart in a public release revealed as a "haven for Klansmen and neo-Nazis." This heated exchange

president for instruction. In the February 1997 Sentinel, Christie defines service learning as pedagogy which combines academic study with community service-a type of experiential learning.

Students have the option of choosing assignments tied to the course's learning objectives, requiring fifteen to twenty hours of community service in local nonprofit agencies or community organizations. For example, art students might study the impact of bringing papier-mache or ceramic projects to

fund its activities, which included providing support to gay students who were victims of hate crimes, the senate president opposed their request. Even though the student senate was required by its own constituti on to provide financial support to registered student organizations, the senate president was backed by supporters on and off campus. Armed with an Idaho attorney general opinion that Lhe club's request was legitimate, Bennett and board members overruled the student president's stance.

Public criticism continued, but NIC held firm in its commitment to the Mona Klinger poses as Mother Teresa during the 2001 Popcorn Forum Chautauqua series. North Idaho College photo.

minority civil rights as promised in its vision statement: "North Idaho will be a caring, supportive learning community where the principles of equality are

homeless children; sociology students

modeled and promoted."

could donate time to agencies while

Jn an institution as small as NIC,

exploring social problems like hunger

growth in programs and services is

or child abuse; ed ucation students

never accomplished without some pain.

cou ld gain insight for their career

In the NIC Learning Center, located on

choice by tutoring fourth graders after

the seco nd floor of the Hedlund Voca-

school; science students might learn sci-

tional Bu ild ing, students and faculty

entific methods by collecting data in a

began reporting "odors and alleged

scientific study. Ten years after the pro-

physical side effects such as headaches,

gram started, students still earn credit

dizziness and respiratory distress,"

by applying skills learned in the class-

according to the August 1992 Sentinel.

In fact, Dr. Edward Beaty, neuropsy-

room to benefit North Idaho citizens.

Unfortunately, some lessons offered

chologist, found of the twenty-six tests

al NIC met the disapproval of conserva-

he had taken on Hedlund Building

orth Idaho citizens. When the

employees, abnormal results appeared

newly formed Human Equality Club

in thirteen. Even though the college

petitioned the college student senate to

spent thousands of dollars on air qual-

tive

121

ity studies and over $900,000 to remodel the second floor where individuals experienced difficulties, including updated heating, ventilation, and

munity members. Their task: to study the current athletic policy and make recommendations in agreement with the federal government's Title IX guidelines.

air-conditioning systems, President Bennett and vocational instructors argued that no evidence indicated an unsafe environment. Eventually, the center moved to a new location in the

It was a difficult job indeed: they faced budget problems if they added more women's programs or coaches' and athletes' frustration if they reduced the men's. This continuing controversy inevitably led to the question of whether

old library of Lee Hall.

Another difficult issue emerged from an accreditation directive. During the nineties, Congress's passage of Title IX challenged colleges and universities to ensure equal educational opportunities for women. Like so many other institutions, NIC fell short in intercollegiate athletics. When Rolly Williams, long-

sences), an increasingly difficult issue as the state faced severe budget crw1ches.

Operating under a new philosophy, the board of trustees in its May 1997 meeting informed President Bennett

time Lnstructor, head basketball coach,

that they would not renew his contract.

and athletic director, retired in i996,

After working through a satisfactory contractual settlement, Bennett resigned. The public announcement of the board's decision and Bennett's res-

Bennett charged his replacement, Jim Headley, with forming a committee of coaches, teachers, students, and com-

122

NIC should remain in the Scenic West Atl1letic Conference (requiring considerable travel, expense, and student ab-

ignation sparked a debate in the community at large. Some students, faculty, and staff held a reception on campus for the president and family members to show support fo r his leadership. The College Foundation board of directors hosted a dinner at the Hayden Lake Co untry

Club,

where

community

friends expressed their appreciation for his work at the college. A special guest, former governor Cecil Andrus, offered particularly mea ningful support for President Bennett a nd his wife, Donna.

Bennett subsequently accepted a presidency at Miles Community College in Miles City, Montana.

Meanwhile, the NIC board of trustees, under the leadership of Jeanne Givens, hired an interim president, Dr. Ron Bell, a retired president of Shoreline Community College in Washington State, to serve through the year needed for a presidential search.

123

CHAPTE R 9

GATHERING IN A NEW MILLENNIUM

W

1998-2007

th the approach of the year 2000, students flooded North Idaho College as more

and more out-of-starers moved to North Idaho. Whereas in i939, faJl enrollment numbered io5, by the new millennium it was over 4,000. And whereas in 1939 most students were white North Idahoans, the year 2000 enrollment revealed a wonderful diversity, both geographicaJly and ethnically.

The presence of more American Indians among the student body can be attributed in large part to the dogged work of Jeanne Givens, chairperson of the board of trustees and Coeur d'Alene tribaJ member, along with interim president Ron Bell. An enthusiastic late July 1998 ceremony between the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and NIC culminated in the Nine-Point Agreement between the two entities and fostered a sense of home for the Coeur d'Alene peoples. Signed by tribal chairman Ernie Stensgar and NIC trustees, the document missed one critical signature, that of tribal elder Henry Si]ohn, who quipped, "Yeah, I'm going to wait, I'm just going to wait and see."

Remembering how former agreements with the white man were repeatedly broken, he chose to withhold his name until he was convinced the college had demonstrated it would fulfill its promise. He returned to the college in February i999 to add his name, finalizing the agreement.

125

After the signing of the Nine-Point Agreement, more Coeur d'Alene Indian students enrolled at the college- as many as ninety in 2002-whereas prior to its enactment, the Native American presence on campus was nearly nonexistent. Perhaps the board's decision to offer resident tuition to any student registered as a member of the Coeur d'Alene, Shoshone-Paiute, Nez Perce, Shoshone-Bannock, or Kootenai tribe contributed to this increase. The article "Playing Without Reservation" in the October 2002 Coeur d'Alene Press tells of two students, Darnell Williams and his cousin Andrae Domebo, who took advantage of NIC's expanded offerings

Coeur d'Alene Tribal Council member Ernie Stensgar, circa 2006. North Idaho Co llege photo.

Members of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe prepare to participate in the Yap-Keehn-Um Powwow during American Indian Week, circa 2006. North Idaho College photo.

126

during this high enrollment year.

Williams is Nez Perce; Domebo can trace his ancestry on his father's side to Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce and on his mother's side to Geronimo of the Apaches. Living in the dorm, the two practiced smudging, a cleansing ritual, by burning sweetgrass, sage, and cedar, and in doing so taught other dorm residents much about native traditions.

With students like Domebo and Williams have come more minority activities, orchestrated by NIC's Cultural Events Committee, including American Indian Week, which features the Yap-Keehn-Um Powwow, coyote storytelling and local history, stick and card game demonstrations, and American Indian art and food. In addition, the committee also sponsors the May 5 Cinco de Mayo celebration with salsa dancing demonstrations and lessons and other related activities.

These and similar events motivated some NIC students to join organizations dedicated to fighting for human rights.

The Human Equality Club, for instance, provides support and guidance to students who have been victims of hate.

Club advisor Tony Stewart always reminded members that a huge gap looms between tolerance and celebration; the club must celebrate people's

A Nine-Point Agreement On July 23, 1998, members of the Coeur d'Alene Tribal Council and members of the North Idaho College Board of Trustees signed an agreement to work together on the following nine projects and programs.

1 . Expand the library collection about Native Americans.

2. Construct a "longhouse" on the NIC campus.

3. Name NIC buildings, streets, classrooms, and special places on campus after important tribal leaders or cultural events.

4. Create a Coeur d'Alene Tribal Awareness Week.

5. Display sculptures and paintings about the Coeur d'Alene Tribe on campus.

6. Better use campus resources to serve Coeur d'Alene tribal members.

7. Set up recruitment nights for prospective tribal students and their families.

8. Create an American Indian studies program, including the Coeur d'Alene Indian language.

9. Use distance education to reach out to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe.

differences. Another club celebrating differences created quite a stir on campus and in the community but received 127

ABE/GED Grads and Valedictorians

the unconditional support of NIC's board of trustees. The Gay/Straight

NIC successfully serves students entering college, whether it be GED graduates or high school valedictorians. As former president Michael Burke used to say, if NIC's Adult Basic Education program were considered a high school, GED graduates from that program would make up the largest percentage of all the high school students entering NIC.

Alliance seeks to promote a positive and

Emphasizing individual help, which allows students to progress at their own pace, the ABE/GED's dedicated staff help students meet their goals. Program director Rex Fairfield stated in 1999, "I am extremely pleased that the Outstanding legislator Uohn Goedde] and the Outstanding Student for Mountain Plains Adult Education Association and the Idaho Lifelong learning Association [Gwindolyn Ballard] are not only from Idaho but from our own region, here in North Idaho."

instructor Sharla Chittick. The club's

supportive environment for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people, and those supportive of them.

Perhaps the most recently visible club has been Students for Progressive Change, advised by former history purpose is to raise awareness about issues affecting students on a local and national level. The club has also become a powerful advocate on campus for issues such as gay rights and nationalized health care. Protesting both the privatization of Sanders Beach and the building of the Burlington Northern

While ABE students contribute the highest number of

and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) fueling

freshmen, valedictorians contribute perhaps the smallest but perhaps most academically elite group.

In 1999 North Idaho College awarded the first Board of Trustees Presidential Scholarships, setting aside $17,000 to attract local community high achievers. That first year NIC drew ten of the fifteen valedictorians in the five northern counties.

station over the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie aquifer, students have learned the value of their own voices.

They have also learned community service by helping clean up Tubbs Hill, a publicly owned urban wilderness area in downtown Coeur d'Alene.

It was into this environment a new president would come. With Dr. Ron Bell acting as interim president, everyone wondered who would lead the campus in these exciting times. NIC faculty packed Todd Lecture Hall in the spring of 1998 to measure the demeanor and remarks of four potential candidates for NIC president. One stood out as different: a thoughtful man from Texas with a

128

League for Innovation in the Community College. Burke's boss at Eastfield, President Rodger Pool, ca lled him "quiet and competent and bright as the dickens."

In his late forties, Burke carried the polish of an urban intellectual with his passion for the community college mission. He saw in North Idaho College an institution poised for phenomenal growth and in need of a steady hand to guide it into the twenty-first century.

Arriving on campus in midsummer to confer with interim president Ron Michael Burke, president, 1998-2007.

North Idaho College photo.

Bell, Burke began to form impressions of the comm un ity. He noted, "Northwest-

knack for colorful metaphors. While he

erners are friendly and hardworking, but

boasted impressive administrative cre-

there's a different sense of privacy [than

dentials, Michael Burke seemed more

in Texas], a live and let live sense, a little

scholar than administrator-an appeal-

more independence." As to the interim

ing quality to the campus community.

president he would replace, Burke found

Burke had spent thirteen years in

Dr. Ron Bell to be a fountain of inex-

Texas at Eastfield College, in the Dallas

haustible energy, noting, "Where Ron

County Commun ity College District.

charged ahead, created motion, turned

There, he worked in various positions,

over the rocks, I ponder things by peel-

ultimately serving as vice president of

ing the onion to fu lly understand issues."

finance and planning. Not only did he

In many ways, Burke was a detail man,

hold a doctorate in educational admin-

using research and logic to address prob-

istration from the Community College

lems-just what the college needed at

Leadership Program at the University of

this historic juncture.

Texas at Austin and a master's in Eng-

Yet NIC faculty and staff were sad to

lish from the Un iversity of Houston, he

see Ron Bell leave. At a time when the

had also comp leted Harvard Univer-

college needed a strong leader, he "emp-

sity's Institute for Educational Manage-

tied out everyone's pockets and shook

ment program and the Executive Lead-

out the lint and dust," according to

ership Institute sponsored by the

trustee Sheila Wood. She expressed 129

thanks for the campus community at the i998 commencement with these words: Dr. Bell, we feel honored to formally thank you on behalf of the board of trustees for your service to North Idaho College....

Your decisive leadership carried us forward and brought us to a new place. You championed our cause in the community and the legislature, and you led us in a campus-wide renewal. As we were stretched and as we grew under your sure guidance, you were a model of decency, honesty, openness, and positive regard for others. Most of all, you didn't just do the job; rather, you did it with yom whole hea1路t.

The applause that followed emphasized the campus support for her comments.

The celebratory feeling on campus seemed a bit inhibited by events set in motion by neo-Nazis. Just as Bell was handing the presidential reins to President Burke, the Aryan Nations ramped up activities in North Idaho to spread its message and garner public support.

By summer i998, events began to take a sinister turn. The white supremacist

130

event, causing the City of Coeur d'Alene to bolster its police force and local human rights groups to strategize a nonviolent response.

From this effort was born the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations' Lemons to Lemonade Project.

Inspired by similar human rights campaigns around the country, the project netted $35,000 from fundraising and drew hundreds of supporters (rather than protesters) to a positive event. Project participants-many of them from the NIC Human Equality Clubsolicited cash pledges from businesses and community members for each minute the Aryans marched. In addition, to dear the streets from onlookers, volunteers organized activities for children and路 adults on NIC's campus. VVhile the Aryan Nations march flopped, Project Lemonade was hailed as a resounding success, providing other human rights groups with a model for positive change.

In the same month, an event occurred that would dismantle the neoNazi operation. Aryan Nations security members shot at and physically abused a former NIC student, Victoria Keenan, and her son, Jason. The Keenans' attorney, with assistance from the Southern

group filed a permit with city officials to stage a highly publicized march down Sherman Avenue for July, in honor of Adolf Hitler's birthday. Both

Poverty Law Center-including civil rights attorney Morris Dees-filed a lawsuit against the Aryan Nations com-

supporters and protestors from around the country planned to attend the

pound. After the court awarded the Keenans $6.3 million, a sheriff's auction

The newly remodeled Edminster Student Union Building welcomes students, circa 2000.

North Idaho College photo.

sold the twenty-acre compound in the

homophobia, and inequality are not

north woods to philanthropist Greg

going to cure themselves." President

Carr, who demolished all the buildings

Michael Burke, the rally's keynote

and donated the property to the North

speaker, agreed, saying that the way to

Idaho College Foundation in

to be

dissolve hatred is through "impassioned

converted into a peace park. This prop-

yet compassionate discourse." Possibly

erty must remain vacant for twenty

angered by the college's role in the

years, in accordance with the provisions

Lemons to Lemonade campaign and

of the property transfer.

the diversity rally, an anonymous per-

2002

In the fall of i998, NIC's Human

son sent a death threat letter to an NIC

Equality Club, whose membership had

employee. Burke responded quickly

grown to eighty-five in response to the

with this statement to faculty and staff,

events, led a diversity rally to help unify

captured in a November Sentinel piece:

North Idaho against this hate, according to an October i998 Sentinel article.

Personally, I find this letter ro be both

As the Associated Students vice presi-

cowardly and utterly reprehensible .... As

dent B. J. Johnson stated, "Racism,

North Idaho College president, I fully intend 131

NIC Newspaper Top in Nation

to continue this institution's longstanding support for a working and learning environ-

Since the college's inception in 1933, students have been reporting the news. They mimeographed their first paper, the Jaycee journal, reporting events from ice-skating parties to basketball games to theater productions. The next paper, the NIJC Review, became more polished as a newsprint publication. The Cardinal Review followed, and finally the Sentinel, which students distribute today throughout the Coeur d'Alene community as well as on campus. The advisor of this remarkable publication for the past twenty-four years has been journalism instructor Nils Rosdahl.

The Sentinel has earned numerous first-place awards, including the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, known as the poor man's Pulitzer, for outstanding coverage of disadvantaged people; the Sentinel also won first place in the nation for its Web site, which students and the public can access at www.nicsentinel.com.

This tradition has continued. In 2007 the Sentinel took Best of Show at the Associated Collegiate Press competition in Portland, Oregon, and also won first place in the Mark of Excellence competition sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, one of the oldest journalism organizations in the United States.

The most recent and deserved award was bestowed on Nils Rosdahl. In 2007, he received the College Media Advisers Distinguished Adviser Award, a national honor presented each year in Washington, D.C.

132

ment that is free of racism, hatred and malicious harassment. I promise each of you that I will do everything in my power to foster and maintain such an environment for all students and all employees.

That school year college security closely monitored all events to keep the campus community safe from violence.

In the midst of this controversy, college business proceeded in an orderly fashion. Burke's first steps were to make the campus safe, enhance the Human Resources Department, and revisit or initiate strategic planning, long-range planning, and facilities master planning, all to guide his subsequent actions as president.

One facility under construction had finally been completed. In the spring of 1999, the extreme makeover of Edminster Student Union was completed, having been financed by the Associated Students of NIC, who agreed to pay for the structure through student fees over a twenty-year period. More than a typical remodel, the architects fitted the facility with brand-new systems, inside and out. The mall design allows students to enter the building and immediately see what services are available.

Wraparound windows invite the outdoors in, and the added twenty thousand square feet accommodate a much

larger dining area, a roomy student government suite, many more meeting rooms, two large student lounges, and a much larger bookstore.

With the concerns about the student union resolved, Dr. Burke turned to issues of safety and security for campus employees and students. Having worked in an urban institution, h e felt NIC was ripe for poss ible violent behavior. He o rdered that shrubs and low-lying trees be cut and additional lighting be installed campus wide, and directed Rolly Jurgens, vice president for administrative services, to increase security and develop crisis response plans in preparation for a serious event.

Another area immediately capturing Burke's attention was human resources.

Bell had pointed to the need for more

With these obvious problems being resolved, Burke turned to the future.

Needing fresh input from the ground up to guide his actions, he convened the Strategic Planning Committee of thirtyplus people from the faculty, staff, and community to establish a cycle of continuous planning. Curt Nelson, a physics instructor and committee member, advised Dr. Burke, "If we're going to do it, we need to do it in six months, and do it right." To facilitate the process, Burke hired a professional consultant, who recommended redrafting the mission statement and rearticulating the college's goals and values to guide subsequent work. The committee presented Burke with this mission statement: North Idaho College is committed to stu-

consis tent personnel practices, made obvious by a closet full of pending legal cases. Burke quickly established that

dent success, teaching excellence, and life-

employees should not be terminated out of fr ustration, but instead managers should be better trained to supervise.

He said, "You don't just fire people you

quality educational

are tired of." Since supervisory staff lacked training and knowledge of protocol, he noted "one person [supervisor] could make a half a mmion dollar decision without anyone knowing."

Human resources began a series of training sessions in management team meetings addressing gender and supervisory issues.

long learning. As a comprehensive community college, North Idaho College provides opportunities

that

expand human potential and enhance the quality of life for the students and the communities it serves.

With his charge in place, Burke knew how to proceed. One program obviously needing expansion was distance education. Since the college serves Idaho's five northern counties-not just Kootenai County, where the campus is located-Burke saw the need to increase academic opportunities for students 133

who live in outlying areas or work at fulltirne jobs that interfere with a conventional class schedule. A grant written by Nursing Division chair Joanne Brogan resulted in $1.6 million to create the

tual rather than real-time interactions in discussion forums, chat rooms, and e-mail; online assessments and assignment drop boxes; interactive video conferencing in which live courses were

North Idaho Information Network

broadcast in real time to students in

(NUN) in i997, which provided interac-

several different outlying communities,

tive videoconferencing (IVC) ability to ten school districts in Region I.

using monitors, cameras, and computers; and dual enrollment, a program

The project and online instruction necessitated t11e creation of the Department of Distance Education under the guidance of Dr. Candace Wheeler, hired

inviting high-achieving high school students to earn both public school and college credit simultaneously.

Wheeler's immediate task was to

in i998 to bring order and vision to the program. In Burke's mind, "her job was huge," smce teaching methods unknown to many teachers were infus-

work with frustrated faculty. Those already teaching NIC's few Internet and IVC courses desperately needed techni-

ing the field-Internet classes with vir-

cal assistance and professional development. They had felt out on a limb for

Derrick, Conner, and Susan Kinnune utilize technology at North Idaho College to visit with Chaplain Robert Kinnune in Iraq, 2006. North Idaho College photo.

134

some

time.

Furthermore,

vocally

Business Students Fare Well

opposed skeptics in the campus community argued that distance education

For the second consecutive year, seven North Idaho

students did not get the one-on-one

College students earned national awards at the Busi-

attention they deserved and would receive in classes conducted on campus.

ness Professionals of America (BPA) National Leadership Conference in New York City in May 2007. The

Their resistance made buy-in from

students qualified for the national competition by

other faculty members difficult to get.

In spite of these difficulties, in

2001

placing at the state conference in Boise earlier in the year. The seven NIC students placed in the top ten in the nation in business skill competitions. NIC's chapter

faculty and department chairs initiated

earned three national awards, including a Quality

NIC's Best Practices Standards for

Chapter Distinction Award as well as awards for its

teaching online. Support services coor-

participation in Special Olympics and Community

dinator Tom Lyons and a crew of techni-

Action projects.

cians handled technical issues, and Lyons, with English instructor Fran Bahr, taught an online course for faculty titled Teaching Web-Based Courses. The inclusion of Bahr, a full-time faculty member, ensured faculty control of curriculum quality. By i999, NIC offered more than sixty courses through on-site, off-campus NC and the Internet, serving nearly 700 students. At the ten-year anniversary of the NUN grant, 4,321 distance education students had enrolled in 541

NIC courses.

Another component of distance education included the development of outreach centers in the five northern counties. Starting the Ponderay Center in Sandpoint on a shoestring, NIC struck a deal with the city leaders for a rent-free location and then cased NIC's warehouse for old equipment and furniture, which was hauled to Sandpoint in a pickup. Since this first successful 135

enterprise, NIC has opened two more centers: the Silver Valley Center in Kellogg and the Bonners Ferry Center. The centers provide one-stop shopping to enroll in academic, workforce training, ABE/GED, and community education classes for Idahoans who otherwise might not attend college. President Burke in an interview commented: We started to pursue o utreach centers to get people off the overwhelmed campus and then tumbled onto the idea that "we're your commun ity college and need your support."

An w1expected benefit was a coalition of leg-

islators wanting to support NIC for their districts. Suddenly we had fifteen legislators instead of five backing us.

The Workforce Training Center in Post Falls, already in full swing, had increased its head count enrollment from 5,788 in 1997 to 13,550 by 2006. It began seeking new clientele outside of the area in 2003. The Customized Training program staff, providing and delivering workforce training to business clients, decided to seek new markets

136

compames m China based on each company's particular training requirements. Examples of training NIC has provided range from production and project management programs to leadership skills and stress management programs.

In addition to outreach centers, NIC began providing services for students in high school wanting to attend college.

Dual enrollment, made available by state legislators hoping to curb "senior slump," allowed students in their junior and senior years to enroll in college courses for which both high school and college would award credit. Eligible students had to be sixteen, have a 3 .0 grade point average or higher, and have successfully completed half of their graduation requirements.

Excited about this prospect, many high school students began commuting to NIC. For instance, Coeur d'Alene High School junior Kristian Kitselman, who in 1999 took precalculus to give him a head start for a math major in college, told a Sentinel reporter, "Things are way more thorough and there's less distraction [at NIC] .... I think it's a

with American companies in China.

Because of this, Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne and twenty-five other Idaho organizations invited NIC representatives to accompany them on a trade mission to Asia. Currently, NIC

great chance for people to get into something that's a little faster paced."

In the case of Lakeland High School in Rathdrum, where commuting was more difficult, Wheeler forged an agree-

Customized Training provides a variety of training programs to Fortune 500

ment whereby NIC instructors would teach classes via interactive videocon-

ferencing, and some Lakeland teachers would be hired on as NIC adjunct faculty to teach college-level courses on the high school campus. This arrangement was met with enthusiasm by Ron Schmidt, Lakeland's assistant superintendent, who noted that students could now get a college education without leaving their high school. To encourage enrollment, the NIC board of trustees continues to set tuition for dualenrolled high school students at rates much lower than the per credit rate normally charged to Kootenai County residents. "The taxpayers of Lakeland should be thrilled," Wheeler said in an August 2005 Coeur d'Alene Press article

by Taryn Broadwater. "The partnership [with Rathdrum] comes at no expense to the school district, which will use existing classrooms during the 'zero h our,' before the school day officially begins."

Since the beginning of this remarkable program, many students have graduated from high school with ten or more credits from NIC already earned toward college. However, a few students have far exceeded this goal, such as Drew Stephens. This remarkable young man was the first student in North Idaho to complete an associate of art degree from NIC and his high school diploma simultaneously, graduating from NIC in May 2000 and Coeur d'Alene High School in June

2000.

1942 Class Returns for Graduation Their commencement was a long time coming- sixty years after they graduated from North Idaho College.

The college recently discovered that its Class of 1942 never had a graduation ceremony. As the United States joined World War II that year and the lives of young men, women, and families quickly changed, finishing college became low on the priority list. The college cancelled classes two weeks earlier that spring and left its graduates without a commencement ceremony. Once college officials learned what happened to the Class of 1942, they moved quickly to locate the twenty-nine class members and honored them at the commencement ceremony on May 17, 2002. For Bob Humphrey, it was a remarkable weekend. He attended the commencement to watch his mother receive her Class of 1942 honorary degree and then drove ninety miles south the next day to watch his son graduate from the University of Idaho.

PHOTO: President Burke and members of the 1942 graduating class in 2002. North Idaho College photo.

Since 137

then, several other students have achieved this goal.

These distance education offerings gave students opportunities about which they could never before have dreamed. Distance education's impact

had grown to such a degree that in 2005-2006 course enrollment at the

centers and through technology totaled 6,851 students. Because this number

Good-bye to the Card Catalog Remember those banks of drawers filled with aut hor, title, and subject index cards-all neatly alphabetized?

During fall semester 1989, library staff began converting holdings from the Dewey Decimal to t he Library of Congress classification system and into the Western Library Network (WLN) database. By 1992, the library had joined t he In land Northwest Library Automation Network (INLAN), and students and staff had access to t he library's first online catalog, CARL. The primary victim of this conversion project was the library catalog. If you're still nostalgic over the loss of library catalogs, visit one of art instructor M ichael Horswill's art pieces located in Molstead Library. Mike retrieved some of those old NIC library catalog cards

already represented 19 percent of NIC's course enrollment, the college foresaw this program growing exponentially in the next ten years.

To accommodate enormous growth in all these programs both off and on campus, the NIC board of trustees asked President Burke to bolster the infrastructure, both electronic and physical. Of profound importance was the integration of computer systems on campus, a task falling "below the radar," according to Burke. Indeed, when he first arrived at NIC, students still were unable to register online, much less pay

index cards to the soph isticated online catalog that is

their bills or look up their grades-all services that were quickly becoming standard at other educational institutions. Furthermore, staff entered all student data manually- often more than

the hall mark of a good contemporary library.

once, since computers dedicated to each

and incorporated them into a fun piece of art that daily reminds us of those neatly alphabetized drawers of NIC's library holdings. It also reminds library staff daily of all the hard work it took to get from those

<leparlrnenl an<l program cuukl nul PHOTO: Michael Horswill's card catalog sculpture. North Idaho College photo.

communicate.

When Charley Cahill, computer systems analyst, showed Burke a map of the campus's convoluted computer sys-

138

tern, Burke knew he must find the

board of trustees approved building a

money to complete the process by 2005.

new student residence structure. By

What no one really anticipated was the

spring 2002, a replacement residence

human cost that would go into adapting

haJI stood in the footprint of the old.

the new system. The changeover to

Financing the new $5 million dorm

Datatel, the comprehensive software

with bonds, NIC resolved to try some-

system eventually adopted by the col-

thing new-a dorm-in-a-box concept-

lege, was intense-just ask the hun-

eliminating the need for an architect.

dreds of staff who implemented it-but

This format wo uld allow builders to add

the result has been a campus-wide solu-

to the dorm size incrementally, depend-

tion, connecting all departments and

ing on the needs of the institution. Each

allowing students to access the most

box or apartment with card-key access

current information.

would house four students who would

Of equal importance-and certainly

share bathroom facilities and a living

more visible-was raising the health

room. In addition to the pods, the hall

and sciences building and a residence

would have a digital theater on the third

hall for students and planning the cul-

floor, two large study lounges, and a

tural center/longhouse, a project result-

bicycle storage area. "We knew if we built

ing from the Nine-Point Agreement

it big enough:' says Burke, "we would

between the college and the Coeur d'A-

have a revenue stream once we paid off

lene Tribe. Construction on the new res-

the bond."

idence hall began first, on the former

Far more complicated in concept and

site of the old dorm, which had been

construction was the health and sci-

built in 1963 and razed in 1998. But the

ences bui lding, once Governor Kernp-

decision to pull down the old cinder

thorne signed the appropriations bill to

block dorm quickly caused financial

fund the structure on April

problems for the newly remodeled stu-

Funded by the largest capital campaign

dent union building, according to Presi-

in the history of the college, the $1i.9

dent Burke. Because the financial model

million facility opened with the start of

for the student union building hinged

fall semester classes in August 2005, increasing the general classrooms on

on dorm students using its dining services three times a day, the funds needed

10,

2ooi.

campus by 25 percent.

to pay for the SUB bond dissolved with

The building itself boasts fifty-seven

the demolition of the dorm and the

thousand square feet, housing both

decreased number of students paying

general classroom space and the natural

for a dorm meal plan. Consequently, the

sciences and nursing and health profes139

The Meyer Health and Sciences Building opened in 2005, increasing the general classrooms on campus by 25 percent. North Idaho College photo.

Nursing students practice their skills on the simulation mannequin housed in the new Meyer Health and Sciences Building, 2005. North Idaho College photo.

sions programs, according to a March

NIC Nurses Clean Up

1999 Sentinel. Advanced classroom and

lab technology, including projection devices for classroom lecture and interactive question and answer software for in-class quizzes, a cadaver room for anatomy and physiology lab work, and hospital room equipment and simulation training mannequins for the nursing program have improved NIC's ability to provide quality instruction in these fields. "Because of the new technology, we can deliver instruction in a

All of North Idaho College's spring of 2006 registered nursing and practical nursing graduates passed t he National Council Licensure Examination, qualifying each to apply to be licensed as a registered nurse or practical nurse in any state. NIC has had pass rates in the nineties for the past several years. The 2006 graduates comprised one of the largest classes in both programs, with forty-nine registered nursing students and twenty-seven practical.

variety of modes," said Natural Sciences Division chair Bob Murray. "This enhances student learning, which is at the core of NIC's mission."

The Sentinel reports that the health and sciences building was funded not only by the state building fund and local businesses but by the efforts of the NIC Foundation, which enlisted the support of more than 380 community members, college supporters, college employees, and NIC alums, including a gift of $1 million from Judy and Steve Meyer to endow the Meyer Technology and Equipment Fund. "Our intent is to provide a way for the college to keep the classes and equipment at the leading edge as technology changes," said Judy Meyer, also a member of the NIC board of trustees. "Steve and I want to help keep NIC programs and students ahead of their counterparts in India and China." The gift was the largest cash gift 141

The Associated Students of North Idaho College (ASNIC)

in the college's history, therefore warranting the naming of the new facility in their honor: the Meyer Health and

Since 1933, students have provided a student voice at NIC. Planning social events like ice-skating parties and reporting newsworthy activities such as upcoming speakers or theater events kept early student body presidents and officers busy. By the 1950s, the student Board of Control exercised more authority by allotting funds to clubs and school activities and censuring students who played cards and left discarded Coke bottles and cigarette butts strewn around.

Sciences Building.

Building the longhouse as a cultural

center, a priority in the Nine-Point Agreement, has remained in the planning stage. While

the conceptual

designs have been completed by John Paul Jones, the lead architect of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.,

Today, ASNIC's Web page states, "Through our leadership we ascertain, present, and resolve student concerns; seek out opportunities for improvement within and without the college; provide resources; and enhance student life and the community around us." Student fees paid for the new student union building, constructed in 1997.

the college and tribe are still researching funding sources. President Burke said, "We decided to wait with the support of the tribe," who agreed the health and sciences

building

was

desperately

needed by the community and the college. NIC and the tribe are now redoing

In 2002, the NIC Alumni Association celebrated sixty-eight past student body presidents and actually found twenty-three to attend a reunion celebration. Among the group were retired NIC math instructor Dale Tritten, who served as president in 1956-57, and retired Coeur d'Alene attorney Ray Cox, who served in 1949-50.

the feasibility study and looking for private support from foundations to help fund the multitribal longhouse.

Dick Sams, NIC Foundation past president, honors Steve and Judy Meyer at the grand opening celebration of the Meyer Health and Sciences Building, 2005. North Idaho College photo.

142

But in the midst of these ambitious construction projects, an event that would change world alliances also worked its black magic on NIC and North Idaho, putting the college in financial distress and the college community under a storm cloud yet to fu lly dissipate. On September u, 2001, terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jets and attacked the United States, toppling the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, destroy-

Science Internships

ing a wing of the Pentagon, and killing 2,974 American citizens. As student

Because of NIC's participation in the Idea Network of

Holly Lindsey watched the horrific

Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), North Idaho College student Luke Carter spent the summer

events unfold on her television, her thoughts, reported by an October 3 Sentinel, could have been echoed by bw1-

dreds of North Idahoans: "These things happen in other countries. You don't think it could ever happen here." But it did.

of 2006 working on innovative biomedical research as part of an internship with Biosensors and Nanotechnology Applications Laboratory at the University of Idaho Research Park in Post Falls. Carter's research involved finding a faster and more efficient method of screen ing food products for the Enterohemorrhagic strain of ÂŁ. coli.

The NIC community would face serious consequences. To send love and assistance to the injured, NIC students and staff donated blood and gathered over $3,000 i11 donations the first week.

The internship was made possible with $55,000 in INBRE funds that NIC receives as part of a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health. Since 2004, NIC natural sciences instructors have helped identify students with aptitude and interest and

During the next several months students

matched them with working labs throughout the

enl isted in the Army Reserve, Army

commun ity for internships. The labs receive a stipend for mentoring an intern and the grant money also

National Guard, or Air National Guard were called to duty. The Sentinel also quotes former student Robb Brennan, who enlisted in the Army National

pays for the students' salaries.

PHOTO: NIC graduate Veronica Hendricks works as an intern at Accurate Testing Labs. North Idaho College photo.

Guard: "I think it is important to make sacrifices and do everything we can to support our country right now. This is 143

States moved into Iraq, though, the mood changed somewhat. Many felt Bush's decision to unseat Hussein would cause further turmoil. Antiwar demonstrators, many from North Idaho College, gathered in Spokane's Riverfront Park to protest the military action.

Meanwhile, the impact of the 9/11 attack and the subsequent war put a pall on the nation's economy. Idaho suffered as well, as decreased transportation, market jitters, and general economic malaise ravaged state budgets, which, of course, impacted North Idaho College.

North Idaho College photo.

In 2002, the state experienced a dramatic revenue shortfall, resulting in a

the time for our generation to stand up and show the world what we're made of."

million budget cut at NIC. Faculty and staff noticed immediate cost-saving measures such as slashed departmental

Dr. Priscilla Bell, president, 2007-present.

$i.2

By early 2002, the military strategists believed some terrorists in Afghanistan had infiltrated Iraq with the help of Saddam Hussein. By 2003, American troops, some of whom were NIC students, were waiting for the ax to fall. Student, journalist, and soldier Shelley Woodard shared her anxieties with Sentinel reporters, saying, "The hardest thing is not knowing.. .. My husband, Specialist Nicholas Hands, is stationed at Ft. Bliss, Texas. He left for the Middle East on Feb. 4. I have no word yet if or when I may have to go." This tension permeated the college after 9/11 as students, faculty, and staff watched the news closely and hoped for the best. When the United 144

budgets, negligible salary increases, even for cost of living, and lower thermostat settings in offices and classrooms.

But it was Burke's decision to cut the baseball team and the men's and women's track and cross-country teams that initiated campus and community turmoil, resulting in the formation of an Athletic Review Committee of community and campus participants to study the issue. By 2003, the economic pinch lessened and the committee's suggestions were adopted, excepting the hotly debated provision of moving NIC from the expensive yet prestigious Scenic West Athletic Conference to the

more economical but less compet1t1ve Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges.

In spite of these controversies, NIC athletes proved their abilities to the North Idaho community. In summer 2007, Burke outlined their achievements for 2006, an amazing list indeed.

All of NIC's sports were nationally ranked: men's and women's basketball won the regional conference championships; women's volleyball took second rn national championships; wrestling won second in the nation; both men's and women's soccer won the Scenic West Athletic Conference; and softball took first in the regional conference and went to nationals. In addition, the average grade point average among athletes was 2.9, a first on this campus.

Perhaps even more impressive, NIC athletes won the Toyota Award for their reading p rogram, which works with grade school students. Burke told the new athletic director, Al Williams, "We hired you from a Division I program, and I want NIC's athletic program to look like a Division I program."

Williams gave exactly that. Burke recalls that one of the first directives to the athletes out of Williams's mouth was, "If

Duane Hagadone,

2002

Distinguished Alumnus

If you recognize the copper roof of t he Coeur d'Alene Resort w hen driving into town, or if you pick up the Coeur d'Alene Press to read w it h your coffee, you will

have made some acquaint ance w it h Duane Hagadone,

2002 recipient of t he NIC Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. Hagadone has buil t a media empire stretchi ng from New jersey to Hawaii and has been successful in other corporate endeavors, primarily in the Northwest. While Hagadone's Au nt Vivian graduated w it h the college's first graduating class in

19 35, Duane attended from 1950- 52, and his son Todd graduated in 1980.

Hagadone recalls taking typing from Loretta Dunnigan: " Fifty-some years ago the electric typewriter made its appearance, and Miss Dunnigan was teaching a class on this new innovat ion. After struggling with me for days, she finally told me honestly that she doubted I would ever be able to type significantly enough to give me any benefit. She said she also felt

you can't keep up your pants, I'll buy you a belt," in response to the gangsta

this failure would probably hinder me in whatever future I chose. She felt badly that she was unable to give me the proper t raining I would need to make a success of myself. To this day, I cannot type!"

look so popular among young men.

Even with the difficulties brought about by the economic repercussions of

Wally Adams present Duane Hagadone with the 2002 NIC Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. North Idaho

PHOTO: Michael Burke and NIC Alumni Association past president

College photo.

145

The 2007 graduating class celebrates its success.

146

North Idaho College photo.

war, Burke took to heart the Strategic

ment outlooks, educational opportuni-

Plan's directive to be "the leader in edu-

ties, and numerous other options

cational initiatives in the five northern

related to careers. After advising, they

counties" and to "ensure that institu-

may also enroll in courses at NIC, ISU,

tional growth meets community needs."

LCSC, or the VI during the same semes-

One initiative collaborated on by all

ter and may be entitled to a partial fee

four higher educational institutions in

waiver by combining credits from the

North Idaho-the University of Idaho,

institutions.

Lewis-Clark State College, North Idaho

Another collaborative effort with the

Col lege, and Idaho State University-

University of Idaho, the City of Coeur

was the Northern Idaho Center for

d'Alene, and the Lake City Development

Higher Education (NICHE), located on

Corporation is the creation of an educa-

Northwest Boulevard in Coeur d' AJene.

tional corridor along the Spokane River

Created in 1999 by the Idaho State

between NIC and the Riverstone devel-

Board of Education, NICHE offers "one

opment. While plans on the corridor

stop shopping" to prospective and cur-

began in

rent students. For example, at NICHE

college and other entities to purchase the

individuals may explore va1路ious occu-

Stimson Lumber Company mill adjacent

pations, salary information, employ-

to the present campus, and thus could

2002,

the project required the

not move forward until the lumber com-

Office of Planning, Assessment, and

pany chose to close the facility.

Research, that it asked permission to

Perhaps the most exciting current facility development is the college's

use the document as a model for other institutions seeki ng accreditation.

commitment to purchase property on

When President Burke notified the

the Rathdrum Prairie from grass grower

board of trustees of his intention to

Wayne Meyer to build a Professional

resign in Janua ry 2007 after accepting a

Technical Education (PTE) facility. As of

position as president of San Jose City

2006, N!C had secured a two-year

College in California, Dr. Priscilla Bell

option to purchase the property, giving

was hired as interim college president

the college time to seek the $3.6 million

while the board worked to replace

needed for the purchase. President

Burke. Following a n intense search

Burke noted, "We can't grow automo-

process, guided by a consultant from

tive, outdoor power vehicle repair, weld-

the Association of Community College

ing, or other health programs like radia-

Trustees, the board decided to hire Dr.

tion technology on campus. We need

Bell as president. The former president

more space and something in close

of Fulton -Montgomery Community

proximity to the three school districts."

College in New York and Highline

The enormous effort expended by

Commun ity College in Washington

NIC's faculty, staff, and administration

State, Dr. Bell stated, " I feel privileged to

to make NIC a quality college earned

have the opportu nity to join N IC,

high marks from the Northwest Associ-

which I view as one of the country's

ation of Schools and Colleges' accredi-

premier community colleges." Bell con-

tation team. Every ten years this associ-

tinued, "I have known Dr. Burke for

ation evaluates institutions to ensure

many years, admire his leadership and

the quality of their programs. After a

am en thusiastic about continuing the

full -scale review in the spring of 2003,

excellent work of his admi11istration. I

the team reaffirmed NIC's accreditation

look forward to working with the col-

and commended the college for excel-

lege team as we pursue the NIC vision

lence in the fo llowing areas: community

of ensuring excellence in education and

involvement, fundraising and develop-

responding to community needs."

ment, learning resources, leadership, campus climate, and student success. In fact, the commission so admired the self-study written by NIC's campus commu nity and coordinated by the 147

CHAPTER 10

CARDINAL PRIDE IN NIC ATHLETICS

A thletics have played a key role at North Idaho College, even in i933, its first year of operation. Since then, successful athletic programs continue each year, integral to campus life and a source of p ride for the Coeur d'Alene community. NI C's intercollegiate athletic teams proudly wear the name Cardinals, not because the popuJar m idwestern bird nests in North Idaho, but because in 1939, after Coeur d'A lene Junior College had just changed its name to North Idaho Junior College, a mascot was needed. Invited to participate in a naming contest, first-year student Glen Nogle suggested the name of his favorite baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals. The name stuck.

Today, the NIC Cardinals have one of the most successful programs in the Northwest.

Numerous athletic teams have surfaced at NIC over the years. Early school annuals and old newspaper clippings document that NIC fielded basketball and baseball teams its first year of operation. In fact, the basketball squad, under coach I Iarold "Telly" Telford, won eight of fourteen games, including a 29-27 victory over Gonzaga in the first game of the season and 55-33 over the Cheney Papooses shortly after.

However, the lack of a suitable gymnasium dogged both men's and women's teams, causing a coaching nightmare for Elsie Marie Albrecht, whose women's bas149

First men's basketball team, Coeur d'Alene junior College, circa 1934.

Museum of North Idaho photo.

ketball team won only one of ten games played against "town teams" during the i936 season. At least the women's squad

did not have to sprout the long beards worn by members of the men's squad who had vowed not to shave until their squad achieved a victory. Only after Valentine's Day that year did they regain their dean-shaven good looks, when they finally won a game on February 27.

One can only imagine the elation coach Jack Anderson must have felt at the next team practice.

By 1940, the college's annual, the Driftwood, reported that the athletic schedule had acquired a look more familiar to modern sports fans. Perry Christianson, then the math and physical science instructor, took his men's basketball squad on a preseason swing of the southern Idaho colleges, where 150

they played unofficial games against Ricks College, the College of Idaho, and the Albion College of Education. The coach's focus on fundamentals obviously paid dividends when the squad garnered wins over Spokane Junior College, Wenatchee Junior College, Whitworth College, and the Gonzaga frosh in regular season play. Students not only supported their campus colleagues, but also participated in a vigorous intramural program that ranged from touch football to basketball, softball, volleyball, and badminton. One decidedly downer event of the year occurred when the women's basketball squad dropped its game with the Idaho Vandal Rabes.

Although it wasn't time yet for women's lib, the campus coeds did have fun.

Then came the war years, when annuals and sports dropped from cam-

pus consciousness. The 1948 Lewa, the first campus publication since 1941, noted a basketball revival under Dick Armstrong, whose guidance helped the team struggle to a 6-18 season as the only postwar sport. The ne:x.'i: year the team adopted the motto Never Let Down, an appropriate mental outlook after a 2-17 season record. After three and a half years in World War II, with eighteen months in the South Pacific, Armstrong's service as business instructor and captain in the National Guard must have seemed positively relaxing.

Even though sportsmen and sportswomen had learned to cope with borrowed gym space, a real excitement pervaded the community when the colfege moved to its present location in 1950.

The new gymnasium earned bragging rights as the largest arena in North

The First Years "Our" gym provided by the Elks lodge only a short block away, was one of the best in the city then [1934], and I suspect the lodge received little if any pay for its use. Our major, possibly only, competitive sport was basketball, and I, like probably a majority of those turning out, had no previous experience at the game-at least in an organized way. But every available, able man was encouraged to participate in order that there would be enough of us to have two teams for practice. The result was that we all had some playing time-including our coaches. However, lack of travel funds meant that our competition was limited for the most part to town teams in the general area.

SOURCE: Art Manley, "Frequent Wai l of Sirens: NIC Early Years," in A Patchwork of Praise, ed. Dawn Atwater-Haight and Fay Wright

Women's basketball team, Coeur d'Alene Junior College, 1936. Museum of North Idaho photo.

151

"Wilson Stars in Game with Cheney Papooses" The Junior College Basketball team, led by Gar Wilson, flashy forward who personally garnered 13 points, decisively drubbed the Cheney Normal Papooses last night by a score of 41-24.

The game was hard fought throughout, the score being tied 18 to 18 at half-time. The Normal team was in the lead most of the time during the first half. About 60 seconds before the half ended, however, John Dingler, elongated Jaycee guard, sank a long shot to tie the score.

In the second half, the local players were hitting the basket from every angle, scoring 23 points to their opponents' six.

Several amusing events happened, and many "boos" were directed at the referee. In the last half the referee

permitted Milo Gorton, Jaycee forward, to throw a foul shot into the wrong basket. The rule definitely states that it is up to the referee to see that the player shoots fouls in the right basket.

SOURCE:

Jaycee /oumal, February 2, 1934

Idaho, hosting the Idaho high school basketball championship in 1955 and drawing one of the largest crowds in championship history at the time. The gymnasium was later named after NIC President Perry Christianson.

The tenacity of returning veterans began to eradicate the bad spell of losses. By the 1952-53 season, the Lewa reported, a "new era" had begun, when Bob Linck's basketball players bested teams from Eastern Washington College of Education and Carroll College, as well as JV squads from Washington State College, Idaho State College, and the University of Idaho. The improved team advanced to the regional play-offs, held that year in Bremerton, Washington, where a team from Vanport, Oregon, narrowly defeated them for the championship.

Normalcy continued into the Eisenhower fifties, with the addition of a bowling team in 1955 and a golf squad the following year, and a ski club in 1957路 Yet, the competitiveness character-

izing present-day NIC athletes in the National Junior College Athletic Association was glaringly absent. Warren "Squirt" Keating coached a basketball team whose tallest players were taped at only 6 3" and whose farthest recruit hailed from Wallace, Idaho.

Even so, with an expanding student 1

body and a more affluent demographic population to call upon, campus athletic programs continued to grow as 152

NIJC ski club members at Schweitzer Mountain, circa 1960.

North Idaho College photo.

residential coaching staff became available. The smaller basketball team of i965 still managed a respectable i7-11

season record. Baseball enjoyed the tutelage of coach Don Pischner; Bruce Reid encouraged campus runners to

improved sprint times; Squirt Keating kept the golfers grooving their swings; and even the ski club enjoyed success in the regional competitions becoming increasingly popular as Northwest ski areas pushed their expanded offerings.

Early competition for the Cardinals mostly came from junior varsity teams at nearby universities: Idaho, Idaho State, Washington State, Gonzaga, Whitworth, Montana and Montana State, Eastern Washington, and Carroll College, as well as the Fairchild Air Force Base and sports teams sponsored by private businesses. NIC teams com-

Golf club member perfecting his swing,

peted in various school conferences for

1956.

North Idaho College photo.

all sports except basketball, which com-

154

peted as an independent. League affilia-

As a member of the NJCAA, NIC

tions included the Pine League and the

quickly established itself as a regional

Northwest Community College League,

and national power. The basketball

where Cardinal teams prospered. By the

team experienced success under PE chair

late fifties, the Cardinals sought confer-

and head coach Bob Linck, who was fol-

ence affiliation with other Northwest

lowed by Roland "Rolly" Williams in

two-year schools, but were denied entry

i961. The intercollegiate programs be-

into the Washington/Oregon commu-

came official in i963 through Rolly's

niLy c..:ollege sysLem because of location.

efforts as athletic director and head bas-

In 1960, NIC sought and gained admis-

ketball coach . Holding these dual posi-

sion to the National Junior College Ath-

tions for over thirty years, Williams led

letic Association (NJCAA), where it has

the Cardinals to average over twenty

enjoyed membership ever since.

wins a year in his illustrious thirty-five-

year coaching career. Early opponents

"Goggie, NIJC Cheerleader"

for NIC included Boise Junior College (now Boise State University); Ricks College (now Brigham Young Universityldaho ) in Rexburg; Treasure Valley Commun ity College in Ontario, Oregon; and the NIC archrival, the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. In i984, NIC joined with some of these

Community members took great pleasure supporting NIC's student athletes, and none more so than Hazel Cardwell, o r "Goggie" as friends and family called he r.

Stil l whooping it up at NIC sporting events, even at age 84, this member of NIC's first college board of trustees stated, "My daughter [business instructor Betty Mcl ain] knows that I'm too loud at a ba ll game.

I just can't keep stil l."

regional teams to form the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC), adding

Goggie recalled band concerts at Fort Sherman when

Salt Lake Community College, the Col-

it was still an active army post, and soldiers leaving for the Spanish American War. She a lso recalled watching the 1910 fire in the Silver Valley burn above her school. She loved to paddle her canoe in the wake of

lege of Eastern Utah, Snow College, Dixie State College, Utah Valley State College, and Colorado Northwestern Community College. The Community College of Southern Nevada joined the conference in i998 for baseball, basketball, and softball. This formation

the steamer Georgie Oakes as a child, and she also rowed home each week across Lake Coeur d'Alene as a young teacher. Cardwell served as county school superintendent from 1927-33 and 1956-57 and never m issed a good NIC sporting event if she could make it.

allowed the SWAC to become one of the most respected conferences in the

SOURCE: Cardinal Review, March 26, 1969

NJCAA with the league's exceptional performance in national competition.

Women's athletics made inroads in the late thirties, but teams only competed internally. The Women's Athletic Association of the North Idaho Junior College included competitors in volleyball, basketball, bad min ton, softball, rhythmics, and folk dancing. Women earned letters by accumulating at least eight hundred points based on an extensive point system.

Not until i978 did a woman receive the recognition she deserved as an athlete. That year the tennis team qualified 155

for the NJCAA national. In a historymaking moment, NIC's Judy Hayenga was the first female to play on a men's team in the Northwest Community Conference, as well as the first woman to compete in the NJCAA tournament in men's tennis. The coed golf team, coached by Warren "Squirt" Keating for numerous years, also experienced success in in-season tournaments, although team records are incomplete.

NIC has earned fourteen NJCAA national championships in its history.

The perennial-power wrestling program has claimed thirteen of those national trophies! In i969, Ray Stone,

dean of faculty and an enthusiastic supporter of athletics in the school, asked Bill Pecha, who had been recently hired as a chemistry teacher, to coach a wrestling team. Pecha, a native of the state of Illinois, had extensive wrestling experience in high school and then at the University of Iowa. With limited funding and a primitive workout room, Pecha recruited talented local athletes, using his Midwest connections to entice wrestlers from that region known for powerful wrestling programs. Although he gave up full-time coaching after two years, Pecha remained active as assistant coach, recruiter, fundraiser, event organizer, public announcer, and advisor to both wrestlers and coaches.

Stone filled Pecha's position with Les Hogan, an e}...'Perienced high school coach and interim coach of the wrestling team at Washington State l!niversity in i97i.

During the first season, Hogan surprised both the athletic conference and himself when the wrestling team won the first of many regional championships and went on to place fifth in the

Judy Hayenga, the first woman to play on a men's team in the Northwest Community College league and to compete in an NJCAA national tournament, 1973.

North Idaho College photo.

156

nation. The six years Hogan spent at the helm of NIC wrestling established NIC as a consistent contender at the national level; during this time the team placed among the top ten of almost one hundred teams and returned home with national championship trophies two times. In i975, the team was named Idaho Team of the Year.

NIC wrestling, circa 1980. The wrestling program has earned fourteen NJCAA national championships in its history. North Idaho College photo.

Hogan turned the team over to John Owen in i976, and the program never missed a beat. During Owen's stellar coaching career, he led the Cardinals to eight national championships in nineteen seasons. Along the way, he earned four national Coach of the Year awards and entrance to the NJCAA and Idaho Hall of Fame. Owen's early retirement in i996 allowed NIC to return a former Cardinal All-American and NJCAA Wrestler of the Year to the vacated coaching position: Pat Whitcomb.

In Whitcomb's initial decade, he has more than maintained the status of NIC's outstanding wrestling program,

Coach John Owen, circa 1980.North Idaho College photo.

157

earning three national championships, two national Coach of the Year awards, and N JCM Wrestling Man of the Year for his overall contribution to the sport.

Not surprisingly, Whitcomb can also claim the most memorable moment in Christianson Gymnasium history. One year after the end of his collegiate wrestling career, Whitcomb faced off against undefeated Soviet national champion Sergei Pluschai, who was on tour in the United States in i99i. In front of hopeful fans in a standing-room-only arena, Whitcomb pinned the Russian gladiator in one of the biggest upsets in wrestling history, sending the Christianson Gymnasium crowd into delirium.

Success appears to be the norm fo r the NIC wrestlers, as athletes have garnered thirty top-three NJCM fi nishes in their thirty-five-year history, including fortynine individual national champions and 188 All-Americans.

Not limited to wrestling, regional and national wins have drawn community members to NIC basketball for both men's and women's teams. Community interest allowed the men's team to field a junior varsity team for several An NIC guard goes for the shot, circa 1970.

North Idaho College photo.

years in the fifties to support the varsity, attracting athletes throughout the nation with resulting teams often scoring victories over four-year colleges.

The men's program has faced only fo ur losing seasons since i961 and reached the NJCM Sweet Sixteen in i978, i980,

158

and 1997, appearing at the prestigious NJCAA national tournament m

cross-country in 1973, both coached by

Hutchinson, Kansas. The 1980 team fin-

years. The Cardinal thinclads, sans track

ished eighth in the nation, and the 1997 team finished fourth, for the program's

facilities of course, entered into the

highest finish ever. Longtime coach

teams' highly successful win-loss records

Rolly Williams still ranks on the NJCAA

do not begin to represent the countless

top ten coaching victories list with 731

lives Bundy touched in his NIC career as

wins. Selected for the Idaho Hall of

an English and history instructor and

Fame in 1988 and the NJCAA Hall of

coach. Six Cardinals qualified for the

Fame in i993, Williams will be an NIC

i972 national meet held that year in

legend. In his honor, the college named

Mesa, Arizona-a trip that was not pre-

the late Mike Bundy for over t\venty

tough-as-nails competitive mode. The

the Christianson Gymnasium basketball court after Williams in

2007.

Not to be outdone, the women's basketball program, formally started in 1967, immediately became a champi-

onship contender. The team initially competed in the Pine League but eventually switched allegiance to the NJCAA with the men's program. Under the guidance of coach Greg Crimp, who was hired in 1979, the Cardinal women made five appearances in the NJCAA Sweet Sixteen-in i984, i986, i988, i989, and 1997. Their sixth-place finish in 1997 was the best finish ever at the time

for any NIC women's team. The team's SWAC championship and national topten ranking in

2006

laid the ground-

work for three consecutive twenty-win seasons and national contender status.

NlC's lone national athletic championship outside of wrestling belongs to the cross-country program. The track program began in the late sixties and

Formally founded in 1967, the women's basketball team has reached national contender Status. North Idaho College photo, circa 1980.

159

Men's and women's track-and-field and cross-country programs at NIC flourished from 1960 to 2001. North Idaho College photo.

160

viously budgeted . Patience and a motor

Jack Bloxom in i968, the baseball pro-

pool station wagon made for a memo-

gram enjoyed his guidance for nearly

rable experience including a flat tire,

thirty years in one of the toughest con-

poor m eals and a long, long car ride.

ferences in the nation. Despite several

After several close finishes, Bundy and

upper-division fu1ish es, the program was

NIC finally brought home the national

unable to capture that elusive conference

championship banner in 1987. The top

championship. Ironically, just prior to

finish for men's cross-cow1try was in

baseball's discontinuance, the program

1990, when they placed third nationally, after fourth- and fifth-place standings in

nurtured one of NIC's most recogniza-

1987 and i988. Sadly, the track, cross-

earned Major League Baseball's National

country, and baseball programs were dis-

League Rookie of the Year award with

continued after the

the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2004.

2002

season.

ble athletes. Former Cardinal Jason Bay

NIC has a history of longeviLy in its

Worldwide popularity and growing

coaching ranks, and baseball, currently

local interest dictated that NIC add soc-

defunct, was no exception. Handed to

cer in 1988, first with a women's pro-

gram, and then, a year later, with men's.

The soccer programs competed as members of the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC), with schools from Washington and Oregon. Operated under the guidance of head coach Bill Eisenwinter, the teams earned regional promi-

President's Prose

nence overnight. The women's program captured the NVvAACC championship

in only its third year of existence, and the men's team finished in third place or

We are winding down another school year, and what a year it's been . . . ! Have you ever wondered how it happened? First, we have to have talented, dedicated coaches .... We have had two National Coaches of

higher and made the play-offs every

the Year (Mike Bundy and john Owen), and we have

year. The NIC athletic family experi-

had three Regional Coaches of the Year (Greg Crimp,

enced tragedy when the popular and

Vic Woodward and Rolly Williams). We have had one coach selected as a coach for the National junior

respected Eisenwinter died in a spring 2003

automobile accident. To honor

him, NIC named the soccer field the Bill Eisenwinter Field. The soccer programs nearly pulled off a championship sweep

Olympic Trials (jack Bloxom). I believe those accomplishments speak for themselves where our coaches are concerned.

Next, the Athletic Director must be committed to a TOTAL athletic program. When Rolly Williams arrived on campus back in the Stone Age, there was only men's basketball . Without his support and approval, none of the other sports would have been started, let alone flourish. I think Rolly's induction into the Idaho Hall of Fame is indicative of the quality of the man, and, yes, I regard him as a close personal friend.

The third element needed is a supportive administration. Throughout the years, North Idaho College has been blessed with presidents who understood the value of a strong intercollegiate athletic program and supported Rolly's efforts wholeheartedly....

SOURCE: Bob Ely, Booster Coble, Spring 1988 PHOTO: Coach Rolly Williams, circa 1980.

North Idaho College photo.

Men's baseball, circa 1974.

North Idaho College

photo.

161

The men's and women's soccer programs still flouri sh today.

the fo llowing seaso n. In 2003 the

tio n Amendments. Title IX of the Edu-

wo men's team took the NWAACC

cation Amendments required college

championship, and the men's missed in

adm inistrators to seek a percentage of

the final by

Two years later, both

fema le athletes in the Athletic Depart-

p rograms joined the NJCAA, and they

ment proportionate to the overall per-

now compete in the SWAC, opting for

centage of student enrollment on cam-

the chance to vie for national champi-

pus. As part of his focus on expanding

onships and national honors.

the faculty and curriculum in his sec-

tn

162

North Idaho College photos. circa 2000.

1-0.

While women's teams had competed

ond year, Barry Schuler hired Maralee

for decades at NIC, they did not earn

Foss, a former Coeur d'Alene High

the same recognitio n or funding as

School graduate, to start a women's

men's programs until the 1972 Educa-

sports program at the college. The ini -

tia l yea r consisted of only volleyball and basketball , with players drawn from previou s high school members of a Physical Education Majors (PEM ) Club and a college club supervised by the then Len Atwood (Mattei). No organized girls' varsity spo rts programs existed in the northern counties of Idaho, so inexperienced players participated because they loved their sports.

When NIC joined the Pine League in the fa ll of t969 (along with Spokane Falls

Community College, Eastern Washington College, Gonzaga University, and Whitworth College), each college team needed to practice for a specific number of hours in order to qualify for league play. ln the first years, IC women could onJy practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and even those hours were cancelled when the NIC men had a game on one of those even ings. For the first two years, no scholarships existed for women athletes.

163

Two NIC volleyball players block an opponent's spike, circa 1995.

North Idaho College photo.

Even so, some phenomenal women

until the new millennium. After being a

represented NIC. According to Foss,

noncontender for years, the program

Wilma Parsons was one of the most

earned its first trip to the NJCAA

consistent volleyball players of all time,

national tournament in 2004, finishing

and Jean Hayman served a straight i5-o

tenth in the nation, under new head

game against Eastern Washington Col-

coach Bret Taylor. The emergence of the

lege (now EWU). NIC never placed

program as a national contender has

lower than third in league play against

proven to be the norm rather than an

the three universities and the commu-

anomaly as the team remains consis-

nity colleges of Spokane. In the first year

tently in the top-twenty rankings and

of basketball, Foss notes, Jane Job was

earned its first SWAC championship in

one of the best guards ever playing for

2005. Proving that success is contagious,

NIC in the basketball program's entire

the volleyball program repeated as con-

history. The first year, NIC took the Pine

ference champions in 2006 and finished

League, and in 1972 they won the B Divi-

as the fourth-best team in the nation at

sion Northwest Women's Athletic Asso-

the NJCAA national tournament.

ciation Regional Basketball Tournament, defeating a four-year university.

Another highly successful women's sport has emerged because of the Title

The third year of the women's pro-

IX requirements. Needing to add a

gram, in i971, female athletes finally

female sport, the athletic director chose

received $900 in scholarship funds for

softball in 1996 and hired Don Don

both volleyball and basketball. In the

Williams as head coach. The team expe-

early Pine League days, each college had

rienced gradual success over the years as

an A (varsity) and B (junior varsity)

the program played catch-up in a con-

team, coached by one person (no assis-

ference with experienced programs. It

tants). During competition, the coach

finally jumped the hurdle in 2006 when

coached the A team and then officiated

women's softball won its first regional

B team events, leaving the B team play-

championship and earned a trip to the

ers on their own, with no coaching. Foss

NJCAA national tournament. The fol-

continued as varsity basketball coach

lowing year, on the program's tenth

from i969 through 1978 and coached

anniversary in 2007, the NIC softball

volleyball from i969 through i976.

team finished second in the nation, the

While volleyball had been an intercollegiate sport at NIC for several

highest NJCAA finish ever for an NIC women's program.

decades, the program never experi-

NIC currently fields programs for

enced sustained success to speak of

men and women in soccer, golf, and 165

regional championships in every intercollegiate sport in either the 2007

2006

or

seasons.

Stability has proven to be the staple of the NIC Athletic Department, not only among coaches but also in administrative support. The department has appointed only three athletic directors since 1961. Rolly Williams served from i961 to 1995, Jim Headley from 1995 to 2002,

and former NIC basketball player

Al Williams was hired in

2003.

The lat-

ter, Al Williams, is the first AfricanAmerican admin istrator or head coach in the department's history. Additionally, the Athletic Department has historically been the primary source of d iverIn 2007, the NIC softball team finished second in the nation, the highest NJCAA finish ever for an NIC women's program .

North Idaho College photo.

sity

on

the

NIC

campus.

The

track-and-field program attracted international student-athletes to compete for long-distance and sprint events, and the

166

basketball, in addition to women's vol-

basketball and wrestling teams routinely

leyball, wrestling, and fast-pitch soft-

recruited minority student-athletes

ball. The dynamics of the Scen ic West

nationwide. Nearby Canada has also

Athletic Conference have changed over

been a convenient source of interna-

the years, as league affiliation dropped

tional student-athletes who have dotted

due to conference defections, cancelled

the rosters over the years.

intercollegiate athletics, or changes to

The Athletic Department has always

four-year school status amongst mem-

taken pride in the academ ic accom-

ber schools. Entering the 2007-8 season,

plishments of student-athletes as well

SWAC included NIC, Southern Idaho,

their performances on the court or

Salt Lake, Eastern Utah, Snow College,

field. Annually, the department has rec-

Southern Nevada, and Western Nevada

ognized multiple individual NJCAA

College. NIC has proven to be a fo rce in

Academic All-Americans, and the Ace

all sports in this highly competitive

Walden Award is presented to NIC

conference, with regular season or

teams that earn a team grade point

average of 3.0 or better for a semester.

Since the Athletic Department began maintaining team academic records in 1984, the department has achieved Academic AH-American teams on a regular basis. Both the softball and women's basketball teams have earned this distinction for three consecutive years from 2004 to 2007.

At the conclusion of the 2006- 7 season, NIC ea rned its highest ranking ever in the National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA) Pepsi Cup Challenge, which ranks

NJCAA programs based on their teams' performances at NJCAA national tournament competitions. Powered by a national runner-up spot in softball, the third-place showing in wrestling, and a fourth-place finish in volleyball, NIC ranked n.venty-second in the nation out of more than three hundred NJCAA schools offering athletic scholarships. As the prominence of Cardinals athletic programs continues to grow on a national level, the NIC teams have more than lived up to the department's motto: Building on a Tradition of Excellence!

167

CHAPTER 11

ARTS AND CULTURE

A

college is not a college, a city a city, or a nation a nation, without its local Edward

Hoppers, Ernest Hemingways, or Arthur Millers who provide playfulness and vision, beauty and commentary for their audiences. No matter the setting, the human spirit will unfold in some small way to show its face, and the public will gather to enjoy, as it has in North Idaho.

Eons before the white man settled North Idaho, the Coeur d'Alene Indians hosted other tribes on the lakeshore of NIC's present site to celebrate the arts as their culture was accustomed: to feast, dance, and tell their marvelous stories. Even today, after a protracted absence, they return each year to host their annual Yap-Keehn-Um Powwow. In the i89os, when troops occupied the Fort Sherman grounds where North Idaho College now sits, a military band entertained the community, drawing listeners from as far away as Spokane. Today, historian and musician Robert Singletary reenacts these performances with the Fort Sherman Symphonette and the Fourth U.S. Infantry Band, to the delight of community audiences. Likewise, the first year Coeur d'Alene Junior College opened it doors in City Hall, music and theater programs burrowed into the curriculum along with the core classes. Since the begin169

Coeur d'Alene junior College's first orchestra, circa 1935.

North Idaho College photo.

ning of this college, the arts have filled a deep human need.

Even so, funding eluded art programs for at least forty years, yet musicians, artists, and dramatists found a way to perform and create. For instance, in the late sixties, Lou Kelly, NIJC music instructor and former nightclub singer, transformed a troop of local kids into

Coeur d'Alene Junior College's first glee club, circa 1935. North Idaho College photo.

one the Northwest's finest a cappella i970,

their next home in the chemistry lab

Spokane Daily Chronicle, the group per-

(now McLain Hall), while Joe Jonas

formed in the Mormon Tabernacle,

taught commercial art in the decrepit

before the American Choral Directors

Fort Sherman Officers' Quarters still

Association Conference in Seattle, and

standing from the Fort Sherman days.

choirs. According to the April

170

2,

then before Governor Ronald Reagan of

Like Lou Kelly, theater gurus Mar-

California, after a 2,400-mile trip

garet Gale and Bob Moe achieved tri-

through Oregon and California. How

umphs in spite of the tiny theater office

did Kelly help pay for these choral

and performance space, also located in

tours? By hosting spaghetti feeds and

the beat-up officers' quarters. Moe

sponsoring concerts. Meanwhile, in the

called it "the extremely little theater;'

early seventies, Merlin Miller and Lisa

staging performances in an area accom-

Daboll taught visual art in the basement

modating fewer than thirty chairs. Of

of today's Siebert Building and later

comse, Moe arranged larger produc-

hauled easels, tabourets, and tables to

tions in the gym, but perhaps his most

The Thirteenth Chair, Coeur d'Alene junior College's first play production in 1934.

North Idaho

College photo.

prescient step was to also work with the

Frost taught his music theory class in a

Community Theater at Fourteenth Street

next-door classroom, the voice exercises

and Garden Avenue. From that alliance

and melodies drifted into the library-

came the grist for organizing the Car-

not an ideal situation. But the two learned

rousel Players, which eventually ma-

to make do in spite of little money. Single-

tured into the nationally renowned

tary even asked Homer Schooler, NIC's

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre, per-

maintenance man, to build homemade

forming each year at NIC. A September

risers for the concert band.

Sentinel article reports that the

Undeterred by space limitations, Sin-

eighteenth season of the Coeur d'Alene

gletary dove into his new charge by tak-

Summer Theatre was so successful be-

ing an unusual tack. He quickly deter-

cause of "the astute management of

mined that too few music students

Moe l which] enables the company to

existed to form a concert band or

survive without benefit of state or fed-

orchestra with fu ll instrumentation.

eral grant mon ies . . . [and because) t he

W ith the blessing of President Schuler,

local business community has . .. joined

Singletary placed ads in the Coeur d'A-

forces with generous private donors to

lene Press, calling for musicians to form

defray any deficit." Clearly, the local the-

a North Idaho Symphonic Band and

ater community had close ties with NIC.

Jazz Ensemble, which premiered in

By 1972, Lou Kelly had left, replaced

spring 1983, and later the North Idaho

by Rick Frost as choral director and Bob

Chamber Orchestra, which premiered

Singletary as head of the newly formed

in spring i989. Among community

instrumental music program. The two

members were NJC's own business

were tucked into corner offices in the

manager, Jerry Wendt, and Business

old library attached to Lee Hall. When

Department chairperson Betty McLain.

1985

-d~ 171

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre

Apparently, the band performed so well that within two years of its birth it was

The summer theatre's Web site shares the fo llowing information:

the only Idaho band selected from auditions to perform at Expo '74. Another problem Singletary solved with ingenu-

Named one of the ten best regional theatres in the country by USA Today, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre specializes in production of full-scale Broadway musicals during the months of June, July and August. CST performs in Schuler Auditorium on the campus of North Idaho College by the shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene in scenic Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Enjoying a large, loyal and ever-growing subscription-based audience, we are proud to have more season ticket holders than any other performing arts organization in the Inland Northwest and a total audience of nearly 35,000 each summer. Our multitalented performers are recruited nationally and many have gone on to appear in film, television, and in professional venues, including the Broadway stage and national touring companies. We also feature full orchestrations performed by the region's most accomplished musicians.

ity was the sporadically attended NIC Pep Band, which he stabilized by successfully lobbying for music scholarships. The efforts of these dedicated individuals made their programs good but not exemplary until a significant event occurred.

Not until 1979 would NI C's combined artistic energy explode with the construction of the Communication Arts Auditorium

Building,

now

named

Boswell Hall. The modern proscenium theater, shepherded through the design

process by Moe, Singletary, and Frost, accommodated 1,174 seats, attracting sell-out audiences to traveling shows never before dreamed of in North Idaho: Paul Revere and the Raiders; Judy Collins; Joan Baez; Windham Hill's Tuck

SOURCE: "Welcome to the Coeur d'Alene

and Patti and Michael Hedges; Keith Jar-

Summer Theatre!" Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre, http://www.cdasummertheatre.org/AboutUs.asp

rett; John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers; and even PBS's Mike Neun. Makeup rooms, costume rooms, and a scene shop to build sets provided learning opportunities for students as never before. Suddenly, North Idaho and Eastern Washington natives began to develop a new interest in the arts at NIC. Charming and committed, Moe continued thrilling audiences with his productions and graciously brought in a

172

NIJC choir, circa 1970.

North Idaho College photo.

Robert Singletary quiets the band for a soft passage, circa 1974.

North Idaho College photo.

young playwright, Coeur d'Alene native Tim Rarick, to stage several shows at the college: Bull of the Woods, a play about a logging boss; 1706 Front Street, about Rarick's father at age thirteen during the difficult period of the Depression; Mae, about Mae Hutton, North Idaho's well-known suffragette from the Silver Valley; and Noah, about gold prospector, Noah Kel.logg, whose donkey in 1885 led him to the future site of Bunker Hill

Coeur d'Alene Press newspaper advertisement.

Courtesy of Couer d'Alene Press.

and Sullivan mines. Rarick's collaboration with local composer Tom Cooper made these shows the talk of the region .

After hosting the American College Theater Festival at NIC in 1984, Moe left the college to be eventually replaced by Rarick, who remained for sixteen years.

He tells a story about D. J. Edmiston, a Post Falls High School graduate, who came to NIC in 1990. Although the young man had no theater experience, he was intrigued with 路 Treasure Island, for which Rarick had written a frame-

Dr. Robert West, baritone horn player, gets frequent calls from the hospital during rehearsal. North Idaho College photo.

work in rhyming couplets a la Robert Louis Stevenson. On a whim, Rarick asked Edmiston to audition for the part of the narrator, an old guy in a bar telling sailors the story of Treasure Island, even though Edmiston had no theater experience. The next day the young novice sat at Rarick's desk, reciting the part word-perfect (very difficult to do ). He later narrated the seafaring tale to appreciative audiences, went on to perform at NIC and other colleges,

174

and currently has a successful career as a playwright, producing shows in Boise and Atlanta.

Today, Joe Jacoby, former speech instructor, passionate about tie-dyed socks and T-shirts, has gamely taken the reins from Rarick to further involve students by tying NI C's theater program to national organizations. Not only has the number of theater students ballooned under Jacoby's tutelage, but in the fall of 2006, NIC theater students won awards for scenic design, theatrical lighting, costume design, and acting from the Kennedy Centei: American College Theater Festival for the production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. For the last

two holiday seasons, Rarick has returned to produce his play This Child, a Christmas story of his mother as a sixyear-old who faced a grim holiday with her father hospitalized and her mother mentally ill, until her rescue by a group of Spokane nuns.

While performing arts instructors were designing the theater, instructors Joe Jonas, Merlin Miller, and Lisa Daboll mapped the office and studio space for the Art Department, unfortunately losing their proposed gallery space to a second-floor foyer. The first defined gallery space appeared four years later, in i985, in the student union, with a display of Idaho folk art, spon-

A Midsummer Night's Dream, fall 2006. North Idaho College photo.

175

sored by Coeur d' Alene's Citizens'

Yesterday's Memories, Tomorrow's Vision North Idaho's history from primitive habitat to contemporary culture covers the foye r wall of Molstead Library in a fifteen-foot-h igh bas-relief bronze sculpture. Completed by retired art instructor Joe Jonas in 1994, this five-pa nel work represents an enormous effort.

On the lowest panel Jonas featured elk, deer, moose, bison, sheep, geese, fish, and a goat as symbols of America's orig inal inhabitants. Representing the fi rst peoples to inhabit the reg ion, on his next panel he formed a primitive rural dancer and arrowmaker, horses and teepees, and an Ind ian chief.

The third panel depicts the flood of white people moving into the region, a miner panning for gold, a soldier on a horse, a fur trader swapping a mirror for a bear skin, a steamship, a train, and a Cataldo Mission priest converting Indians.

The next panel focuses on a snapshot of 1905, with an early miner, lumberjacks, a young fam ily (businessman father, housewife mother, and children headed to school), City Hall, St. Thomas Church, the County Courthouse, Roosevelt School, and the transition from wagons to automobiles. The last panel describes a modern miner and forester; tourism, including parasailors and the Coeur d'Alene Resort; and new "products" like the educated mind. An old man reflects back on wisdom gained throughout the years, whi le students look to the future with expectation.

PHOTO: A portion of Joe jonas's Yesterday's Memories, Tomorrow's Vision. North Idaho College photo.

176

Council for the Arts (CCA) and NIC. To prepare the student study room for the artwork, CCA remodeled the space's wall surfaces and lighting.

Once the show ended, the Art Department seized the opportunity to secure the gallery space since student work had been recently stolen off the walls of BoswelJ Hall. Allie Vogt, part-time painting instructor, helped by tracking how many students used the study space over several months-not many. With evidence in hand, Art Department representatives approached the Associated Students board with the proposal to take over the space. As ASNIC Senator Tim Kelly said in an October i985 Sentinel, "I think the one thing that needs to be considered is that you have a drama department and they have a stage over there and they can perform.. .. . You have a basketball team and they have a gymnasium, and NIC has an art department and nowhere to show their work, and that's not fair." However, not all students were thrilled. Fow- months later, a Sentinel editorial writer quipped, "They took away our study lounge. The doors are locked, and all tl1at's setting [sic] in there is a bunch of painted spittoons and tasseled rugs." Nevertheless, the Union Gallery formally opened in March 1986.

Although the Union Gallery lost its student union home in 1997 after a thir-

NIC art students, circa 2006.

Photo by Brenda Cook. North Idaho College photo.

teen-year stint, administrators quickly

sional styles and iconography and in a

secured a new location in a remodeled

variety of mediums. Every month she

Boswell Hall music listening room that

schedules a gallery walk and slide show,

had originally housed an instrumental

so students can view works and interact

repair program. While today's Corner

directly with successful working artists.

Gallery may be smaller than the original

Shows have included "Up in Arms," an

gallery, it has hosted many outstanding

invitational focusing on the nuclear

shows.

weapo ns debate (1989); a traveling

Each year's schedule includes an

Smithsonian architectural exhibit titled

NIC/CCA sponsored show in March

"What Style Is It? Three Hundred Years

and a student show in the spring, fol-

of American Building Practices" (1991);

lowed by a CCA artists' exhibit in late

a group show of visual art and writing

summer. Vogt, now full-time, fills the

by women titled "Buttons, Connec-

remaining slots with a variety of local,

tions, and Bonds" (1993); a mi:xed-

regional, national, and international

media exhibit, "Chw1ks of Time and

artists in both two- and three-dimen-

Place:' by Spokane artist Harold Balazs 177

In 2007, Terry Lee, son of NIJC president Orrin Lee, displayed his artwork in the Boswell Hall Corner Gallery. North Idaho College photo.

(1994); a mixed-media and installation

show by University of Idaho professor George Wray (1995); a "Doodles" show

sound emerged, even though the audience could see his amazing performance. Meanwhile, the brass section

(1996); and "Liminal Space," an exhibit

began choking on smoke from the

of paintings and drawings by Steven

blank shells. Even with minor setbacks such as these, the musicians relished their new setting.

Schultz, as well as Terry Lee's show titled "An Abbreviated Retrospective: Expressions in Color" (both in 2007).

As the fine arts program unfolded, so did the music program once the new building opened. The new auclitorium p rovided a fantastic venue for perform ances, which of course thrilled musicians. In one particular event, director Bob Singletary asked Rick Frost to play the large chimes during the finale of Tchaikovsky's i812 Overture. When the cannons began firing (blanks shot in to a barrel), Frost banged robustly on the chimes. To everyone's amusement, Frost had stepped on the damper, so no 178

When Bob Singletary resigned in i981, h e was replaced by the talented Todd Snyder. In addition to directing all the ensembles, Snyder developed the Chamber Orchestra into a full symphony orchestra, renaming it the North Idaho Symphony Orchestra. An October i985 Sentinel reports that Snyder had used the area's "musical grapevine" to contact interested people to join the symphony. "They were aching to be put together in an orchestra;' Snyder said.

By i985, the symphony musician pool was comprised of two-thirds commu-

nity members and one-third NIC students. With more tasks than time, Sny-

for Heidi (1996); Garden of Earthly Delights, for orchestra, piano, and

der soon requested another instructional slot for music. The new position

speakers (2003) ; and Six Words from a

Gerard Mathes, who is heralded by

Shakespeare Soliloquy, Symphony for Band (2007).

To help students and faculty perform and audiences listen to these remarkable performances, an anonymous donor through the NIC Foundation funded a new lighting system for the Schuler Performing Arts Center in 2006, and the Helen Burke Travolta Fund contributed over $92,000 for the purchase and installation of a new sound system. Today, with its state-ofthe-art technology, Schuler Performing Arts Center is the best theater venue in Eastern Washington and North Idaho,

some as a musical genius. In addition to

even for those with impaired hearing.

was filled in i986 by Terry Jones, who assumed the Symphonic Band, the Jazz Ensemble, and the NIC Pep Band, still under his direction . During Snyder's tenure as dfrector of the North Idaho Symphony Orchestra, he formed an orchestra guild to help NIC fund the symphony. This eventually led to the creation of the Coeur d'Alene Symphony, today an independent organization with its own board of directors.

Today, NIC is proud to be the home of music and humanit ies instructor

directing the Coeur d'Alene Youth Sym-

Even as the NIC arts program grew

phony, Mathes has composed sixteen

more virile, a group of community

major works, including a musical score

artists brainstormed a project that

Members of the North Idaho Chamber Orchestra, circa 1980.

North Idaho College photo.

179

eventually grew into a huge NIC sum-

Green, relates, "Partially shaded by tall

mer event: Art on the Green. Through

ponderosas and bordered to the south

by Lake Coeur d'Alene ... the festival

the efforts of Pat and Sue Flammia, Jack and Liz Steve, Allen and Mary Dee

could now add 'green' to its name....

Dodge, and many others, the first event

WheD monies were counted that year,

was held on the Rotary tennis courts.

trees and grass were not the only green

Though the 1968 Outdoor Arts and

to be seen. The festival was making a

Crafts Festival ran $17 in the red, the

small profit [by 1980] ."

annual event, now held on NIC's

Today, this festival gathers more indi-

grounds, has become a major source of

viduals on the North Idaho College

support for art in the public schools

campus than any other event and has

and additional community venues. Two years after the inaugural festival, the

blossomed into a celebration of all the arts. The Art on the Green Web site

group, incorporated as the Citizens' Council for the Arts, convinced NIC

states:

President Schuler to host the event on the westernmost side of campus,

gathering place for friends and families, this

behind the student union. As Fay

Coeur d'Alene. This summer [1007], 135-plus

Wright's history of the event, Art on the

artists, a variety of performers and over 500

A marketplace, performance space and a yearly event is the highlight of the summer in

Each year, over 50,000 people enjoy the work of more than 135 artists at Art on the Green.

Photo courtesy of Coeur d'Alene Press.

180

volunteers come together to present Art on the

clubs, community organizations, na-

Green for more than 50,000 people to enjoy.

tional organizations, and international organizations to provide quality and

While many of the art and cultural

informative programs for the campus

events find their genesis in Boswell Hall,

and local communities.

other campus activities have become

Some of the dozens of events sponsored besides the powwow and Cinco de

traditions over time. The English Department has published the studentrun Trestle Creek Review for many years

Mayo celebration have included "The

now. At times, it includes not only the

Chittick, who gave an unvarnished look

works of talented NIC students who

at the discovery of America; a historical

have won the English Department's

reenactment by Albert Wilkenson as

essay contest, but of writers from across

Sergeant Wilkie, a buffalo soldier from

the nation.

the

Real Columbus," with historian Sharla

Old

West;

Professor

Kaka

Another series of powerful events has

Mohammed Ashary, a Sunni Muslim

emerged from the labors of the Diver-

and an imam from Iraq, speaking about

sity Events Committee, started in 1997.

OriginalJy a powwow committee, in

the war; Tibetan Buddhist nun, the Venerable Thubten

Chodron,

sharing

its focus broadened to include events on Native American, Latino, and

with the Rest of Your Life?"; and Colom-

African -American issues.

bian farmer Freddy Urbans, telling the

2000

Later,

it

broadened once again to serve its cur-

thoughts about "What Are You Doing

true story of Colombian coffee.

rent mission: to promote diversity on

A college is not a college, a city a city,

the NIC campus and in the community.

The committee of staff, facu lty, stu-

or a nation a nation, without its local

dents, and community members has

sponse to NIC's many cultural offerings

hosted speakers, music venues, film

demonstrates the college has been cen-

series, and other events of diverse inter-

tral to bringing the arts to the people,

est to students and the community,

enriching the gathering place with

while working closely with student

fruits of the human spirit.

artists. North Idaho's enthusiastic re-

181

CHAPTER 12

YAP-KEEHN-UM

A

n auspicious group gathered on Yap-Keehn-Um Beach in late July

2007

to cele-

brate the college's thirty-year ownership of the land situated al the junction between Lake Coeur d'Alene and the Spokane River. To the sounds of traditional drumming and singing, Coeur d'Alene tribal members, community members, current and former students, and North Idaho College employees rejoiced in the knowledge that this land will exist in perpetuity for public use. Coeur d'Alene tribal chairman Chief Allen said, "We honor our commitment [in the Nine-Point Agreement] to bring the community together with North Idaho College by dedicating lhe Yap-Keehn-Um Beach and the NIC Rose Garden for all to share in friendship and unity among cultures."

Only through the collective memory of those who have gone before to the "college on lhe lake" will future generations remember this spot.

What does NIC mean to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe who occupied this land first?

This is lhe burial ground of the tribe's ancestors, the memory keeper of clans who met for summer games and fishing, sharing language and custom; it is the spot where for a time Coeur d'Alenes felt unwelcome; but today, because of the Nine-Point Agreement and new attitudes in the North Idaho community, it is a place where the 183

Members of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe prepare to participate in a ceremony to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Yap-Keehn-Um Beach. North Idaho College photo.

184

Coeur d'Alenes can again celebrate

tots don highly symbolic regalia of

their traditions.

beadwork, feathers, leather, and cones

American Indian Week takes place

to compete in traditional and fancy

each spring with the explosively color-

dances to win prizes from $1,000 to

ful Yap-Keehn-Um Powwow, drawing

$io,ooo. Other contests include drum-

dancers and singers from across the

ming and singing.

nation. Vying for top honors, men,

During the Cultural Diversity Week,

women, teens and juniors, and even tiny

tribal members often regale the public

with stories of Coeur d'Alene history. In

When I was a little girl, I used to stand on

Frank SiJohn, the grandson of

my daddy's shoes, my hands in his, as he

Ignate Gary, the last chief of the Coeur

"danced" us around the room. 1 guess that

d'Alene Tribe, told coyote stories.

was the first time l followed in my father's

"Tonight," he told his audience, "you

footsteps. Afier retiring from a long and suc-

will hear the silent voices, the ones that

cessful career, my father decided to attend

have been passed down to me." He

college for the first time at the age of sixty-

shared his conv iction that these "silent

seven, and he graduated from NIC in 1985 at

voices" like Lawrence Aripa's were tr ibal

the age of sixty-nine. He then went on to

elders, the most important resource of

earn his BA for LCSC in 1991 at the age of

his people.

seventy-five. Now l am a studen t at North

2006,

W hi le the tribe remembers Yap-

Idaho College, thirty-five years after graduat-

Keehn-Um's ancient history, thousands

ing from high school. I will graduate in

of students now treasure their own me-

and then go on to earn my BA as well. My

mories of this historical place. To them

father was my hero and my inspiration. He

NIC means dreams fulfilled, in some

loved NIC and he'll always be here on cam-

cases over generations of family mem-

pus. I'm proud to still be standing on my

bers. Student Janet Bunke tells her story:

daddy's shoes.

2008

Felix Aripa, of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, speaks at the Yap-Keehn-Um Beach thirtieth anniversary celebration. North Idaho College photo.

185

4~~e~

;'" 0

co eur d, AIenes

To honor the Coeur d'Alene Tribe and their long history with the campus, the college dedicated the new Rose Garden of the Coeur d'Alenes in 2007. North Idaho College photo.

Like Janet, hundreds of students have memories of inspiration and success at IC. Their voices speak quietly, but they fill the halls and classrooms.

What does NIC mean to the North Idaho community where many of these studen ts live? Until recently, college officials could on ly guess that the community flourished because of NIC's impact. Within the past ten years, th o ugh, this effect has been quantified-and it is indeed enormous. A Current student Janet Bunke with her father, Hugh "Olin" Smith, an NIC alumnus.

North Idaho College photo.

study conducted in 2002 by Kjell Christophersen and his colleagues at CCBenefits yielded these findings: â&#x20AC;˘ NIC contributes a total of $30L7 million in regional labor and nonlabor income to the Kootenai County Service Area economy.

This is the equivalent of 6,900 jobs. â&#x20AC;˘ NIC students will enjoy a 23.3% rate of return on their investments of time and money.

186

â&#x20AC;˘ The state of ldaho will benefit from

How could members of the tiny i933

$1.6 million worth of avoided costs

Coeur d'Alene community have fore-

each year because of improved

seen the gift they would give this com-

health, reduced crime, and reduced

munity? The city fathers and educators

welfare/unemployment.

who against all odds pulled together

â&#x20AC;˘ The results indicate strong and

resources in three months' time to start

positive returns: a rate of return of

a college in City Hall; the wives and

22.6%, a benefit/cost ratio of 6.2

mothers of the Sponsors Club who

(every dollar of state o r local tax

raised money in the institution's darkest

money invested in NIC today

hours; the first president, Moritz Brake-

returns $6.20 ), and a short pay-

meyer, who emptied his bank account

back period of on ly 6.3 years.

for operating capita l rather than let go of his dream; the Coeur d'Alene Tribe

Less quantifiable but equally momen-

who sacrificed their ancient site for the

tous has been NIC's magnetism as a

greater good; the myriad dedicated

community hub. Art on the Green,

individuals who over the years have

Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre, the

given of themselves to teach, to learn, to

Popcorn Forum, Hoopfest, the Christ-

argue, to love, laugh, and eventually to

mas concerts, and other events too

leave. These are the people who make

numerous lo name draw North Ida-

North Idaho College at Yap-Keehn-Um,

hoans to the college to share entertain-

the gathering place.

ment and the experience of belonging.

Aerial view of North Idaho College. North Idaho College photo.

187

AF T ERWORD

LOOKING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK

George Ives

T here were no computers.

Yes, as amazing as that statement may sound, there were no computers at NIC when I arrived on campus a clean-cut twenty-something with a fresh new master's degree hot off the press. There was a library-entirely housed in the room that is now the Learning Center (Kildow i25). And the seven hundred plus students- who all lived within an hour's commute-were served as faithfully as today by their instructors, but there were no computers.

I joined the campus among a wave of "flower power youth"-or so the established staff members thought. The new staffing in i969 was part of a great expansion. The $100,000 Vocational-Technical Building (now the Siebert Building) was dedicated to students learning which tubes to change in the TV set and how to adjust the airflow in auto carburetors. A new Adult Basic Education study center was opened to provide options for potential NIC students who had not quite "gotten it" in high school.

Among the burning issues that faced candidates for the Associated Students president that year was the question: "Where do yo u stand on the dress code?" Yep, looking back, it's hard to imagine a time when TVs had tubes, cars had carbs, a new cam189

central dirt parking lot was converted to a soccer fie ld over much student anguish, the first wrestling championship returned to Coeur d'Alene, and the campus leased its first computer, an IBM 1130, for $1,500 a month.

To get to the campus in those earlier years, one needed to cross railroad tracks, which led to the petroleum storage facility that graced the area now traversed by the sidewalk from Lee Hall to Boswell. An occupied Sherman School - complete with screaming kids on the George Ives, forme r English instructor.

North Idaho College photo.

pus building cost the same as today's three-bedroom house in Athol, and "girls" were forbidden to wear pants to classes!

Throughout the seventies, No rth Idaho Jun ior College-as it was then called- sought a new identity. There was some truth to the sixties arriving in Idaho a decade late. After four students were shot by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University on May 4, i970, student leaders repeatedly lowered the flag to half-staff, and after each lowering the school's business manager returned it to full-staff position. It was an odd day by anyone's standards. As Dylanthe dad, not the son- plaintively noted, "The times they are a-changin'." NIC successfully fought off the challenge of condos being built along the lakefront, preserving a legacy beyond measure. A 190

playground-filled the space that now forms the quad beside the soccer field.

As we "flower powered" youths became almost stable, the campus continued its growth. Sherman School enjoyed several remodels to become home to NIC's presidents and their staffs. To honor a long-serving board of trustees chair, Seiter Hall was built, and luckily someone noticed before they were needed that the safety showers in the chem labs were not attached to drains. Computers were being added to business and science programs, though English instructor and track coach Mike Bundy vowed that he would end his career without ever having to touch one. "Real men," he observed, "use #3 lead, as God intended." The homemaking program was d ropped in favor of women's studies. Title IX became the law of the land, but the news didn't quite make it to Coeur d'Alene; it took

almost two decades for the campus to

contention. During one periodic fisca l

add women's softball. In another

panic, the NIC trustees decided to elim-

decade, NIC's diamond damsels would

inate the director of computer services

vie for Lhe NJCAA national crown in

"because of funding cuts." We'll never

the sport.

The year i980 saw NlC host its first

know how NIC might look today had

national championship sports event: the NJCAA cross-country finale. I was

second-guessed proposal.

As I recall, the nineties saw the

impressed, of course, as elite cross-

wrestlers take their fifth championship

country runners toured the Avondale

in six years. Journalism instructor Nils

course, but my most memorable cross-

Rosdahl discovered a ghost in Seiter Hall,

country moment came a few years later

and the trauma turned his hair white

when Christie Davids, a former Bundy

over the next decade. Student power

recruit from South Africa, returned to

found new expressions. Inspired by Chi-

campus, replacing his mentor as NIC's

nese student protests, sophomore Robb

coach. As the starter of the regional

Brennan ran for Coeur d'Alene mayor,

event, Davids sensed the building ten-

hoping, he pledged, "to change Cd.A so

sion as runners jostled for position

it's not just known for bad schools and

across the starting gate. With a smirk, he brought the field to relaxed readiness

Nazis." Dylan not withstanding, the times hadn't changed that much, and the

as he played on the runners stereotypes

winner in the year's crowded field was

of the area. 'Tm your worst nightmare,"

NIC's former dean of instruction, Ray

he quipped . "A black man v'li.th a gun."

Stone. It was an interesting campaign

The field broke up with laughter as run-

unparalleled by any thing as amusing

ners learned a little of race and racing-

since the Associated Student Body

and humor. Back on campus in an

speeches were streaked in '72.

they made good on that subsequently

unusually assertive stance, the Associ-

Looking back over the years that

ated Students (ASNIC) stuck by their

span my teaching career at NIC, I see

guns when they declared the main

much growth in materials and num-

room of the SUB a nonsmoking area in

bers. Even Mike Bundy graded his his-

spite of the impassioned outcry raised

tory exams using computerized Scant-

by several members of the Vets Club.

ron forms. Yet, the true relationships

Insidiously, computers had by now

that have made NIC enjoyable for all

invaded the social sciences and the

remained essentially unchanged. Inter-

library, though just how the campus

ested students continued

was to be "wired" remained a bone of

engaged professors to mentor topics of

to seek 191

common concern, solid founda tions were laid for any n umber of personal goals, and frustrations as well as satisfact ions kept life interesting by the lake.

Working with the committee to gather the fi rst draft of NIC's history, I learned more than I ever expected about those early years before I joined

Since my retirement in 2002, I've continued to visit the campus on an irregular basis for luncheons, concerts, and other civic events. In those intervening years, though, I've come to see the larger community context that is the true gift North Idaho College brings to its service district and beyond. As I bike

the NIC community- and this new knowledge has deeply affected the way I look at the college today. I've come to appreciate the early struggles of those champions of ever greater inclusion

the Karen Streeter Memorial Trail in Post Falls or enjoy an evening sunset from the Mike Bun dy Memorial Bench at Riverstone Park, I'm coming to see the ripples of influence generated

and accessibility that allowed the NIC dream to blossom. Entering Lee Hall, where I spent the majority of my teaching hours, has a deeper resonance now

by this little college on the lake, ripples generated by colleagues whose marks remain . Yes, that Riverstone complex itself is the realized vision

that I know that President Orrin Lee, for whom it is named, was literally the lead carpenter in remodeling the third floor of City Hall to house NIC's first classes. When I enjoy my traditional

of John Stone, NIC's first comp uter guy of IBM 1130 fame, that Karen Streeter is the smiling lady who replaced the irreplaceable Itsuko Nishio as NIC's registrar, and Mike Bundy indeed is ... well.

noontime stroll along the dike road, the glee of children's voices floating across campus from the NIC Children's Center recalls the delighted squeals of faculty

192

brats gathered around the model trains delivering ice cream sundaes at President Schuler's Christmas extravaganza.

There is, I've found, a continuity of vision reflected in the campus; each president in his-and now her-own way h as moved the campus forward.

The buildings have multiplied and the technology continues to spread, but the human links are the silly putty that holds it all together.

It is, after all is said and done, the people who remain in memory and in actuality who unfold the experience d1at is NIC. In Maine, Lola (Guimond) Ferber arranges the readers wh o appear in the local Topsham bookstore; in Post Falls, Eve Knudtsen h eads her family's multigenerational service to North Idaho's car-buying public. In the Kootenai County Courthouse, a visitor can watch Rick Currie chair the county commissioners; train travelers from England to France will marvel at the Chunnel, whose chief engineer was NIC

alum Jack Lemley. My wife's visit to

Lies to Datatel and Humanities

Kootenai Medical Center brings Kelly (Rice) McAnally to her bedside, one of a

the Internet, the campus has come a long way.

wealth of NIC-trained nursing gradu-

So, what does this experience suggest

ates now on staff. Kevin Roche moved

for the future? Change will come, that's

on from Cardinnl Review editor to the

Wall Street ]011rnal in Brussels, Belgium.

for sure-not as fast as some desire, yet too rapidly for others. Students will no

Former NIC students all, they, and

doubt complain about parking; their

indeed so many others, continue to

instructors will grouse "not enough

impact their larger communities.

time"; yet, teaching and learning will

101

via

Looking back over these years has

remain the focus. Funding will continue

been, as one enduring cultural icon suc-

as a topic of chagrin each spring. Inno-

cinctly noted, "a long, strange trip."

vations will become standard while

Sometimes it was idyllic, often it

standards will be innovated. Prob-

seemed comic, throughout it has

lems-or opportunities-will abound

remained profoundly compelling as the

as the next millennium unfolds. Some-

campus engaged in the ongoing dramatic revision of who we were and what

how, I suspect we'll muddle through.

we might become. From the Trash Eigh-

puters.

And I'm betting we get more com-

193

BIBLIOGRAPHY .

-- -

.-'

..

.

:_

-

-

-

-

Atwater-Haight, Dawn, and Fay Wright, eds. A Patchwork of Praise. Coeur d'Alene: North Idaho College Alumni Association, 1998.

Boas, Franz, and James Teit. Forty-Mth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Washi ngton, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1930.

Bu roker, Gladys, with Fran Bahr. Wind in My Face: The Story of Gladys Dawson Buroker, Wing Walker, Parachute jumper, Balloonist, and Pilot Extraordinaire. Rathd rum, ID: G. Buroker, 1997.

Christopherson, Kjell A., et al. Economic Impact Study. Moscow, ID: CCBenefits, 2003.

Harper, William Rainey. The Prospects of the Small College. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1900.

Kiehn, James. Fort Sherman, Idaho. Molstead Library Special Col lections. North Idaho College. Spokane, WA: n.p., 1970.

Osterberg, David. Persona l interview with Doane Brakemeyer. DVD. Molstead Li brary Special Collections. North Idaho College, n.d.

Peltier, Jerome . Manners and Customs of the Coeur d'Alene Indians. Spokane, WA: Peltier Publications, 1975 .

195

-

--

- -

Point, Nicholas. Wilderness Kingdom, Indian Life in the Rocky Mountains, 7840-7 847: The journals and Paintings of Nicholas Point. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967.

"What Was Chautauqua?" Essay by Charlotte Canning, University of Texas at Austin, December 2000. Available at http://sd rc. lib.uiowa.edu/traveling-cultu re/essay.htm Accessed May 30, 2008 . For information on the Library of Congress's Traveling Cu lture: Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century collection, see http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/chautauqua/index.html Witt, Allen A., James L. Wattenbarger, James F. Gollattscheck, and Joseph E. Suppiger. America's Community Colleges: The First Century. Wash ington D.C.: Community College Press, 1994.

Wright, Fay. Art on the Green: A Celebration of Art and Community in the West. Coeur d'Alene, ID: Citizens' Council for the Arts, 2001.

Oral history interviews conducted by David Osterberg and the following North Idaho College publications are available in Molstead Library Special Collections, North Idaho College: Cardinal Review, Driftwood, Jaycee journal, Legume, Lewa, Nl}C Review, and Sentinel. Past ed itions of the Coeur d'Alene Press are arch ived in the Molstead Library microfilm collection.

196

INDE X

MJC. See American Association of Junior Colleges ABE/GED program, 128, 136; new ABE study center, 189 ACCT. See Association of Community College Trustees Ace Wa lden Award, 166 Adams, Wally: photo of, 145 Adult Basic Education. See ABE/GED program Albion College of Education, 150 Albrecht, Elsie Marie (women's basketball coach),

149 Allen, Chief (Coeur d'Alene tribal chairman), 183 All-Forestry Day, 42 Alumni Association (NIC), 110, 142 American Association of Junior Colleges (MJC),

63, 70 American College Theater Festival, 174 American Indian Week, 127, 184 American Legion, 27 Anderson, Jack, 150 Anderson, Minnie: photo of, 12 Anderson, Ted: and NIJC sign, 67 Andrus, Cecil (Idaho governor), 123; photo of,

104 "Andrus Sisters": photo of, 104

Argonaut (University of Idaho): and opposition to Senate Bill 31, 28-29 Aripa, Felix: photo of, 185 Aripa, Lawrence, 185 Armistice Day: student petition to suspend classes on, 25 Armstrong, Dick (basketball coach), 151 Arrison, Anastatia: photo of, 12 Art Department, 175, 176 Art on the Green, 180- 81, 187 Aryan Nations, 120, 1 30 Ashary, Kaka Mohammed, 181 Associated Collegiate Press competition: Sentinel wins Best of Show at, 132 Associated Students of North Idaho College (ASNIC), 142; and remodeling of student union, 132 Associated Women Students, 55 Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT), 117, 147, 118 Association of Independent Colleges, 21 Athletic Department, 68, 166-67 Athletic Review Committee, 145 Athletic Round Table (Coeur d'Alene), 42 Atwood, Len (Mattei), 163

197

Bahr, Fran: and online course for facu lty, 135 Baird, Ed (U.S. Senate), 28 Baker, Howard, 96 Balazs, Harold, 1 77 Ballard, Gwindolyn, 128 Barkley, Alben W. (U.S. vice president): on Communist threat, 58 Barton, Jim (board of trustees chair), 104 Bay, Jason: earns Rookie of the Year award, 160 Beaty, Edward: and Hedlund Building safety issues, 121 Beebe, jack (board of trustees chair), 112 Bell, Douglas, 37; on "Potlatch Potluck," 36 Bell, Priscilla (NIC president), 147; photo of, 144 Bell, Ron (NIC interim president), 123, 125, 128,

129-30 Bennett, Barbara, 105 Bennett, C. Robert (NIC president), 101, 104-6; and Chili Cook-off, 117; and College Foundation, 1 06, 108- 1 O; and delegation to Japan, 115; and formation of College Alumni Association, 109- 1 O; and funding for library/computer center, 111 - 12; and NIC Strategic Plan, 119; photos of, 102, 116; and renovation projects, 115; resignation of, 122-23 Bennett, Dean (student activities director), 92 Besola, Everett, 52 Best Practices Standards (for online education), 135 Bill Eisenwinter Field, 161 Biosensors and Nanotechnology Applications Laboratory, 14 3 Blair, Beth, 89-90 Bloxom, jack (baseball coach), 160- 61 Board of Trustees: and approval for new dormitory, 1 39; bonding proposal of, 60, 62-63; and construction of dormitory, 69; and construction of student union, 60; and Nine-Point Agreement, 127; and objectives for President Schuler, 104; and Presidential Scholarship, 128; and student opposition to state alcohol policy, 96 Boise Junior College, 22, 27 Bond, Julian, 95 Bonners Ferry Center (NIC), 136 Boswell, Joyce, 85, 113 Boswell Hall (Communication Arts Auditorium Building), 84- 85, 93, 1 72, 176, 177, 181; photo of, 85; renaming of, 11 3 Bottolfsen, Clarence A. (Idaho governor), 30 Brakemeyer, Doane, 22; photo of, 12 Brakemeyer, Moritz A. (CJC founder and president), 13-14, 33, 187; and founding of Coeur d'Alene Junior College, 14- 18; and 1934 recruitment campaign, 21; photo of, 14; resignation of, 22; and ten-part convo-

198

cation seri es (1934), 19 Brennan, Robb, 191; on 9/11, 143-44 Brogan, Joanne: and grant for North Idaho Information Network, 134 Browe, Walt (NIC interim president), 99, l 01,

104 Brown, Father john [Louis Suixim], 8 Buhrmester, Paul L.: photo of, 1 2 Bull of the Woods (Rarick), 174 Bundy, Mike (track coach), 159- 60, 161, 190,

191, 192 Bungay, Ellen, 19, 20 Bunke, Janet, 185; photo of, 186 Burke, Michael, 129, 142, 146, 147; on ABE/GED program, 128; and athletics programs, 144, 145; and opposition to racism, 131 - 32; on outreach centers, 1 36; resignation of, 14 7; and strategic planning, 133- 34; and updating of campus computer systems, 138-39 Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF): opposition to fueling station for,

128 Burns, James, Sr.: photo of (with board of trustees), 30 Burns, Jim, 93 Burns, W. J., 67 Buroker, Gladys, 87-88; photos of, 41, 42 Buroker Hicks Flying Service, 40, 41 Burzynski, Joe 19 Bush, George 11.: and Operation Desert Storm,

102 Business and Professional Women's Club (Coeur d'Alene), 15, 16 Business Department, 68 Business Professionals of America National Leadership Conference: NIC students honored at,

135 Cahill, Charley, 138 Camp Coeur d'Alene, 6 Canadian Opera Tour Company: at NIC, 99 Cardinal Courier (radio program), 79

Cardino/ Peep-Squeak, 53 Cardinal Press, 53 Cardinal Review, 55, 1 32 Cardinals. See N IC Cardinals Cardwell, Hazel (Mrs. Grover C.), 16, 37; as "cheerleader," 155 CARL (online catalog), 138 Carl son, Marian: photo of, 12 Carlson, Walter, 93 Carr, Greg (philanthropist), 131 Carrousel Players, 1 71 Carter, Luke, 143 Cataldo Mission, 11 3 Catapult contest, 97; photo of, 99 CCA. See Citizens' Council for the Arts

CCBenefits, 186 CCC. See Civilian Conservation Corps Chamber of Commerce (Coeur d'Alene), 15, 22,

115 Chamber Orchestra, 1 78 Chase, Gordon: photo of, 12 Chautauqua series, 119-20 Cheney Papooses, 149, 152 Children's Center (NIC), 90, 108, 115, 192 Chili Cook-off, 11 7 Chittick, Sharla, 128, 181 Chodron, Thubten (Tibetan Buddhist nun), 181 Christianson, Perry (NljC president), 41, 50, 67; as basketball coach, 150; as city councilman, 93; and College Qualification Tes t, 78; gym named for, 152; and nursing program, 86; photo of, 67; resignation of, 79,

81 Christianson Gymnasium, 50, 113 Christie, Kathy, 105, 120 Christophersen, Kjell, 186 Church, Frank, 96 Cinco de Mayo, 127, 181 Circle K Club: and NljC sign, 67 Citizen's Council for the Arts (CCA), 177, 180 City Hall. See Coeur d'Alene City Hall Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 40 Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP), 39-40 CJC. See Coeur d'Alene junior College Clark, Barzilla W. (Idaho governor), 28 <..lark, IJenise: m Chautauqua series, 120 Class of 1942: graduation ceremony for, 137 Clawson, Ann, 69 Clawson, Harold, 69 Coach of the Year awards: to Mike Bundy, 161; to john Owen, 157; to Pat Whitcomb, 158 Coe, john Knox (Coeur d'Alene mayor), 15, 16 Coeur d'Alene (city): early history of, 4, 6, 8, 9 Coeur d'Alene City Hall, 19, 35, 37, 45, 192, as lirst home of Coeur d'Alene Junior College, 1 7-18, 23; historical photos of, 16, 1 7; move of college from, 49, 51; remodeling of second floor of, 44 Coeur d'Alene College Sponsors Club, 23 Coeur d'Alene High School, 136 Coeur d'Alene Inn: photo of, 7 Coeur d'Alene junior College (CJC): 18- 23, 25; cultural events at, 19-20; founding of, 13-17; initial financial problems of, 21,

22-23 Coeur d'Alene junior College orchestra, 19 Coeur d'Alene Press, 15, 36, 37, 46, 62; and announcement of North Idaho Junior College opening, 33 Coeur d'Alene Resort, 105, 106, 115 Coeur d'Alene School District, 9, 15, 17 Coeur d'Alene Summer Theater, 1 71, 1 72, 187

d'Alene Symphony, 1 79 d'Alene Tribal Awareness Week, 127 d'Alene Tribal Council, 127 d'Alene Tribe, 35, 183-84, 185, 187: and commemorative marker in Coeur d'Alene City Park, 19; history of, 3-6; and NinePoint Agreement, 125-27; and plans for longhouse, 142; and Rose Garden, 183, 186 (photo); Shee-Chu-Umsch ("the ones who were found here") name of, 4, 11 Coeur d'Alene Youth Symphony, 179 Coffman, Gary (career center director), 90 Cold War, 59, 73 College Foundation (NIC), 106-7, 110, 120, 123, 131; and benefit performances of The Music Man, 108; and Children's Center, 115; and creation of Alumni Association, 109-1 O; and funding for health sciences building, 141; and funding for Schuler Performing Arts Center, 1 79; and Rea lly Big Raffle, 107; and Workforce Training Center, 108-9 College Housing Act of 1950, Title IV of, 60 College Media Advisers Distinguished Adviser Award, 132 College of Idaho, 150 College of Southern Idaho, 81 College Qualification Test, 77 Colonial Apartment Building, 42 Colstad, Ronald G.: letter of to Cardinal Review, Coeur Coeur Coeur Coeur

96 Committee to Save the Beach, 85 Communication Arts Auditorium Building (Boswell Hall), 84-85, 93, 172, 176, 177, 181; photo of, 85; renaming of, 11 3 Community Education Center, 11 2 Community Theater, 1 71 Conant, James B. (Harvard University president): and military training proposal, 57 Conners, Dennis, 104, 105 Cooper, Tom (composer), 174 Corner Gallery, 1 77 Cox, Ray, 142 CPTP. See Civilian Pilot Training Program Craney, Marian: photo of, 12 Creative Writing Club, 97, 98 Crimp, Greg (women's basketball coach), 159,

161 Crowe, James, 95 Cultural Diversity Week, 184 Cultural Events Committee, 127 Currie, Rick, 192 Customized Training programs, 1 36 Daboll, Lisa, 170, 1 75 Dalton, Lester J., 23 Dames Club, 55 Damiano, Hal: fundraising efforts of, 108

199

Damiano, Kay (opera singer): and production of

The Music Man, 108 Danby, jack Uaycee journal editor), 21 Datatel, 139 Davids, Christie, 191 Dees, Morris (civil rights attorney), 130 Delta Psi Omega, 55 Department of Distance Education: creation of, 134 Dingler, john Uaycee journal sports editor), 21, 152; photo of, 1 2 Displaced Homemakers Program, 89 Distinguished Alumni Achievement Awa rd, 145 Diversity Events Committee, 181 Dodge, Allen, 180 Dodge, Mary Dee, 180 Domebo, Andrae, 1 26-27 Dormitory Housing Commission, 68 Dramatic Club, 55 Dreisbach, j. D. Eitel: photo of, 12 Driftwood: on athletic schedule (1940), 150 Dunnigan, Loretta, 145 Durand, Charles (ASNIC president), 97 Earin, Dorothy: photo of, 12 Early or Coordinated College Enrollment Program, 90 Edminster, Anna R. (Mrs. R. W.), 67; and dedication of Edminster Student Union, 60; photo of (with board of trustees), 30 Edminster, Reuben: photo of, 12 Edminster Student Union (SUB), 68, 131; dedication of, 60; expansion of, 70; photos of,

60, 63, 131 Edmiston, D. j.: and Treasure Island, 174-75 Edmonds, 0. W. (Coeur d'Alene mayor), 42, 58 Eisenwinter, Bill (head coach), 161 Electronics Department, 78 Ellsberg, Daniel, 96 Ely, Bob: on athletic achievements, 161 Engineers Club, 55 English Department: essay contest, 181; and Tres-

tle Creek Review, 181 Erickson, Alice, 37 Erickson, Linda Ferrell: reminiscences of, 95 Erickson, Taimie: photo of, 12 Evans, Frank H., 19 Evening school program: founding of, 91 The Fabulous Shadows (band), 75 Fahringer, Ray, 19 Fairfield, Rex, 128 Farragut College and Technical Institute, 44 Farragut Naval Tra ining Station, 39, 44, 52; photos of trainees at, 38, 39 Ferber, Lola Guimond, 192

200

First Presbyterian Church, 20 Flammia, Pat, 180 Flammia, Sue, 180 Flathead Tribe, 4 Flint, Tom: on Persian Gulf War, 102 Fort Sherm an, 4, 9, 19, 35, 49, 169; founding of, 6; photos of, 61 l 0-11 Fort Sherman Officers' Quarters (FSOQ) (McHugh Building), 90, 1 70; photo of remodeled building, 114; remodeling of, l 08, 113,

11 s

Fort Sherman Symphonette, 169 Forty-fifth Congress of the United States: establishes Camp Coeur d'Alene, 6 Foss, Maralee, 162, 165 Foundation. See College Foundation (NIC) Fourth U.S. Infantry Band, 169 Frandsen, Robert (first editor of Jaycee fourna0,

20, 21 French, Burton L. (U.S. House of Representatives),

21 French Club, 55 Frost, Rick (choral d irector), 171, 172, 178 FSOQ. See Fort Sherman Officers' Quarters Fuller, Buckminster, 82, 95 Fullmer, Glenmar, 93 Fullwiler, jack, 75 Funke, Ted: and N ljC sign, 67 Caine, Cleve, 82 Gale, Margaret, 76, 170

Garden of Earthly Delights (Mathes), 1 79 Gard ner, Larry L., 59 Gary, lgnate, 185 Gay/Straight Alliance, 128 Gee, jerry, 105 GI Bill: impact of, 43, 45 Givens, Jeanne (board of trustees chair), 123, l 25 Goedde, John, 128 Gordon, Erma: photo of, 12 Gorton, Milo, 152; photo of, 12\ Graduate Equivalency Diploma. See ABE/GED program Granger, Diane, 88 Grantham, A., 33 Great Depression, 9, 13, 26 Gridley, Mercy L., 37 Gritz, Bo (Populist Party presidential candidate), 120 Guaranteed Student Loan, 70, 83 Gustafson, Edwina: and NIC Learning Center, 90 Hagadone, Burl C., 59 Hagadone, Duane: and College Foundation, 106-7; and funding for library, 112; honored w ith achievement award, 145 Hagadone, Lola, 106

Hagadone, Vivian L: photo of, 12 Hagadone Corporation: and NIC sister college program, 115 Hagen and Lunceford, 60 Halverson Construction Company, 47 Hands, Nicholas, 144 Hanks, Bill: poem by, 98 Hanson, Mable (NIJC Review staff member), 74 Harbor Lights Formal, 55 Harper, William Rainey (University of Chicago president), 14 Harpers Bizarre (rock group): at NIC, 99 Harpers Manufacturing ( Fl excel), 109 Harris, Jane (NIJC Review reporter), 74 Hassen, Leona: and Popcorn Forum, 94 Hatch, Wes, 69 Hatrock, Beverly: and founding of nursing program, 86-87 Haught, Clarence (dean of vocational education),

88, 104, 105 Hayden Lake Country Club, 108, 123 Hayenga, Judy, 156 Hayman, Jean, 1 65 Headley, Jim, 1 22, 166 Hedges, Michael (guitar player), 101 Hedlund, Emery (Idaho legislator), 84 Hedlund Vocational Building, 84; photo of, 89; safety concerns regarding, 121-22 Heidi (Mathes), 179 Heikkila, Don (NIJC Review editor}, 71, 73, 77 Helen Burke Travolta Fund, 1 79 Hemingway, Harvey, 37 Hendricks, Veronica: photo of, 143 Hershey, Lewis B. (Selective Service director), 78 Hicks, Ernie, 60 Higgins, Tom (NIJC Review reporter), 69, 75 Higher Education Act, 71, 73 Higher Education Facilities Act, 70 Hogan, Les: as dean of studen ts, 91; as w restling coach, 156 Home Economics Club, 55 Home Economics Department, 68 Hoopfest, 187 Horswill, Michael, 1 38 House Bill 121, 71 House Bill 31 3, 71 Housing and Home Finance Agency, 68-69 Howe, Walter: and radio program, 45 Hugo, Richard: visits NIC, 99 Human Equality Club, 121, 127, 130, 131 Human Resources Department, 132 Humphrey, Bob, 137 Hutton, Mae, 174 Idaho Board of Nursing, 86 Idaho Forest Industries: and NIC vocational program, 88

Idaho Hall of Fame: John Owen in, 157; Rolly Williams in, 159, 161 Idaho Professional Engineers, 56 Idaho State Board of Education, 87 Idaho Team of the Year: NIC wrestling team as,

156 Idaho Vandal Babes, 150 Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), 143 lkuei Junior College, 115 Inland Northwest Library Automation Network (INLAN), 1 38 Interlake Transportation Building, 44 Ives, George, 95, 97; in Chautauqua series, 120; photo or, 190 Jacoby, Joe, 1 75 James, Ed, 60 James and Hicks (architects), 63 Japan: NIC sister colleges in, 115-16

Jaycee journal, 21, 53, 132 Jaycees (CJC basketball team), 18 Jazz Ensemble, 1 79 Jenkinson, Clay: in Chautauqua series, 120 jenny Kissed Me: production of, 55 JFAC. See Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee Job, Jane, 165 Johnson, B. J. (ASNIC vice president): quoted,

131 Johnson, Ed: and support for Senate Bill 31, 30 Johnson, Leona: photo of, 12 Johnson, Lyndon, 76; and support for higher education, 70 Johnson, Virginia Tinsley, 87; in Chautauqua series, 120; honored with William H. Meardy Faculty Member Award, 11 7-1 8 Johnston, Bob (NIJC Review editor), 57 Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC), 84, 105; and fund ing for library, 111-12 Jonas, Joe, 170, 175: bas-relief by, 176 Jones, John Paul, 142 Jones, Terry, 101, 179 Joseph, Winifred: photo of, 12 Journalism Department, 55 Jurgens, Rolly, 104; and opposition to 1% Initiative, 111 Karen Streeter Memorial Trail, 192 Keating, Warren "Squirt" (basketball coach), 152,

154, 156 Keebaugh, John, 97 Keeler, Robert, 76 Keenan, Victoria, 130; and lawsuit against Aryan Nations, 130-31 Kellogg, Noah, 174 Kelly, Lou (choral director), 170, 1 71 Kelly, Tim (ASNIC Senator): quoted, 176

201

Kempth0rne, Dirk (Idaho governor), 1 36, 139 Kennedy, John F., 73; assassination of, 75-76 Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, 175 Kenton, Stan, 75 Ketchum, Robert: and Workforce Training Program, 90, 1 08- 9 Kiehn, James, 8 Kildow, George 0. (NIJC president), 43, 44, 47, 51, 62; on bonding proposal, 62; death of, 63; photo of, 4 3; photo of (with board of trustees), 43; "Scholarship Versus Success" speech of, 61; and updating of vocational programs, 52; w ing of library dedicated to, 68 Kildow Memorial Library: photo of, 70 Kimball, Stu: and production of Mr. Roberts, 76 King, Carole, 95 Kinsey, Sonny (Vietnam War veteran), 103-4 Kitselman, Kristian: on early college enrollment, 136 Kiwanis Club (Coeur d'Alene), 15, 16 Klinger, Mona: in Chautauqua series, 1 20; photo of (as Mother Teresa), 121 Knapp, Bernie: and outreach vocational education, 90 Knudtsen, Eve, 192 Kootena i County: and support for junior co llege district, 31 Kootenai County Fairgrounds, 40, 44 Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations,

120, 130 Kootenai Tribe, 126 Korean War, 52, 59 Kranz, Grover, 96 Krause, Becky (NIJC Review editor), 73 Krider, Mari e, 51 Kruse, Robert, 3 7 Ku lm, John jay, 102 Lake City Development Corporation, 146 Lakeland High School, 1 36-37 Lau, Karin (Sentinel staff member): on Californi-

ans, 118-19 Learning Center (NIC), 90, 11 3, 121, 189 Lee, Margaret (first CJC g raduate): photo of, 20 Lee, Orrin E. ( NIJC president), 23, 25, 33, 40, 45, 192; and choice of college site, 35; Lee Hall named for, 50; photo of, 26; and pilot train;ng program, 40-41; and purchase of Merrian Park land, 42; resignation of, 43; statement of to Coeur d'Alene Press, 36-37; and struggle for col lege funding, 27- 28, 30 Lee, Terry, 1 78 Lee Hall, 50, 122; ivy on, 50, 52; photos of, 52, 54; remodeling of, 113

Legume, 53 Lemley, Jack, 193

202

Lemons to Lemonade Project, 130, 131

Lewa, 20, 23, 26, 55 Lewis, Linda: and N IC Mobile Learning Center, 89 Lewis-Clark State College, 113 Linck, Bob (basketball coach), 152, 154 Lindsay, David, 1 04 Lindsey, Holly: on 9/1 1, 143 Lutheran Student Association, 55 Lyons, Tom (support services coord inator), 135

Mae (Rarick), 174 Manley, Art: on basketball, 151; and House Bill 313, 5 1; reminiscences of, 26; and state fund ing for education, 84; and support for Senate Bill 31, 30 M anning, Jeanne (NJJC Review editor), 73 Mathematics Department, 90 M athes, Gerard, 1 01, 1 79 Mathis, Joe: and NIJC sign, 67 M ath/Science Building (Seiter Hall), 84 M attei, Len (Atwood), 163 M cAnally, Kelly (Rice), 193 McCarthyism, 57 M cCoy, Roberta: poem by, 97 McCrea, Elizabeth: photo of, 12 McDonald, Evelyn: photo of, 12 McEuen Park, 35 McFarland, John, 52, 75, 81 McHugh Building, 90. See also Fort Sherman Officers' Quarters Mcin tyre, Mrs. H. R. (Parent-Teacher Associa tion president), 16 McKim-Kizer Construction, 63 Mcl ain, Betty, 11 3, 155; and Chili Cook-off, 11 7; and dress code for women, 74; on Monroe 770 Electronic Calculator, 91; as orchestra member, 171 Mcl ain Hall, 1 70; naming of, 11 3 Mcl eod, Jim: and summer bagpipe program, 94 Mechanical Arts Building, 37, 45-46, 52; photo of, 47 Medimont (Idaho): archaeological dig in, 56 Meehan, Martin, 19 Merriam, W. E., 19 Merrian Park, 42 Merritt, Johnny: and NIJC sign, 67 Meyer, Judy and Steve: 141-42; photo of, 142 Meyer Health and Sciences Building, 139, 141; photo of, 140 A Midsummer's Night Dream: award-winning production of, 175 M ike Bundy Memorial Bench, 192 M iller, Merlin, 170, 175 M inkler, Jim: and delegation to Japan, 115 Minkler, Yoko, 115 Mission of the Sacred Heart, 4 Mission statement (NIC), 11

Mobile learning Center, 89 Moe, Bob, 1 70-71, 1 72, 1 74 Molstead, Jessie, 111 Molstead library, 111, 113, 138, 176 Molyneaux, John: and House Bill 313, 71 Monroe 770 Electronic Calculator, 91 Montage: An Introduction to the Humanities (first humanities class), 116 Mnunt;iin <itiltPS Community CollegP A~~oci ation,

92 Mr. Roberts: production of, 76 M ullan Road, 8 M urray, Bob, 141 Muscular Dystrophy Dance M arathon, 94 The Music Man: benefit performances of, 108 M yer, Wayne, 14 7 National All iance o f Two-Year College Athletic Administrators Pepsi Cup Challenge: N IC ranking in, 167 National Council licensu re Examination, 141 National Defense Education Act, 70 National Defense Student Loan, 70 National Endowment for the Humanities: and grant to NIC, 116 National Junior College Athletic Association {NJCAA), 152, 154-55, 156, 161 National League for Nursing: and accreditation or NIC nursing program, 87 National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institution), 142 National Register of Historic Places, 115 National Youth Association, 33, 37 Neale, M. G. (University of Idaho presiden t), 1 7 Neider, Clarence: and House Bill 313, 71 Nelson, Curt, 1 33 Newman Club, 55 Nez Perce Tribe, 4, 126 NIC Alumni Association. See Alumni Association {N IC) NIC Cardinals, 154, 157, 159; naming of, 149 NIC Child ren's Center. See Children's Center (NIC) NIC Public Forum (television program), 94 NICHE. See Northern Idaho Center for Higher Education NllN. See North Idaho Information Network

NJJC Review, 55, 1 32 9 /11 : impact of on college community, 14 3-44 Nine-Point Agreement, 3, 125-27, 142, 183 Nishio, ltsuko (Tuki), 98, 192 NJCAA. See National Junior College Athletic Association NJCAA Academic All-Americans, 166 NJCAA Hall of Fame: John Owen in, 15 7; Rolly Williams in, 159

NJCAA National Tournament, 159, 165 NJCAA Sweet Sixteen, 158- 59 NJCAA Wrestling Man of the Year: Pat Whitcomb honored as, 158 Noah (Rarick), 1 7 4 Nogle, Glen, 149 Northern Idaho Center for Higher Education (NICHE), 146 Northern State Bank, 108 North Idaho Chamber Orchestra, 1 71, 1 79 North Idaho Information Network (NllN): creation of, 134 North Idaho Jazz Ensemble, 101 North Idaho Junior College (NIJC), 4, 9, 49; certification of, 30- 31; choice of new site for, 35- 38; impact of Pearl Harbor on, 39; impact or sixties on, 65- 68; need for student union and dormitory at, 59- 60; opening of (1939), 31, 33, 35; renaming of, 81 North Idaho Junior College Housing Commission,

59 North Idaho Symphonic Band and Jazz Ensemble,

1 71 North Idaho Symphony Orchestra, 178, 179 Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges,

147 Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools, 63 Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC), 145, 161 Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment, 120 Northwest Community College l eague, 154 Northwest Women's Athletic Association Regional Basketball Tournament, 165 Nursing program: creation of, 86-88 NWAACC. See Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges Office or Planning, Assessment, and Research,

147 Ogg, Eva, 81 Ohio Match Company, 39 1% Initiative (Idaho State), 83, 110-11 Onstad, Preston, 51, 56 Operation Desert Storm, 102 Osterberg, David, 22 Outdoor Arts and Crafts Festival (1968), 180 Owen, John (wrestling coach), 157, 161

Pace, Mike: reminiscences of, l 03 Pack River Company, 85 Palmer, Parker (educator): visits NIC, 116 Paloose Tribe, 5 Panhandle Health District Board of Health, 93

Panhandler, 5 3 Parent-Teacher Association, 15, 16, 17

203

Parsons, Wi lma, 165 Pearl Harbor, 38 Pecha, Bill (wrestling coach), 156 Pend Oreille Tribe, 4 Penman, Richard, 67; photo of (with board of trustees), 30 Penny Lecture Series, 95 Pep Band, 1 79 Permanent Building Fund Council (Idaho State),

84 Persian Gulf War (1991 ), 102 Phi Theta Kappa, 61; founding of Delta Kappa chapter, 37 Physical Education Majors Club (PEM), l 63 Pilot Training Program, 40 Pine League, 154, 159, 163, 165 Pi schner, Don (baseball coach), 154 Point, Father Nicholas, 4 Ponderay Center, 1 35 Popcorn Forum, 18, 82, 187; founding of, 94-95; name of, 95 Potlatch Forest Industries, 36 Powell Building, 44 Presbyterian Young People's Club, 55 Press, Bill, 95 Priddy, Earl, 50, 81 Professional Technical Education facility: purchase of property for, 1 4 7

Public Forum (NIC Public Forum), 94 Quality Chapter Distinction Award: presented to NIC students, 1 35 Rae, ). ). (school superintendent), 17 Ra iney, Eldon (director of watchma king prog ram), 44 Rainey and Haugen Instrument Shop, 45 Ran kin, Ron: and 1% Initiative, 110- 11 Rarick, Tim (playwright), 174, 175 Rasque, George (architect), 36, 46, 47 Reagan, Rona ld: on tax reform, 11 1 Rea lly Big Raffle (fundraiser), 107 Reid, Bruce (track and field coach), 154 Rhinehart, Erna: on N IC Web site, 112 Ri chards, Pat: and Popcorn Forum, 94 Ricks College, 150 Risley, David, 97 Ri verstone Park, 146, 192 Robert F. Kennedy journalism Awa rd: Sentinel receives, 1 32 Roche, Kevin, 193 Rocky Mountain Collegiate Press General Excellence Awa rd: Sentinel receives, 11 7 Roosevelt, Franklin D.: and founding of CPTP,

39-40 Roper, Ludwig, 19 Rosa lia (Washington), 5

204

Rosdahl, Nils, 11 7, 191; receives College Media Advisers Distinguished Adviser Award, 132 Rose Garden of the Coeur d'Alenes: photo of,

186 Rosenberry Drive, 42 Rotary Club (Coeur d'Alene), 15 Roxy Theater, 19, 44 Ruppel, Steve: on NIC Web site, 112 Russell, Chailes H., 67; fJholo o f (wilh uo<trd of trustees), 30 Sampson, Mauri ce B.: photo of, 12 Sams, Dick: photo of, 142 Sanders Beach: privatization of, 128 Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC), 122,

145, 155, 161, 165, 166 Schenk, Steve, 104, 105, 106, 111 Schmidt, Ron, 13 7 Schooler, Homer, 171 Schuler, Barry (NIC president), 82, 91, 96, 1 01, 104, 106, 192; and Art on the Green, 180; auditorium named for, 113; and catapult contest, 97; and Early or Coordinated College Enrollment Program, 90-9 1; and evening school program, 9 1; and 1% Initiative, 83-84; and nursing program, 86; and opposition to beachfront development, 85; photos of, 82, 83; and remedial education program, 90; resignation of, 99; on "Tuki" ( ltsuko Nishio), 98 Schuler, Ruth, 82 Schuler Performing Arts Center, 1 79 Schultz, Steve, 1 78 Scott, Victoria (Jaycee journal ~xchange editor),

21 Seiter, Edward A., 67, 84; photo of (with board of trustees), 30; photo of at Seiter Cannery,

57 Seiter Cannery: photo of students at, 57 Seiter Hall, 84 Seltice, Joe (Coeur d'Alene tribal ch ief), 19 Seltice, Regina ld And rew, 19 Senate Bill 31 ( re funding of junior colleges), 28 Sentinel, 55; garners awards, 11 7, 1 32 1706 Front Street (Rarick) 174 Shee-Chu-Umsch (name of Coeur d'Alene Tribe), 4 Sherman, General Wi lliam, 6 Sherman Avenue: photo of, 7 Sherman School, 11 3, 190 Shirley Lorene and the Dream Factory (rock group): at N IC, 99 Shoshone-Bannock Tribe, 126 Shoshone-Paiute Tribe, 126 Siebert Building, 1 70, 189 Sijohn, Frank, 185 Sijohn, Henry, 125

Silver Valley Center (NIC), 136 Singletary, Bob, 169, 171-72, 178; photo of, 173 Six Words from a Shakespeare Soliloquy (Mathes),

SUBversion (column in NIJC Review), 76 SWAC (Scenic West Athletic Conference), 122,

179 Ski Club, 55

Sylte, Judith (Judy): and humanities program, 116-1 7; on Persian Gulf War, 103 Symphonic Band, 1 79

Smith, Hugh "Olin": photo of, 186 Smylie, Robert (Idaho governor), 59 Snyder, Duke: and catapult contest, 97; on Persian Gulf War, 1 02-3 Snyder, Todd, 108, 178, 179 Society of Professional Journalists: awards Mark of Excellence to Sentinel, 1 32 Sonnichsen, George, 18; photo of, 12 Southern Poverty Law Center: and lawsuit against Aryan Nations, 130 South Korea: NIC sister colleges in, 115-16 Spanish Club, 55 Spohn, Imogene: photo of, 12 Spokane Falls and Idaho Rai lroad, 8 Spokane Symphony 101 Spokane Tribe 4, 5

14~ 15~

161,

16~

166

Tax Commission Property Tax Analysis (Idaho State): and 1% Initiative (1996), 111 Taylor, Bret (head coach), 165 Telford, Harold "Telly" (basketball coach), 18,

149 Templin, Bob, 59

The Thirteenth Choir: 1934 production of, 19 This Child (Rarick), 175 Thompsen, Edward: photo of, 12 Thompson, Thom: and production of Mr. Roberts,

76 Tinsley, Virginia (Virginia Tinsley Johnson), , 116, 118; and Trestle Creek Review, 98 Title IX (of 1972 Education Amendments), 122,

162, 165, 190 Sponsors Club (Coeur d'Alene College Sponsors Club), 23, 187 Sprague, Don: and catapult contest, 97 State Advisory Committee for Vocational Education, 63 State Board Test Pool Examinations for Registered Nurse Licensure: NIC student scores on, 87 State Program of the Year: awarded to outreach vocational program, 90 State Student Incentive Grant, 83 Stensgar, Ernie, 125; photo of, 126 Stephens, Drew, 1 37 Steptoe, Colonel Edward, 5 Steve, Jack, 180 Steve, Liz, 180 Stevens, Isaac I. (Idaho governor), 8 Stewart, Tony, 97; and Chautauqua series, 120; and Committee to Save the Beach, 85; and Human Equality Club, 127; and Kootenai County Task Force, 120; and Muscular Dystrophy Dance Marathon, 93- 94; on 1% Initiative, 84; and Popcorn Forum, 94-95; on Saddam Hussein, 103 Stimson Lumber Company, 146 Stone, John, 192 Stone, Raymond, 75, 84, 156, 191; as city councilman, 93; on funding for junior colleges, 93; and NIJC sign, 67 Story of the Year award: Sentinel receives, 117 Strategic Plan, 1 20 Strategic Planning Committee, 133 Streeter, Karen, 93, 192 Students for Progressive Change, 128 SUB (Edminster Student Union Building), 58, 60,

68, 70, 131

Toyota Award: presented to NIC athletes, 145 Treasure Island: adaptation of by Tim Rarick, 174

Trestle Creek Review, 98, 181 Tritten, Dale, 142 Tubbs Hill, 35, 128 Tuki (ltsuko Nishio), 98, 192 Union Gallery, 102, 176 United Way: and Chili Cook-off, 11 7 University of Chicago, 14 University of Idaho, 1 7, 25, 28; and accreditation of Coeur d'Alene Junior College courses, 21-22; and NIC library/computer center,

112-13 Upchurch, Jim (Financial Aid director), 83 Urbans, Freddy (Colombian farmer), 181 U.S. Forest Service, 42 U.S. Office of Education, 70 Varnum, Walter M., 46 Veterans Club, 55 Vietnam War, 65, 67, 76; economic impact of, 83; veterans of, 78 Vocational Education Bill, 70 Vocational Education Act (1963), 88 Vogt, Allie, 1 76, 177 Wagner, Walt (jazz pianist): al NIC, 99 War Training Service (WTS), 40, 42 Watchmaking program, 44-45; photo of students, 45 Webb, Josephine (Jo): and purchase of beachfront property, 85; photo of, 86 Webster, William: and House Bill 313, 71 Weeks Field, 40, 41, 45

205

Weenig, Paul (Nl/C Review reporter), 75 Wendt, G. 0.: photo of (with board of trustees), 30 Wendt, jerry (business manager): as orchestra member, 172 West, Robert: photo of, 174 Western Interstate Commission for High Education (WICHE), 92 Western Library Network (WLN), 1 38 Wheeler, Candace: and Department of Distance Education, 134-35, 136-37 Whitcomb, Pat (wrestling coach), 157-58; defeats Soviet national champion, 158 Whitla, E. R., 16 Whitney Business College, 18 WICHE. See Western Interstate Commission for High Education Wild Game Feast (Alumni Association fundraiser), 11 O; photo, 109 Wilkenson, Albert, 181 Wilkie, Sergeant, 181 Wi llard, James: photo of, 12 Wi lliam H. Meardy Faculty Member Award,

Wilson, Gar: and win against Cheney Papooses,

152 Winton Building, 87 Winton Lumber Company, 35, 37, 42 Winton Park, 35, 36; transfer of deed to, 37 WLN. See Western Library Network Women's Ath letic Association of the North Idaho junior College, 155 Wood, Sheila: reminiscences of, 119; on Ron Bell,

129 Woodard, Shelley: on aftermath of 9/11, 144 Woodward, Vic (coach), 161 Workforce Training Center, l 09, 112, 136 Workforce Training Program, 90, 1 08-9 Works Progress Administration, 27 World Trade Center, 143 World War II, 35, 38, 49, 73 Wray, George, 1 78 Wright, Fay (Art on the Green), 180 Wright, Colonel George, 5-6 WTS. See War Training Service Wyckman, Mildred, 37

117- 18 Williams, Al, 145, 166 Williams, Darnell, 126-27 Williams, Don Don {softball coach), 165 Williams, Roland "Rolly," 154- 55, 161 , 166; honors bestowed on, 159; photo of, 161; retirement of, 122

206

Yakima Tribe, 5 Yap-Keehn-Um, 3, 49, 183, 185, 187 Yap-Keehn-Um Beach, 184 Yap-Keehn-Um Powwow, 9, 127, 169, 184 Yates, Dexter, 75

delight in the story of the college's past decadesits struggles as well as its triumphs. But The

Gathering Place also deserves a place on the required reading list of all North Idaho residents, new and old, who wish to understand the vital symbiotic relationship that has developed between North Idaho College and the surrounding communities.

The theme of the "gathering place" is a legacy of the Coeur d'Alene Indians. The land on which the college now stands was once their summertime camp, where the Coeur d'Alene joined with other tribes in celebrations, games, and other activities. The tribe's tradition has inspired the mission and goals of North Idaho College, from the time of its inception through to the present day.

Born in Lajara, Colorado, on the cusp of the Eisenhower years, Fran Bahr has taught English at North Idaho College since 1982. In addition to writing frequently about the Northwest, she was a coauthor of aviator Gladys Buroker's memorable account Wind in

My Face:

The Story of Gladys Dawson Buroker, Wing Walker, Parachute Jumper, Balloonist, and Pilot Extraordinaire. A dedicated teacher, Bahr nonetheless looks forward to her retirement years, which will allow her the opportunity to pursue another abiding interest- the fine arts.

ISBN 978 - 0 - 98152 10 - 0 - 8

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