The College of Eastern Utah-San Juan Campus recently celebrated 20 years of service to the community.
Festivities included an opening ceremony, art demonstrations, lectures on the history of the Navajo, poetry and essay readings, American Indian entertainment and a panel discussion on the genesis and history of the college.The fledgling campus has grown from aspirations to reality, and is literally a dream come true for many longtime residents. The celebration not only recognized the school's past accomplishments, but highlighted hopes for the school's future.
For many, the concept of a college here was initiated a century ago. At that time, 34-year-old Walter C. Lyman sat on the seat of a buckboard, intently studying the land around him. The wagon squeaked as the horses shifted, restlessly pawing the hard, sage-gnarled ground. A September sun cast shadows under the pinion trees, stunted in their growth by lack of water.
Lyman was atop what the Mormon pioneers called White Mesa, a high desert mesa averaging 5 miles in width and 20 miles in length. Located in the middle of San Juan County, the Utes who occasionally traversed it referred to it as "Thick Cedars." Navajos that lived to the south poetically referred to it as "Amidst the Sagebrush."
The closest source of water ran in adjoining canyons, scarce and unreliable.
As Lyman examined the mesa, he felt impressed with what would evolve there in the future. He later recorded in his journal: "I was given the impression that there would be a town established there, and saw in vision the exact place on which it should be built."
Driven by this vision, Lyman returned to the mesa within days, carrying a crude surveying device. He surveyed the land, forged roadways and eventually built a ditch to access the canyon-locked water.
Work on the project was suspended when Lyman and others interested in the town site were called to serve full-time missions for the LDS Church.
As Lyman often spoke of the town he had envisioned, he declared it would never become an industrial center. He foresaw a fair-size city whose main purpose was to be an educational and cultural center, especially for the native Navajos and Utes in the area. He maintained that anyone coming to Blanding for the sole purpose of gaining wealth would be disappointed and move away.
Walter Lyman's nephew, Albert R. Lyman, was the first to bring his young family to the mesa, on April 2, 1905. His tent was pitched on what has become the center of present day Blanding. The extent of his belief in his uncle's vision may be manifest by his efforts to bring education to the native tribes of the area.
In 1944 he and his wife, Gladys, "resolved to get the opportunity of schooling for the Indian children around Blanding."
The LDS Church appropriated $500, and locals contributed money, labor and materials to construct a building. When completed, "Olta" - the Navajo word for school - was visited by LDS Church President George Albert Smith, and Elders Spencer W. Kimball and Matthew Cowley. This school operated for five years before the children were integrated into the established county schools.
After working to establish the community and serving as a state representative, Walter Lyman died in 1943.
Yet his dream continued to unfold and blossom. Just as life-giving water resources were gradually developed, life-enhancing educational opportunities were carefully cultivated. Both were treasured in the little community that struggled against drought and isolation. As the community grew, so did residents' thirst for more education.
In the late 1960s, the Utah Navajo Development Council led efforts to establish college-level courses, offered from a Blanding base. Classes designed for a Licensed Practical Nurse degree were offered first, initially taught in the living room of a local home.
Other early offerings focused on helping students obtain teaching certificates. Although Navajo students were sought after, the classes were open to all county residents.
By 1976, things had progressed to a point that the San Juan Community College Advisory Board was formed, with the College of Eastern Utah acting as an independent agent coordinating programs.
Upper division classes were adopted from any institution willing to offer them. At that time, Brigham Young University's Continuing Education program had been offering classes for eight years. The University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University and Southern Utah University would all eventually be involved in bringing higher education to San Juan County.
Like an orphan being passed from relative to relative until raised enough to be independent, the little upstart from Blanding gratefully received any passing notice from its benefactors.
The first full year of classes from the College of Eastern Utah-San Juan Center was offered in 1977. The first full-time employee was hired the next year, as was the first full-time faculty member.
From the beginning, it was deemed imperative that the college reach out to potential students in their own communities. Dedicated instructors drove lonely, dark hours to reach distant classrooms located on the Navajo Reservation. Through the years, every eligible resident in the county has been provided access to higher education - including locations such as Navajo Mountain, two marinas on Lake Powell, the county jail, and even mining camps.
The college found a permanent home in 1982, with the acquisition of a 6,000-square-foot building on 21/2 acres. The building just happened to be adjacent to BLM land, and that agency has provided land for the growing college campus.
The campus now consists of nine buildings, including three instructional buildings, two dormitories and a cafeteria. An Arts and Conference Center is presently being planned. The college campus also borders Nation of the Four Corners Cultural Center.
Unconventional from the outset, the CEU-San Juan Campus has reached many individuals who would not have otherwise considered a college education. In the past, students were primarily "non-traditional" - American Indians, women and older students taking night classes. The first official graduating class of CEU-SJC was in 1980 and consisted of 12 women. The 1981 graduating class of 21 was again all female.
In the past decade, the school has evolved into a more conventional college campus, appealing to newly graduated high school students. Current enrollment is 500 students - some 60 percent are female, and 50 percent are American Indian. Student makeup reflects the demographics of the college service area. The school also has 53 full-time employees.
The 1997 graduating class was the second largest with 99 graduates. Nearly half of all graduates have been American Indian. Many have continued on to obtain bachelor's degrees and are now nurses, teachers, counselors and social workers.
The ethnic cultural mix found on the San Juan campus has fostered friendship, understanding and greater appreciation among students and faculty for a variety of cultures.
CEU President Grace Sawyer Jones acknowledges the mission of the San Juan Campus. She calls the faculty "romantic" and then explains, "I say romantic because they love the land; they love what they are doing, and they love with whom they are doing it."
Walter C. Lyman's vision in the desert has become a town of 4,000, now serving as a center of culture and education.