Ore. community college to open new longhouse

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) _ A journey that took almost 20 years will reach its end on Friday, when Lane Community College officially opens the doors to its new longhouse.

For those who have made the full trip, and even those who only have been along for the 41/2 years since construction began, the $1.6 million building may prove that good things do indeed come to those who wait.

``The whole thing is just absolutely beyond anybody's imagination,'' said Wilma Crowe, a Lakota elder who perhaps has waited longest for the new building. ``It's absolutely beautiful.''

People will be able to make their own judgment on Friday. The program begins with an open house at 10 a.m. and a grand opening ceremony at 11 a.m., followed by refreshments and tours. The longhouse is on LCC's main campus on East 30th Avenue, just west of the new Health and Wellness Center.

The building's long gestation period cost LCC the chance to have the first Native American longhouse at a community college in the nation, giving Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Wash., time to finish first. But with its open fir and cedar log beams, hand-hewn cedar planking and generous skylights, the 6,200-square-foot building stands among the best college longhouses in the country, school and tribal officials say.

``It feels like a sacred space. When you walk in the door, it just feels like a welcoming, safe, hospitable place,'' LCC President Mary Spilde said.

The building's centerpiece is its great room, a large open space framed by rough-hewn logs. Off that is the Hall of Honor, a small rotunda with a display case for each of the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon.

It also has a large kitchen for potlucks, ceremonies and other events, as well as two deep fryers outdoors for making fry bread. Outside is a water feature, a brick-lined story circle and a long fire pit for traditional salmon smoking.

Local elder Frank Merrill suggested the project in the early 1990s, and the college formally committed to it in 1995. But it wasn't until 2002 that the LCC Board pledged $250,000 to get the project started, and groundbreaking didn't happen until 2006.

Raising money was a slow process, Spilde said, but another reason it took so long to build the longhouse was the traditional methods used in its construction. Cedar planks were cut by hand using wood wedges and tree-branch hammers; cedar logs used in roof beams were hand-peeled.

The logs were cut from tribal lands in Oregon and donated by area tribes, and seven tribes made other gifts to the project as well. Overall, the college raised $470,000 in donations and in-kind gifts for the project.

In addition to the $250,000 pledged by the college, LCC students have donated almost $600,000 through a $3-per-term fee approved in 2006 and renewed in 2009.

That still leaves the college about $300,000 short. It will use money from its capital improvement budget to cover the gap, with the money being repaid from additional fundraising and the student fee.

``I'm so proud of our students that they thought this was something they want to contribute to,'' Spilde said. ``Honestly, without the students doing that, it would have been very, very tough to get it done.''

The building will be used for LCC's ethnic studies, Native American studies and American Indian language classes. It has modern teleconferencing and audio-visual equipment so it can share programs with tribal centers around the state.

The longhouse also will be used for community events and native ceremonies. It will be on display this weekend when LCC hosts its annual powwow, which is one of the largest in the Northwest.

LCC has 621 students who list themselves as Native American. That's almost three times as many as at the University of Oregon and one of the largest Native American enrollments at a community college in the country.

Spilde said the longhouse is important because it offers Native American students a way to connect to their culture and provides a window to that culture for non-Indians. College enrollment among American Indians is one of the lowest of any ethnic group, and the difficulty of adjusting to college life is cited as a major factor.

``The longhouse will provide that kind of connection to culture and learning,'' Spilde said. ``For all the others that will use the space, it introduces them or connects them to a culture that may be different than their own, and that understanding of different cultures is really key to being successful as part of a team, as part of a workplace, as part of a community.''

Aside from that, Spilde said the building simply is a warm and attractive addition to campus. She said its wood tones and open design give it a different feeling from other buildings and make worth the wait.

``It's been a long road, but it was one worth walking,'' she said.

``When you walk in the door, it just feels like a welcome, safe, hospitable place.''

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Information from: The Register-Guard,
http://www.registerguard.com