Oklahoma City, Muskegoe
Bacone College’s hallways are chilly and dim. There are no lectures in the main hall, only the quiet hum of the space heater keeping the offices for administration warm.This semester, there are no courses here, but there is still work to be done. There are leaks to fix, mold to get rid of, and valuable Native American art pieces to keep from falling apart in the college’s historic buildings. Not to mention coming up with a strategy to prevent the college from closing permanently. For the nine surviving staff members, it’s an intimidating undertaking.
However, the president of the college is running a DoorDash order this wet December morning. Regarding compensation, Interim President Nicky Michael stated, “If we have the money, we can pay.”
Originally established in 1880 as an assimilation-focused Baptist missionary college, Bacone College evolved into an Indigenous-led establishment that offered degrees along with an intertribal community. Bacone’s founders invoked a treaty right to establish the college at the confluence of three rivers, where tribal tribes had been gathering for decades, with authorization from the Muscogee Nation Tribal Council.
In the 20th century, Bacone’s Native American art department served as the focal point for this, turning out some of the most significant Indigenous painters of the day, such as Woody Crumbo, Fred Beaver, Joan Hill, and Ruthe Blalock Jones.
They expanded the definition of “Native American art,” as did their contemporaries. Bacone became known for the intellectual engagement that its Native instructors and students fostered during a time when the United States was at its most hostile to tribal sovereignty. This exchange offered a fresh perspective on Indigenous education and academic philosophy.
As a Cherokee and Muscogee man who attended Bacone in the 1970s and taught silversmithing there in the 1990s, Robin Mayes said, “Bacone was the only place in the world where that could happen for Native people.” “To think that it will be discontinued is tragic.”
Poor financial decisions and erratic leadership have beset the college for decades, creating a rift between staff, students, and administration over the institution’s mission and cultural orientation.
Numerous lawsuits have been filed as a result of allegations of embezzlement, fraud, and intimidation made against recent administrations. Pupils bemoaned the lack of resources and cultural sensitivity of certain school administrators. Additionally, the college has struggled to keep its accreditation.
A lawsuit broke Bacone’s bank account last year. Michael ultimately decided to halt instruction for the upcoming spring semester. Although she thinks the delay is only temporary, Oklahoma’s longest continuously running college will probably close its doors if it is unable to raise millions of dollars.
“It has persevered for more than 140 years due to horrible choices,” Gerald Cournoyer, an educator employed in 2019 to revive the college’s artistic curriculum, stated.
Renowned Lakota artist Cournoyer added, “Providing oversight for Bacone has been a struggle because of the leadership or lack thereof.” While some presidents prioritized athletic programs and funding, others paid attention to Bacone’s Baptist missionary background. “This is what you get when you put absolutely no money—not $20, not $10—into your fundraising efforts.”
From 2012 until 2018, Patti Jo King served as the director of the Center for American Indians at Bacone. During her tenure, the organization’s leadership aimed to construct a modern museum to replace the 80-year-old structure that housed numerous valuable Native art works.
We didn’t even have the funds to keep it open seven days a week,” remarked King, a retired scholar, writer, and professor from Cherokee.
As of her arrival on university, King claimed that Bacone’s obligations had already caught up with her. The college’s remaining students had dismal graduation rates, the staff was grossly underpaid, and the dorms lacked hot water.
Despite their best efforts, she and other faculty members failed to create a community for Native students, and Bacone’s past issues persisted. Like Cournoyer, she departed in frustration having spent years trying to restore.
The old museum is deserted these days. In order to protect them from harsh weather, the items within were relocated.
The remaining employees look after the historic stone buildings, which date back before Oklahoma and are significant historical sites in and of themselves. Stones from Indigenous tribes across the nation, including those from Sequoyah’s birthplace, Sitting Bull’s tomb, and the site where Custer died, are used to make the fireplace in the museum Ataloa Lodge. All five hundred stones, each representing a memory.
In the hopes of hosting student gatherings and graduation banquets in the near future, Michael, the acting president, and others have been tidying up structures. Staff members chase away robbers. A number of rare paintings, including works by the Kiowa Six, who rose to fame a century ago, and by Johnnie Diacon, a Muscogee painter and alumni whose paintings can be seen in the background of multiple episodes of the television series Reservation Dogs, are still hanging throughout campus.
A few years back, specialists at a Tulsa museum issued a warning, claiming that a large number of the paintings were tainted with mildew, which may spread to other surrounding artwork. A mound of debt, burst gas lines, and flooded basements are far more pressing concerns than the cost of repairing them, according to Cherokee educator Leslie Hannah, a member of the college’s board of trustees.
A lawsuit filed by Utah-based heating and air company Midgley-Huber Energy Concepts against the college for nearly $1 million in unpaid construction and service fees is partly to blame for Bacone’s current financial predicament. The Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office auctioned off Bacone’s property twice last year in an effort to pay off the debt. The most recent cancellation of the auction occurred in December.
Chris Oberle, the owner of MHEC, informed KOSU last month that he planned to buy the historic site. The Associated Press has repeatedly asked for comments from MHEC’s attorneys, but they have not responded.
Alumni have questioned whether any property transaction is legitimate, citing the
the site and its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places were established by treaty rights. Citing the pending dispute, college attorneys declined to comment.
Although Michael is thankful for more time to try to save Bacone, she said she is unsure of what caused the auction to stall.
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