San Diego City College, which is developing a Native American and Indigenous Studies department, plans to launch the program in the fall semester of 2025, according to school officials.
In the last academic year, 24 students at City College identified as American Indian/Alaskan Native, the latest San Diego Community College District's report shows. That's less than 1% of the school's student population.
When John Bathke was an undergraduate at Yale in the late 1980s, he founded the first Native student organization on Yale's campus.
Bathke, who is Diné, a member of the Navajo Nation, was motivated by his experiences being among only a handful of Native students and not having enough class choices that addressed Indigenous issues. Now, though, he looks back at his alma mater with pride.
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Since Bathke created the Association of Native Americans at Yale — known these days as the Native and Indigenous Student Association at Yale — the college has increased its number of annually admitted Native students and expanded resources for them with a Native American Cultural Center and additional courses in Indigenous studies.
When City College offered Bathke an assistant professor position in February that included the responsibility of developing the college’s Native American and Indigenous Studies department, he immediately jumped on board.
“This is an opportunity for me again to establish an Indigenous presence, at City College, and to create a brand new program," he told NBC 7. "I know what it’s like to not have a Native American Studies program. I know what it’s like to not have Native professors. I want to create a better environment than I had at the college level.”
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San Diego County has 18 federally-recognized Native American reservations, which is more than any other county in the U.S. Bathke said, given that context, City College is uniquely positioned with opportunities for service.
"The better that a San Diego community college can prepare its Native students, I think the better it will help the local Indian communities," he said. "Part of my goal is to, hopefully, translate this education into helping."
City College's campus sits on ancestral Kumeyaay land, which stretches north to Oceanside, south to Ensenada in Baja California and to Mexicali to the east.
"There's a lot of ignorance or miseducation about this land," Bathke said. "A lot of students who go to City College may not know they're on Kumeyaay land. The more they can learn about the Kumeyaay, the better."
City College President Ricky Shabazz has a bachelor’s degree in Native American Studies from the University of California, Davis. For him, the creation of the department will "ensure that the stories of the Kumeyaay's contributions to the region live on for future generations to learn," he said, in part, in a statement to NBC 7.
"Launching the college's Native American Studies department aligns with the college's work toward social justice and educational equity," Shabazz continued.
Bathke said the department's relationship with the Kumeyaay should exist at many levels. He plans to incorporate examples, case studies and analyses of the Kumeyaay experience into the curriculum.
"We need to share and benefit from their knowledge, so the more that we can involve their culture carriers, their elders and their tribal leaders in our discussions and our dialogues and our events, I think the richer we will be as a program and as a college," Bathke said.
Derrick Herrera, a fourth-year political science and American Indian Studies student at San Diego State University, has familial ties to the Kumeyaay Nation and the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, which occupies a reservation in Valley Center. He said Bathke's approach seems like a step in the right direction.
"Building relationships with the Kumeyaay Nation will help so much, especially when approaching subjects of research," Herrera said. "It’s always important to listen to what tribes find respectful and not cross boundaries."
Bathke is currently developing courses he refers to as the “foundation for Native American studies,” which include Introduction to Native American and Indigenous Studies, Federal Indian Law and Indigenous Spirituality.
“A lot of other American Indian Studies programs at four-year institutions will have similar courses like this,” Bathke explained. “It makes it easier for the student who is wanting to further their education with American Indian Studies to transfer to another institution.”
Because City College is a part of the California Community Colleges system, Bathke said the curriculum proposals must go through a district and state process.
At this time, the courses are still in the approval stage and are expected to be offered in the fall semester of 2025.
Herrera, who is part of the Native American Student Alliance at SDSU, shared that learning through an Indigenous lens has helped him and his peers feel visible and validated. He has high hopes for what the program will do for students at City College.
"In the coming years, I anticipate that more Native students will see the Native American and Indigenous Studies program at City College as a place they are welcome, seen and understood," Herrera said. "Disciplines in college create communities in academia, and this one is bound to do the same with future Native students."
