Colleges: Pride of the Reservation

They came in dusty pickup trucks and rattling secondhand cars. Old women in velveteen skirts and turquoise bracelets filed nervously past young men in tight Levi's, sunglasses and cowboy boots. Trim coeds talked with old men in shabby clothes and tall black felt hats. Judged by any criterion—age, dress or deportment—the student body that recently turned up for the opening of the Navaho Community College at Many Farms, Ariz., was as varied as could be found on any campus in the U.S.

Tribal elders were there because they wanted to learn the history of their Navaho ancestors. Others wanted to learn...

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