Page 26 - 2022 August Report

August Report 2022
Memo on President Shortbull’s retirement
July 8, 2022
By: Richard Williams, Indigenous Program Consultant
I had the honor of attending Thomas Shortbull’s retirement celebration. Prior to the celebration, I was invited to participate in a “Itanchan Kicicaga”, a ceremony for the making of a Chief. This was a rare opportunity, and it was only the second time in my life.
Two of our most distinguished Lakota elders, Richard Moves Camp and Joe American Horse, recommended that Tom be made a Chief.
In the ceremony, there are four people who are selected to speak on behalf of Tom’s accomplishments, and I was honored to be one of those four people. I chose to compare his work using our traditional manner.
I recalled a time when I visited the Piya Wiconi Campus, and the staff was feeding the students. I learned that many students had been having a hard time financially and many had little or no money for food. Tom stepped up and fed the people.
Another time while visiting I learned that students were having difficulties with transportation. A long time ago, a great leader would have provided horses for the people. That is what Tom did when he created a bus transportation system for the students and others.
Another time the Tribe was having problems with the Head Start program and they were about to lose the program because of poor management. Our children are called Wakanyesan, Sacred Little Ones.
Again, Tom came forward to help and took charge of the Head Start program and saved it for our precious little ones. That is what great leaders do.
Great leaders think about the future welfare of the people and that was what Tom did when he started the endowment program at the College. His “vision” and actions were always done to help the people. That is why the elder leaders made him a Chief, the highest honor among our people.
The ceremony was blessed by Wakan Tanka, the Creator, and the Wakinyan, the Sacred Thunder Being Spirits. All through the ceremony the dark clouds swirled around and the thunder beings spoke. The threat of a great storm was eminent. When I spoke and throughout the ceremony, the skies were filled with lightning and the thunder being’s voices quietly rumbled from the sky. I said that this was natural for Tom, because his career was filled with storms, and now in a very special way the spirits were honoring Tom. When we finished the ceremony there was a gentle warm rain that was a sign of a good blessing. We all witnessed something mystical and spiritual.
The next day we all gathered at the powwow grounds to honor Tom and the beginning of his retirement. Many people came and spoke of his accomplishments during his 31-year tenure as the president of the Oglala Lakota College. The list of accomplishments was extraordinary, enough to fill six typewritten pages. There were fellow students from high school that spoke of a school that no longer exists, but during Tom’s time there they won the state championship in baseball. His teammate noted that he was the best third baseman in the school’s history.
When it was my time to speak, I told the story about how Tom was the very first American Indian to speak about Sovereignty and higher education. It was a difficult time when the Tribal Colleges and Universities were in their infancy, and funding was scarce and their legitimacy as higher educational institutions was being challenged by our own people. The National Congress of American Indians and the Tribal Chairman’s Association,alongwiththeBureauofIndianAffairs,allquestionedtheneedforTribalColleges. Duringthe heated debates and confusing testimony, Tom’s message was brilliant and clear.
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