EXHIBITS
Intermountain Indian School: Becoming Intermountain Inter-Tribal School
Becoming Intermountain Inter-Tribal School
By the early 1970s, enrollment had been falling at Intermountain, and some Native American leaders had expressed concerns about the way the school was managed or the quality of the education provided there. This led to a series of studies and reports about Intermountain. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) finally decided to make changes to the school, the most notable being to open the school up to members of all Native nations.
In the 1974–1975 school year, Intermountain Indian School became Intermountain Inter-Tribal School. Students from many Native nations enrolled, coming from as far away as the Great Lakes and Florida. Some of these various nations had a long history of animosity, and during the first year of integration, fights broke out among the students, at one point resulting in a riot.
Over time, however, the students began to make friends from different nations. This helped to strengthen their understanding of their place as Native Americans in the larger picture of America and to grow the Pan-Indian movement uniting Native peoples from across the country in their campaign for better treatment and equal rights.