Fort Lewis College

The college's board of trustees appointed Heather Shotton as the first Indigenous president of the Durango-based institution. Fort Lewis has a complicated history with Native Americans, as it was a federal Indian boarding school from 1892 to 1909.

The College's Board of Trustees voted unanimously to confirm Heather Shotton as the sole finalist to be the college’s new president. Shotton is a citizen of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and a Kiowa and Cheyenne descendant. She is currently the vice president of diversity affairs and acting dean of students.

Officials at Fort Lewis College in Durango, where more than half of the student body consists of minorities, say they're committed to maintaining their mission and messaging around diversity. Yet, the college is reserved about how it would respond to losing federal funding as a result of its efforts to promote diversity.

In 2024, KSUT partnered with the Four Corners Water Center at Fort Lewis College to host the Tribal Water Media Fellowship. Eleven young people explored the connection to water for themselves, their communities, and their cultures.

At Fort Lewis, nearly half of the current student population identifies as Indigenous. With the report out, the school’s attention is on figuring out how to offer time and space for students to process the information and heal.

Over the next year, History Colorado, a nonprofit and an agency under the state’s department of higher education, will investigate the experiences, abuse and deaths of students at the former Fort Lewis Indian School near Durango.

Fort Lewis College was closed as a precaution after threats of violence were made on social media. By noon, the college sent a campus alert advising students to shelter in place.

Internship program hones lessons taught by parents and grandparents as students learn the role food, housing, language and ritual play in contemporary human rights struggles.

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday that would make Juneteenth a legal public holiday. KSUT’s Sarah Flower spoke with Tarecka Payne,…

Colorado Governor Jared Polis made his way around the southwestern part of the state this weekend including visits to Durango, the Southern Ute Indian…