CCC Names New Student Services Center After Clackamas Treaty Signer (Photo) -01/27/21

CORRECTION – The Treaty signer known as “old man Wacheno” that the welcome center is being named after is Dan Wacheno. His son, also a well-respected member of the Clackamas tribe, was John Wacheno.

OREGON CITY – Clackamas Community College is honoring the people whose land the college’s Oregon City campus resides on by naming its new student services center the Wacheno Welcome Center. The CCC Board of Education approved the name at its Jan. 20 meeting.

The new building will house most of the college’s student services, including advising, enrollment, financial aid, testing and placement services, and education partnerships. Though the college wanted the Wacheno Welcome Center to be easily identifiable for students as an obvious place to get started, there was also a desire to demonstrate inclusivity in this building and to honor those who were on this land prior to the college.

Early last year the college conducted face-to-face interactions, surveys, and presentations with students, CCC employees, and the CCC Board of Education to explore what resonated most with the college community. One well-supported suggestion was to name the building after Chief John Wacheno, who signed the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 on behalf of the Clackamas people and was later removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation.

A cohort from CCC met with the Grand Ronde Tribal Council with the proposal to name the building after Wacheno and received their full support. The Tribe has a long history with the college having been involved in its Environmental Learning Center, collaborating on art projects, as well as attending conferences and summits on the college’s campuses.

In a letter to CCC President Tim Cook, Cultural Resources Manager David Harrelson wrote, “Naming the Welcome Center after the Wacheno family not only honors the first people of the land that Clackamas Community College sits on. It also follows the traditional cultural customs of the Clackamas as the indigenous people of this place. These customs include the obligations of the people of a place to be good hosts by welcoming and caring for their guests. Naming the Welcome Center after the Wacheno family allows for this cultural teaching to be represented on the college campus named after the people and customs it will honor.”

“I am honored to affirm our ties to the Clackamas people, of which the college is named after,” Cook said. “I look forward to continuing our relationship with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and educating our students about the Native Americans who lived on these lands before us. I also want to acknowledge that the Cascades and Tumwater bands of Chinooks, as well as the Tualatin and Pudding River bands of Kalapuya and the Northern Molalla people also shared the land where our campuses are located.”

The construction of the Wacheno Welcome Center is part of a $90-million bond voters approved in 2014. This project also includes the remodeling of the Bill Brod Community Center and is expected to be completed this summer. 

To learn more about CCC’s bond projects, visit www.clackamas.edu/bondinformation. For a live webcam of construction of the Wacheno Welcome Center, visit http://dwpwebcams.com/sscc/. 

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