 At a time of rising American Indian activism, the college was founded to provide alternative ideas and methods of education to Native American and Chicano students.Among its goals were to preserve and strengthen traditional Native American values, practice and protect Native American religion and beliefs, establish a Native American Research Institute, develop field-based systems to provide education to Native Americans who could not attend classes at the campus, and maintain social and personal support systems for D-Q students and staff.Founded in 1971, D-Q was the only college in California founded by and for Native Americans.