All Things Being Equal

Spring/Summer 2005

A $20,000 scholarship endowment has been established at Cal State San Bernardino to honor one of the most prominent figures in the long history of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians – Dora Joyce Prieto. The endowment, which has grown from its initial $10,000 gift to $20,000, was created to help disadvantaged students who demonstrate financial need. Prieto’s family would like to raise more money to bring the scholarship to at least $100,000.

The mother of eight children, Prieto is described by her family and friends as a woman of quiet strength and irrepressible spirit. She was born Dora Joyce Welmas on Jan. 9, 1936, in Palm Springs. She attended Riverside Poly High School and in the evenings worked in the kitchen at Riverside Community Hospital. In 1953, at the age of 17, she graduated from high school and became the first woman from the Agua Caliente Band to attend college, graduating in 1955 with a degree in business from Riverside College, now known as Riverside Community College.

In the 1950s, with very little funding, and at times using their own money, Prieto and a small group of women made several trips to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress on behalf of the tribe. Their objective was to extend the terms of their five-year land leases and ask for equalization of value for all reservation land. In 1959, the same year that she was voted in as secretary and treasurer of the tribal council, Congress passed the Equalization Act, which equalized the property value of allottees and set aside several tribal reserves, including two tribal cemeteries and the Mineral Hot Springs in downtown Palm Springs. With this came something that had never occurred in the history of the United States: a long-term lease agreement for up to 99 years. The result spawned years of economic development, from the Spa Hotel to the recent opening of the Agua Caliente Casino.

In August of 2000, Dora was diagnosed with terminal cancer. This, however, did not slow her down. She continued to work on the scholarship program and enrollment ordinances from her hospital bed. She died later that year at the age of 64.

Preference for scholarships will be given to students majoring in anthropology and who show an interest in museum activities. Though Prieto lived in the Coachella Valley, the scholarship is for students at both the San Bernardino and Palm Desert campuses.

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