David Arapene Cuch
When David Arapene Cuch unexpectedly died in 2007 at the age of 28, he was a law student at the U and was believed to be the first, and to this day the only, member of the Ute tribe to enroll in the S.J. Quinney College of Law. He died two months before Commencement and received his juris doctorate posthumously that same year.
The Stolen Horse Drum is moved to a location near the law school for the dedication of a plaque honoring the memory of David Cuch.
David Cuch was born in 1978 and grew up on the Uintah-Ourray reservation in eastern Utah and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts with his mother’s Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah. During his short life he accomplished many things. He graduated from Wasatch Academy in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, where he first realized his growing appreciation for education. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Westminster College of Salt Lake City, a master’s degree in public administration in 2004 from the U, and in 2007, the juris doctorate.
In addition to his academic life, David worked as a coordinator for a social justice nonprofit group, an assistant teacher in Salt Lake City, and a summer camp youth counselor. He also volunteered in the Jordan School District, where he taught traditional Indian songs and dances to children in Title VII programs. He himself competed in native dance competitions at powwows on a regular basis. During law school, David worked for the Legal Defender Association and Salt Lake Legal Issues.
In the years since David’s death, his brother Cameron has been organizing a project to honor the life of his brother. On May 30 at a ceremony at Rice-Eccles Stadium Tower, leaders of the Ute Tribe and the University of Utah joined the Cuch family and their friends to hear Cameron announce the new David Arapene Cuch Endowed Scholarship Fund to support qualifying students from the Ute tribe to attend law school at the U.
“We need more Indian lawyers,” Cameron said. “It’s important to our tribe and community [that] we have people who understand our issues and concerns and who will fight to protect our way of life.”
The ceremony included a blessing in the Ute language and a traditional song by the Ute Tribal Drummers and Singers. Robert Adler, dean of the law school, noted that, with the rising cost of a legal education, scholarships are ever more important. Law students are graduating with more debt, forcing them to take jobs just for the money to pay back their student loans, rather than jobs they may prefer that might pay less but serve the community. Adler also noted that the scholarship would mean that David’s personal desire to use the law to help his people would be multiplied many times by the number of native students who take advantage of the scholarship to study the law.
As of May 30, 2014, the fund had raised $40,000 from David’s family and friends. Once the amount reaches $50,000, the scholarship will be open to students from the other four Utah resident tribes—the Goshute, Paiute, Navajo, and Shoshone. “David Arapene Cuch was a remarkable individual. His death at such a young age is a tragedy, but his legacy of commitment to community, to the rights and sovereignty of American Indians, and to improving the world for all of humanity continues to inspire us,” said U President David W. Pershing. “The generous scholarship in his honor will provide opportunity for students to realize their dreams.”
