DAVIS, Calif.

On a remote stretch of land where stray chickens outnumber students, California’s only tribal college is clinging to life against seemingly insurmountable odds.

D-Q University has had a turbulent history, which includes land disputes with the neighboring University of California, low enrollment and a loss of federal accreditation.

But even its most ardent supporters acknowledge that the school has hit an all-time low.

In June, the board dismissed the university’s interim president, Art Apodaca, accusing him of squandering the school’s few remaining assets. It also rejected his proposal to boost enrollment by dividing D-Q into an Indian-only “D” school and a separate, non-Indian “Q” school.

With the remaining six students drifting away and no money for even a working telephone line, a handful of board members and community volunteers are desperately searching for a way to keep the school and its mission alive.

“Every day it’s a new crisis,” said Susan Reece, a former board. “Every day there’s a new group of bills and new debts we didn’t know about.”

In early August, the six-member board decided to abandon its efforts to keep students on campus for the fall semester. Instead, it will try to attract revenue by cleaning up the campus and renting it out for workshops and conferences.

Reece said her biggest fear is that D-Q will lose its 600 acres to the federal government if it is found to be violating its federal property deed. The deed stipulates that the land must be maintained as an educational institution.

The demise of D-Q University would deal a heavy blow to the tribal college movement, supporters say. The school was one of the six original tribal colleges in the United States, all founded between 1968 and 1972. That group created the American Indian Higher Education Consortium in 1972 to address common challenges such as fundraising and attracting qualified faculty.