Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and following the leadership of our Stout Student Association which has established and integrated a land acknowledgement into formal meetings, I begin this email with the SSA acknowledgement:
“We acknowledge we are on ancestral lands of several indigenous tribes; the Ojibwe, Menominee, Ho-Chunk, and Dakota. In addition we acknowledge and welcome those in attendance from countries outside of the United States.”
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a day of remembrance, honor, gratitude, and recognition. It is a day that reminds us all that such attention, awareness, and visibility should not be contained to a single day, but rather that we should work to acknowledge, recognize, and learn about the complex history of the land that UW-Stout occupies and use this knowledge and awareness to continue to improve.
Therefore, I call on the campus to follow the example set by our students and pursue the establishment of a land acknowledgement for our university, including a process and expectations for use. As governance groups form Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committees, this is an important effort for them to lead. Again, they have a strong model in place established by our students.
Last week I made a virtual visit to a Native American Student Organization [NASO] meeting. I listened to the group of students and community members in attendance share their stories, reasons for connecting through NASO, plans for the organization going forward, and hopes for future Indigenous students. They challenged me to think about new ways of recruiting and finding more pathways for traditionally underrepresented students into UW-Stout, and they also reminded me that it is important to do the same for faculty and staff. They also challenged me to think about ways of supporting these students, faculty, and staff while they are here. As I have emphasized many times before, this is work for all of us to think about, invest in, and act on.
In closing, I invite you to listen to the words of our students regarding why Indigenous Peoples’ Day is important to them. Ariana Bourdon, NASO President, and Kenny Waukau, NASO Treasurer, are two student leaders setting a strong example for others to follow, making an impact on our community, and challenging us all to remember and improve through knowledge-building, gratitude, and engagement.
Sincerely,
Katherine P. Frank
Chancellor
