New Native American Affairs Council aims to build relationships, understanding across campus and in community

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—A collaborative, interdisciplinary effort is underway to honor Western Michigan University's Indigenous roots and establish Native American programming and curriculum at the institution. The new Native American Affairs Council will work "to support, elevate and advocate for Native American perspectives” on campus, according to its charter, with a focus on fostering relationships between the University and tribal communities both on and off campus.

Western's Main Campus is on land historically occupied by Ojibwa, Odawa and Bodewadmi nations—tribes that represent the Three Fires Confederacy in Southwest Michigan. Those three tribes will be represented on the council, along with representation from the Office of the Provost, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, faculty, emeriti, staff, alumni and the Native American Student Organization (NASO).

"This work is deeply important to me and to our community. Our campus sits on tribal land, and it is important to not only acknowledge this but to also engage in work that connects to and supports our Indigenous people," says Dr. Jennifer Bott, provost and vice president for academic affairs. "It is our goal to make WMU a place where all students can succeed. The work of the Native American Affairs Council will make great strides in doing that both inside and outside the classroom."

The council's four charges include:

• Building relationships between tribal communities, Native-serving institutions and WMU faculty, staff and administration.
• Empowering students by decolonizing learning and administrative environments, highlighting student voices and providing holistic and integrated academic perspectives.
• Developing ongoing programming to enhance learning and understanding within the broader WMU community by identifying tribal priorities and finding grants and additional funding resources.
• Acknowledging the importance of the University's shared history with Native American communities and stewardship of campus lands as well as the opportunities the campus holds for Native students and the broader WMU community.

COUNCIL IN THE MAKING

The seeds of the council were planted more than two years ago by a group of faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences interested in building an academic program related to Native American studies. They were able to secure funding to bring some speakers to campus, including a professor from Michigan State University who specializes in Native American law.

"After that event, the Native American community expressed interest in participating and teaching (at Western); they said they could offer elders," says Marcela Mendoza, instructor of global and international studies. "That would be a wonderful thing; it would be unique to this program if we can lift it up."

Around that same time, Bott introduced an initiative to reimagine academic affairs at Western by increasing interdisciplinarity and fostering cross-campus collaboration.

"We started growing our group as an attempt to marshal some language into this new interdisciplinary affairs approach," says Dr. Fritz Allhoff, professor of philosophy. "We were kind of unsure whether we were going for an academic program or something broader, which would include more recruiting of Native American students, engagement with the local community, more speakers—things not just on the academic side but also on the student support side and administrative side."

Dr. Stephen Covell, chair of the Department of Comparative Religion, saw it as an opportunity to pivot the group's focus and create a proposal to build a Native American Affairs Council, drawing on broader resources across the University.

"This gives us a chance for a dedicated group of people, both from the community and from campus, to talk about and think about everything that's going on and try to coordinate it and really put things together in a positive way with momentum," says Covell.

One of his top priorities is adding more faculty with Indigenous and Native American studies backgrounds, something council member Dr. Dee Sherwood, associate professor of social work, sees as a huge growth opportunity for the University.

"Because you have this lack of representation in faculty, staff and students, you don't get Indigenous voices filtering up," she says.

Covell's department has already secured approval to hire an instructor specializing in Native American religion and spirituality. He says other departments with faculty openings are also looking to add Indigenous expertise.

A curriculum addition already set to launch spring semester is a tribal governance course in Western's master's of public administration program. It will be taught by Sam Morseau, director of education for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, and cover topics such as profiles in Indigenous leadership, nation rebuilding and sustainable sovereignty.

"There are advantages to working with the tribes; we are the community, we are very close to Western and trying to build some programs that help not only us and our students but help the community in general," says John Shagonaby, a 1997 Western business management alumnus who is governmental affairs officer for the Gun Lake Tribe and also a member of the WMU Foundation Board of Directors.

"Tribes have a big impact now through their economic development efforts," he adds. "Having the chance to learn about the tribes and how you do business with them, how you interact with one another, understanding they're sovereign nations that have their own set of laws—through my career that's been a barrier for people to work with a tribe because they just don't understand it."

CELEBRATING CULTURE

In addition to academics, another future goal of the council is the return of the Pow Wow, which was an annual event on Western's campus until 2006. Shagonaby remembers the vibrant celebration when he was on campus more than 20 years ago.

"We built up a pretty strong Native American Student Organization back then, but we didn't have the infrastructure at the staff level to keep it going," he says. "I'm hoping with this Native American Affairs Council we'll be able to help the organization stay vibrant and active because they have that support from inside the University."

The council is still working to add more tribal representation to its membership, eventually hoping to name a leader with ties to the Native American community or with a background in Indigenous studies. It's also working with NASO to create events and programming throughout the academic year to highlight Native cultures and perspectives.

Mendoza, who teaches a course through Lee Honors College on Indigenous peoples rights, says it's time for the University to build on the momentum the Native American Affairs Council has created and take intentional steps to expand opportunities for the Western community to learn.

"Our students are eager to learn about Native populations; they open their eyes when we talk about Indigenous peoples here and everywhere. Maybe everything that's happened around the pandemic has opened our eyes to social injustices around the world."

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