Created in partnership with Marquette’s Native American Students Association, Marquette Today announced that “the university has adopted a land and water acknowledgment to recognize the long history of Native peoples and nations.” These include the Menominee, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Ho Chunk, Fox, Sauk and Mascouten people that lived on and stewarded the land and water where the university now resides.
The statement explains that both written and oral versions of the acknowledgment honor the connection between Native people and the nations’ “traditional territories” — the land and waterways.
The acknowledgment was established through many months of consideration and discussion by the Native American Student Association co-advisors, Jacqueline Schram, director of public affairs, and special assistant for Native American affairs, and Dr. Jodi Melamed, associate professor of English.
Throughout the advancement of the acknowledgment, Marquette continued to turn to the university’s council on Native American Affairs for their approval.
President Michael Lovell, Provost Kimo Ah Yun, executive vice-president for academic affairs, and the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion all authorized the acknowledgment.
The full acknowledgment can be found online. This statement may be read prior to any event held on Marquette’s campus in either an in-person or virtual setting.
This story was written by Julia Abuzzahab. She can be reached at [email protected]
