Stephen Gavazzi, director of CHRR, and John Low, professor of comparative studies and director of Newark Earthworks Center, will give a lecture titled: "Land-Grant Universities, Native Nations, and Tribal Territories: When Will Ohio State Adopt an Official Land Acknowledgement?"
Researchers and journalists have documented the massive transfer of wealth from Native Nations that underwrote the founding of land-grant universities (LGUs), forcing these institutions to contend with hard questions about their relationship to Indigenous communities. Growing numbers of LGUs have created Land Acknowledgment (LA) statements, the best of which serve as a call to action: “We are the on the lands of Indigenous peoples, and our institutions have benefited from the sale of Tribal Territories. What commitments and obligations flow from the acknowledgment of those facts?” Regrettably, to date The Ohio State University has failed to adopt an official LA statement. The presenters will outline a set of best practices that can help guide and direct our university toward a comprehensive and just acknowledgement of this historical context and its reverberating impact on the lives of contemporary Native Americans.