The day’s events — including celebration, speakers and marching — were hosted by the Native American Student Association at the Center for Native American Studies in Whitman Hall. Speakers opened the program by expressing their joys, sorrows and thoughts on the holiday.

“Usually I have a kind of brooding nature, especially on Indigenous Peoples Day,” said Jud Sojourn, assistant professor of Native American studies. “It was kind of six degrees of hell trying to get it passed through. Finally it happened so you kind of get your head stuck in the fight and it’s hard sometimes to get out of that. So I thought today we could have a good time — enjoy being indigenous, enjoy being indigenous allies … I’m just ready to have a good day.”

NMU student and NASA member Shelby Boggs recited a quote she connects with to begin her remarks: “To be Indigenous is to grow up mourning.”

“We need to celebrate ourselves and not always center ourselves in a victim mentality,” she said. “Remember the resilience that it is to be Indigenous, but know that it is a gift to still be here with our land, our people and our culture because they are the essence of who we are.”

Northern Michigan University President Brock Tessman gives a speech during the Indigenous Peoples Day festivities on Monday. (Journal photo by Alexandria Bournonville)

Due to the lack of education of and for Native American peoples, tribal members often find themselves needing to explain to others who they are, what they do, why their traditions are important and so on. This is not the case with Tessman.

“I would like to see this university more thoroughly, more comprehensively integrate indigenous wisdom into our curriculum so it’s not a choice that a student makes because they select into the Native American studies major … (or) a particular course, instead, it’s an experience that many students, most students, maybe every student has at NMU because they’re a student here,” Tessman said.

He admitted he “doesn’t know what that curriculum looks like” but is excited for the conversations with folks “who know better than I.”

“I am a student when it comes to understanding this next path forward,” Tessman said. “Being a student takes good teachers and I could not be more thankful for the excellent teachers on this campus.”

Tessman further emphasized the importance of using Indigenous wisdom when making environmental decisions for the university and the benefits that come with seeking out advice from other tribes in the region. He also believes “there are too many barriers for entry still remaining in NMU” not only for Indigenous students, but financially as well.

April Lindala, professor of NAS at NMU for over three decades, said she is pleased with the current president. She said it was “refreshing” to hear a leading president speak to a community and validate their needs.

“It’s like a pledge, almost. That … lightens the load … for me, that allows me to do my job even better when I don’t have to educate the leadership and say ‘You have to consider this’ when he’s saying ‘We have to consider this as a campus.'”

All those present then participated in a march from Whitman Hall to the campus’ Land Acknowledgement Sign ending at the CNAS Fire Site to honor tribal tradition.

In the woods near Whitman Hall lies the CNAS Fire Site which allows for the Indigenous community of NMU to conduct ceremonies and pray on campus. This was inspired after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, shook the university.

“There was a chapel on campus and people were encouraged to pray their way,” said NAS professor Dr. Martin Reinhardt. “When they said that, we thought we should be able to pray our way and yet we couldn’t on our campus. So we had to go off-campus to a community member’s house and have a fire in her backyard.”

Compared to most Abrahamic religions, Indigenous tribes are more active when praying. In order to do so traditionally, tribal members need a fire, space to move and dance as well as the freedom to shout and sing — an important practice.

About singing, Lindala said it’s “a prayerful way of acknowledging our relationship with our ways of belief, our ways of knowing, our relationship with the land and water.”

“That began a conversation on our campus, a fight if you will, to have a fire site,” Reinhardt said.

The CNAS was moved to Magers Hall first then to its current place in Whitman Hall where the fire site was erected in 2003.

In the 20 years since the fire site’s first appearance on NMU’s campus, many similar changes have been instituted for its Native American population — just not enough for the president.

“We have so far to go in our recognition of the history, the ongoing contributions and the wisdom of Indigenous peoples in this region,” Tessman said. “Today is a start, but it is nowhere close to where we need to be.”