Land Acknowledgment
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus is built not only on traditional, ancestral, and contemporary Dakota lands - but built with the profits from selling thousands of acres of Dakota and Anishinaabe land (Land-Grab Universities).
Further, The University of Minnesota and its Founding Board of Regents were “responsible for Dakota genocide and exile...through a series of violence-backed land cessions, treaties, and war” (TRUTH Report, p. 17), leading to forced removal and tremendous and continuous transfers of wealth, while simultaneously working to undermine Tribal sovereignty, Indigenous rights, and diverse ecosystems.
Each of these injustices demand accountability and “reparations, truth-telling, policy change, and transformative justice processes” (TRUTH Report, p. 3), including but not limited to the following:
- Expanded access to the University’s Native American Promise Tuition Program
- Sustained funding for the Department of American Indian Studies and Native-led student groups
- Advocacy for a process whereby Minnesota’s Tribal Nations self-determine what land back means regarding the 30,000 acres of land the University currently occupies and/or controls
In spring 2023, Indigenous researchers released a 500-page report called Towards Recognition and University-Tribal Healing (TRUTH), detailing our University’s role in Native dispossession and exploitation. We encourage you to review it and demand their reparations recommendations. The full TRUTH report is available online, as well as a two-page Executive Summary.
By offering this acknowledgement, the Liberal Arts Engagement Hub affirms Tribal sovereignty, honors the ongoing contributions of Native peoples today, and formally recognizes the unique and enduring relationship that exists between Native Nations and their territories. We invite our entire University community to increase their awareness of the history of the land on which we reside and commit to holding the University of Minnesota accountable.