by Esther Shon

Located on the second floor of Alice Lloyd Hall, the Vicky Barner Memorial Multicultural Lounge is a place that is never empty. Despite being a place where many study, the lounge does not resemble a typical "boring" study room. Instead, the lounge is colorful with an assortment of furniture and eye-catching wall decor, including Native American wall art that points to the bigger picture or purpose of the study room: a history that is encapsulated in the name Vicky Barner. 

Victoria "Vicky" Morgan Barner was born in Alaska in 1919 into the Nisga'a tribe of Northwest British Columbia and was raised in Ohio due to tuburculosis problems in the tribe ("Victoria D"). Vicky "completed nursing training in Cleveland and entered the Army Nurse Corps, where she volunteered for service as a flight nurse overseas. As a member of the 807 Med. Air Evac. Sqd., she was based in Sicily, Rome and Siena, Italy, flying in C47s to evacuate wounded from the front. She received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters" ("Victoria D"). She later graduated from the University of Michigan's art school in 1969 with her BFA. She had three children, two of whom followed in her footsteps as Wolverines ("Ann Arborite"). While at the University of Michigan, Barner played an integral role in progressing equality and respect for the Native American community, including creating the student group American Indians Unlimited, which paved monumental achievements such as putting on Ann Arbor’s first pow-wow, which is a tradition that continues to this day ("Vicky Barner").