Three years ago we embarked on an exploration of an important, but often overlooked issue: tribal-university relations. Our team has called into question an institution that has been quietly unexamined, but loudly touted as an entity meant to serve the greater good: land grant universities. 

Universities that have been granted land through legislation such as the Morrill Act or the Nelson Act have often been praised and celebrated as agents of “progress.” What has not been publicly considered is how that land was acquired and what this means in relation to the Indigenous Peoples who lived on and cared for this land since time immemorial. This has been privately considered by Indigenous people, but through the mechanisms of settler colonialism, the conversation and history of Tribal-University Relations have been effaced. 

After more than 170 years of the inception of the University of MInnesota, favorable conditions surfaced for this issue to be explored and the conversation to be initiated in a systematic and prominent way. Major events that led to this moment are as follows: 

• New University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel (inaugurated on September 20th, 2019) appointed Tadd Johnson as the first-ever senior director of American Indian Tribal Nations Relations for the University of Minnesota System in November 2019.

• In March of 2020, High Country News published an expose about land-grab universities (referred to as such here on out) that touched a deep nerve and catapulted this issue to the mainstream attention, nationally. In Mni Sota Makoce, Indigenous people are bringing this conversation to the forefront and situating this issue within the ancestral homelands of its original people with whom the land has a relationship that is characterized by longevity and care.  This relationship was ruptured, in big part, by institutions, like the University of Minnesota.  

• In June of 2020, two executive orders were released by the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC) which brought Tribal-University relations to the local level.  The first order is concerned with the Repatriation of American Indian human remains and funerary objects (06262020-02) and the second order is concerned with Fulfilling the university’s obligations to Minnesota’s 11 tribal governments (06262020-03).  Both orders detail a painful history and current harm to be redressed by the institution.  In summary, the “Minnesota Indian Affairs Council Seeks Immediate Action from University of Minnesota to Address Exploitation of American Indian Nations and People” where the goal is to build a “long-term relationship based on trust and mutual respect.

• Work began in 2020 under the leadership of Tadd Johnson, to begin conversations with the 11 federally recognized Tribal Nations who share geography with Minnesota. These conversations began to uncover historical mistrust, caused by 172 years of institutional harm and neglect of institutional responsibilities to Tribes. This history includes many injustices enacted upon Indigenous peoples, from genocide, land thefts, broken treaties, and banishments to ongoing appropriation of cultural knowledge and unfulfilled opportunities for Indigenous youth to enjoy the educational success offered to other residents. Since its inception, the University of Minnesota has played a continued role in the disinvestment of Indigenous Peoples.

To deepen and further this conversation, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council partnered with the University of Minnesota’s Office of American Indian Tribal Nations Relations to establish the Towards Recognition and University-Tribal Healing (TRUTH) Project.  The TRUTH project explores Tribal-University relations past, present, and future, and how we might fulfill the ambitious goal of getting in right relation.  

Some guiding questions throughout our project have been: 

• How might this institution serve as a site of healing rather than harm? 

• How do we redress the inequities created through genocide and repression of Indigenous people and culture?

• How do we repair where settler occupation has erased native lives, culture, and histories by exploiting native lands and resources while displacing Indigenous people?