In her lecture “Becoming Indigenous-Serving Institutions,” Fort Lewis College President Heather Shotton discussed how universities are to better recognize Indigenous students in a system that, historically, doesn’t recognize them.
The lecture, taking place on Oct. 7, was part of this year’s honors colloquium series, “Education: Behind the Curtains.”
Shotton is an education scholar focused on promoting access to equitable practices in colleges and universities. She is the first Native American President of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, a citizen of the Wichita and affiliated tribes and a nationally-recognized advocate for Indigenous education.
“How can we expect students to succeed in institutions that tell them they don’t exist?” Shotton said, addressing the evening audience gathered in the University of Rhode Island’s Edwards Hall.
Higher education systems have posed difficulties to Indigenous people for years, according to Shotton.
“We often describe these institutions as not being built for us,” Shotton said. “As I navigated the complex system that is higher education, in 25 years as a student, a student affairs practitioner, a faculty member and now as an administrator, I often heard these words uttered over and over. These institutions are not built for us.”
Fort Lewis College serves a population of 27% Native American students, according to Shotton. Fort Lewis College began as a federal boarding school and Indigenous children between the ages of 5 and 22 attended.
“We have well-documented the harms that took place at this boarding school,” Shotton said. “Abuse, death, illness and intergenerational trauma.”
The federal boarding school system is part of a larger policy which sought to dispossess tribal nations and Indigenous people of their territory, according to Shotton. Fort Lewis College transitioned from a federal boarding school into the higher-education institution it is today.
Land grant universities have an extensive history, according to Shotton.
“When we unpack the complex history of higher education, we shift to a deeper understanding, ” Shotton said. “Institutions of higher education are functioning exactly the way they were built and the way they were designed.”
URI is a land grant university financed by the 1862 Morrill Act, according to an article published by URI magazine. Land seized, often violently and forcibly, from Native Americans was sold to generate funds for the public university. The Morrill Act intended to promote accessibility in higher education, which in 1862 was often reserved for elites and excluded working-class individuals.
Following Shotton’s lecture, URI faculty and students asked questions about how to best serve Indigenous students in a Q&A session. URI President Marc Parlange asked Shotton to share more about successful initiatives at Fort Lewis College.
“I’m really proud of the work that we’ve done around healing relationships for many of our Indigenous students,” Shotton said. “Our faculty have created classes where students have gone back out to the [former boarding school building] – students who maybe felt uncomfortable being in the space, because of the atrocities that happened – and healed the relationship through learning.”
Indigenous students at Fort Lewis College learned about regenerative food systems and Native American history in the former federal boarding school building, according to Shotton. Additionally, the building houses the learning and translation of tribal languages, agricultural research and collaborative organization with tribal communities.
