The American Indian Program may move from its home in Caldwell Hall to various rooms in Kennedy Hall, according to a recent administrative proposal from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Although November is Native American Heritage Month, some members of Cornell’s Native American community say they are dissatisfied with the level of Native American recognition on campus. 

Local farmland alleged to be a Native American burial ground was partially bulldozed to make way for a manure storage tank, but work in the area has been halted thanks in part to the work of a Cornell professor.

“Our legacy is reflected in the diverse composition of our community, the breadth of our curriculum, the strength of our public service, and the depth of our commitment to freedom, equity, and reason. Each member of the Cornell community has a responsibility to honor this legacy and to support a more diverse and inclusive campus in which to work, study, teach, research and serve.”

— Cornell’s statement on diversity, from: www.cornell.edu/diversity/history/statement.cfm

A major problem of diversity at Cornell is how to include American Indians and American Indian Studies into the broad University community. American Indians are not simply another “ethnic minority” here at Cornell; instead, it should be remembered that American Indians are the indigenous people of this land. Thus, indigenous America is distinctly important, and should be understood in its relationship to “Euro-America” and all other “Americas.”

“Just so you know, I got here because of rage,” said Sherman Alexie, an award-winning Native American writer and occasional comedian, in a half-serious, half-facetious manner at the Statler Auditorium in his Friday evening lecture, “The Partially True Story of the True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.”

Alexie’s first young adult novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian won the 2007 National Book Award in Young People’s Literature. The lecture, which was based on this novel, presented an overview of the author’s childhood and development as a writer.

Alexie frequently elicited laughter from the nearly 600-person audience as he often joked about the many tragedies of his younger years.