Marymount may recognize tribes on website, in syllabi

By Sebastian Radovic

Photo by Pixabay

Marymount officials are set to meet this month to discuss the acknowledgement of  Indigenous lands in class syllabi and on the college’s website. 

According to Nick Munson, university spokesman, the meeting is tentatively set for March 22 and will include the president and other members of the cabinet. During the meeting, Munson said participants will give input on whether Marymount should recognize native lands in an official statement on its website. 

He said he thinks it is more important for Marymount officials to establish a relationship with the tribes who once inhabited the lands, rather than follow the lead of some other universities and only include a written acknowledgement.

Native Land Digital, an online map resource that estimates the global placement of Indigenous tribes, said the Piscataway Conoy Tribe of Maryland once inhabited the area that is main campus.

 The Tribe’s website says the tribe extended between the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay to the watershed of the Potomac River in the area now known as Virginia, and all land from the tip of Saint Mary’s County, Md., north to include Baltimore, Montgomery and Anne Arundel Counties in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

According to Dr. Marnel Niles Goins, dean of Marymount’s College of Sciences and Humanities, no policy requires Marymount professors to incorporate recognition of Indigenous lands in course outlines, but that could change. 

“Land acknowledgements are increasingly being done at conferences and in other public and private settings, and I think they are an excellent way to honor the history of the land(s) we occupy,” Goins said. “We might also consider adding land acknowledgements on our website.” 

Susan Agolini, assistant professor of Biology, said Marymount’s Center for Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) recently started a monthly discussion group for faculty and staff to talk about teaching equitably. She said April’s topic will be land acknowledgement.

 “There was some discussion in a teaching workshop we had in January, that there is some controversy surrounding these statements,” Agolini said. “It seems like, ‘how could there be controversy surrounding these’, but … they can end up being performative and not as impactful as intended.”

Agolini said Marymount received a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation grant from the American Colleges and Universities. The grant is “supporting  summer research that faculty can apply for to work with a student  on understanding the culture, history, and reclamation projects of the Indigenous peoples whose land [Marymount] occupies,” said Agolini.

Kenneth Harwood, dean of the College of Health and Education, said he thinks the reason Marymount hasn’t acknowledged Tribes on their syllabi because it is a topic few people know about. 

“I have seen more individual responses like the inclusion of a land acknowledgement statement as part of someone’s email signatory,” Harwood said. “Currently, I could not find any policy requiring or recommending the inclusion of a land acknowledgement statement in syllabi at [Marymount] …  most likely it is related to the lack of knowledge or awareness of what it is and why it is important.”

The number of colleges adding land acknowledgements to their websites has increased over the past decade. The University of South Florida, the University of Connecticut, University of Illinois, Northwestern, and the University of Iowa, for example are some of the schools who have made this change so far.

Some Marymount professors say they are planning to add a land acknowledgement to their fall 2022 syllabi. 

“I do believe that land acknowledgments, and an appreciation for Native American history is important enough to be indicated on course syllabi,” Delario Lindsey, the interim director of the DEI center, said. “An equally important activity would be to engage in land acknowledgments at University events of all types, particularly those that have a learning or academic component. … I myself plan to include both land acknowledgments and a diversity statement in my syllabi beginning fall 2022.”