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[source: NativeNews; Sun, 13 Feb 2000 10:03:06]
NY Times, February 13, 2000
Michigan Students Protest Campus Club's Indian Relics
By ROBYN MEREDITH
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Feb. 12 -- A group of minority student
protesters occupying the quarters of a prestigious student
club at the University of Michigan here has forced a debate
that somewhat mirrors the nation's struggle to come to terms
with its racist history.
Eight students have occupied the office of Michigamua, a
by-invitation-only club for campus leaders whose alumni
include former President Gerald R. Ford and former Justice
Frank Murphy of the Supreme Court.
The students, American Indians, blacks and other minority
members, belong to the Students of Color Coalition and are
objecting to the club's past practice of adapting American
Indian traditions for club rituals.
The students took over the Michigamua offices on the seventh
floor of the Michigan Union tower last Sunday and dug
through the attic of the club, which began letting women in
last fall.
They found sacred Indian pipes and drums, feathered
headdresses, a cradle board, and club memorabilia depicting
decades-old practices of club members dressing up in
headdresses and loincloths.
The demonstrators put the items on display and have been
conducting tours -- for about 1,500 students so far -- of
Michigamua's club den, where members have met since 1934.
The club was formed in 1901.
The presence of the artifacts had long been suspected by
American Indian students but apparently came as a surprise
to the current club members, many alumni and university
officials.
"Everything in there is offensive," said Hap McCue, 67, an
adjunct lecturer of Chippewa language and culture at the
university, who took the tour. "Why do a group of real
intelligent people take what is our ancestry and who we
are and make a mockery of it?"
Club members have apologized and said they are willing to
change any club practices.
"Our current organization was not aware of the artifacts up
there," said Nick Delgado, 21, a senior. "At no time was
anyone intending to hurt the Native American community. That
doesn't mean that didn't happen."
The university has been mediating the dispute. "The
university does not in any way condone any kind of actions
or behavior that mocks any kind of culture," said E. Royster
Harper, interim vice president for student affairs.
Current student members, Ms. Harper said, do not hold the
views of past members. The notion that the club mocked
Indians "fits the legacy of the organization," Ms. Harper,
"but it doesn't fit the members now." She added, "Doesn't
this sound like our whole country's issue of slavery?"
Club members and alumni are hoping the club's past practices
will not cost it its affiliation with the university and its
meeting space.
"As alumni, we take full responsibility for all of the
archival and historical artifacts and documents found in the
attic of the den," said Joseph F. Devyak Jr., chairman of
Michigamua's Old Wolves Council of alumni. "Simply put, it
is our fault that they weren't properly removed."
But Joe A. O'Reilly, 21, a senior majoring in environmental
justice and racism who serves as a spokesman for the
Students of Color Coalition, said that he and other American
Indian activists had objected to Michigamua's practices for
years and had won promises from the club in the past to stop
using Indian artifacts and stereotypical depictions of
Indians. Their finds show that those promises have not been
kept, he said.
"It is contributing to the destruction of our culture," said
Mr. O'Reilly, who is one of the demonstrators occupying the
club.
He found particularly offensive a photo of club members in
which one holds an Indian pipe in one hand and a plastic cup
of beer in the other. "This is a religious and sacred object
to us," he said.
His group has several demands: an apology, that the
university sever all ties to Michigamua, that the club's
space be made available to all students, that all references
to Indian culture be eliminated from club use, and that all
artifacts be given back to the Indian community. Michigamua
has said it would agree to all of the demands except giving
up its meeting space and university affiliation.
About 210 of the university's 37,000 students are American
Indians. Michigamua has never had an Indian member.
Some students questioned whether the club should be kicked
out of the university building.
"If they are willing to change their ways, why don't they
let them?" asked Sandeep M. Jani, 19, a sophomore studying
biopsychology. Others were less forgiving.
Michigamua members adopted nicknames, which themselves show
the nation's changing cultural tastes. A photo of the class
of 1902 shows "young man of many squaws Brown" and "Little
Big Horn Heenan." The former president was called "flipp 'um
back Ford" in 1935. For the class of 2000, Mr. Delgado's
nickname is "latino unity I try to show Delgado."
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