Skip to main content
Skip to main menu Skip to spotlight region Skip to secondary region Skip to UGA region Skip to Tertiary region Skip to Quaternary region Skip to unit footer

Slideshow

Native Students at Michigan State University Know About Survival and Response to Trauma

Image:
vigil

. Since January, I’ve spent Tuesdays and Thursdays teaching in Berkey Hall, one of the buildings on Michigan State University’s campus where a gunman last Monday evening entered the university and killed three students and critically injured five others. Two students died in a Berkey Hall classroom.

I have nearly 40 students this semester, many of whom are Indigenous, representing many tribes, including most of the Anishinaabe bands in Michigan. Both classes' syllabi focus on Anishinaabe worldview and reading Indigenous scholarship. In the introduction class, students’ semester-long projects were intended to address the needs of a particular tribal community. In the fashion seminar, students were supposed to go to tribal community events and engage in their creativity. This past week, my fashion class was going to visit a tribal museum.

I use the past-tense because the situation changed on Monday, February 13, 2023. That evening, I was at home on my reservation, 60 miles north of campus, preparing for class the next morning. I saw an alarming email alert and then relatives started calling to ask if I was okay. Shots had been fired near Berkey Hall at MSU; those on campus were told by police to run, hide, or fight. I announced on my social media that I was safe at home. I followed the news updates for hours, worried for my students and colleagues. 

learn more here 

Support us

We appreciate your financial support. Your gift is important to us and helps support critical opportunities for students and faculty alike, including lectures, travel support, and any number of educational events that augment the classroom experience. Click here to learn more about giving.

Every dollar given has a direct impact upon our students and faculty.