U. of Michigan students protest racist use of American Indian relics

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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."


Louis Proyect
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