New Mexico State University will host several activities throughout November to celebrate Native American Heritage Month.
NMSU’s Native American Studies in the Department of Borderlands and Ethnic Studies will kick off the events with a presentation by Wilhelmina Yazzie, a parent advocate and one of the key plaintiffs in the landmark Yazzie/Martinez vs. State of New Mexico case.
Yazzie and other plaintiffs, including families and school districts, sued New Mexico for failing to uphold its legal obligation to provide a sufficient system of education to all New Mexico students, primarily Native Americans, English language learners, low-income and children with disabilities. The lawsuit challenged the state’s failure to provide and fund programs and services necessary for students to learn and thrive.
A state district court judge ruled in 2018 that all New Mexico students have a right to be college and career-ready and that the state is failing to meet this obligation.
Yazzie will discuss the case from 5 to 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, in O’Donnell Hall, Room 111, and take questions afterward. The presentation will also be livestreamed via Zoom.
“This will be a great conversation for students who are going to be going into educational fields, whether that be primary or secondary, and how it’s going to affect the rest of the NMSU student population of the future times,” said Michael Ray, director of NMSU’s American Indian Program.
The talk is free and open to NMSU students, staff and faculty.
A group of artists is also set to start a mural in O’Donnell Hall to honor Yazzie. The mural is part of an art-research project by the Department of Borderlands and Ethnic Studies.
Purdue University representatives will then visit NMSU’s Las Cruces campus Monday, Nov. 11, for a graduate recruitment event highlighting the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership program. Students from all majors may stop by the American Indian Student Center, Room 112, to meet with the representatives to learn about graduate school opportunities at Purdue, including fellowships, internships and admissions for Indigenous and Native Hawaiian students.
One-on-one meetings will take place from 2 to 3:45 p.m., followed by a general presentation from 4 to 5 p.m. Purdue’s Ken Ridgway, professor of geology and co-principal investigator of the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership, and Felicia Ahasteen-Bryant, director of the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, will be among the representatives on hand.
The American Indian Program will host its Indigenous Creator Series from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18, featuring the hosts of the Haffbreedz Podcast. Gabe and Sapphira Garner, who attend and work for NMSU, founded the Haffbreedz Podcast to explore the dichotomy between their Indigenous and non-Indigenous identities. The couple will discuss their podcast and the process of creating content while being full-time students and parents.
“Unfortunately, Native American Heritage Month sometimes looks at the oppression of Native American individuals and not necessarily the awesome and amazing, wonderful things that Native American people are doing currently and in the future. And that’s where we wanted to highlight our Indigenous Creator Series,” Ray said. “This is a different way of being able to take the popular culture’s lens and give it a nice sense of reality when it comes to common stereotypes.”
The talk will take place in the American Indian Student Center, Room 112, and includes a free lunch for attendees.
Ray encourages other NMSU departments to partner with the American Indian Program to develop inclusive programming that celebrates the Indigenous community throughout the year, not only during Native American Heritage Month.
“We want everybody to come to these events to be more a part of the community,” Ray said. “We want to make sure there is a continued sense of belonging on campus, and we want to make sure as students navigate the entirety of campus, they have a sense of welcoming at NMSU.”
For more information, contact the American Indian Program at 575-646-4207 or amerind@nmsu.edu.
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Cutline: New Mexico State University will host several activities throughout November to celebrate Native American Heritage Month. (Courtesy)