With less than 50 students, Indigenous students make up less than 1 percent of Vanderbilt’s current student population. As a “super-minority”, these students are working to increase Indigenous representation and encourage meaningful conversations about their community. Since 2019, the Indigeous Scholars Organization (ISO) has urged Vanderbilt to adopt a statement which would acknowledge the history of Vanderbilt’s land in an attempt to combat Indigenous erasure on campus and promote recognition of Indigenous communities. 

In this episode, College Voices asks ISO co-presidents about the challenges they face as Indigenous students on campus and what can be done to undo centuries of underrepresentation.

Further Reading:

ISO proposes land acknowledgment: Staff Writer Julia Tilton reports on the ongoing movement to adopt a land acknowledgement statement

GUEST EDITORIAL: Indigenous student struggles: Why Vanderbilt can and should do better for Indigenous people: Tamee Livermont and McKalee Steen advocate for the adoption of a land acknowledgment statement at Vanderbilt

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes: On January 14th, a motion for a land acknowledgment is introduced to the Faculty Senate 

Music Copyright Information

This episode uses clips of Clouds, Docking, Forwards Backwards produced by Bio Unit. All music was used under a creative commons license CC BY-NC 4.0 and can be found here.

No modifications were made to the material.