by Faith Price, Director of Native American Student Services
Washington State University will celebrate it’s 2nd annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday, October 14, 2019.
President Kirk Schulz signed a proclamation last fall declaring the 2nd Monday in October Indigenous Peoples’ Day for all WSU campuses.
“Indigenous Peoples’ Day offers an opportunity to celebrate the thriving culture and value that Indigenous peoples add to our university,” reads the proclamation in part.
There are several ways for the WSU community to join the celebration on October 14! WSU Vancouver will be honoring Native community members with a noontime event on their campus.
On the Pullman campus, Native American Programs will be setting up a tipi on the Todd Steps and passing out educational information from 9a-4p. At noon there will be a welcome from the reigning Miss Pah-Loots-Puu who represents WSU’s powwow, Jaissa Grunlose (Yakama Nation), a junior in business administration. Over the noon hour, there will be rounddancing on the mall.
Also that day, the Hillside Café in collaboration with the Ku-ah-mah Native Student Association will be holding an Indigenous Celebration featuring food from a variety of Native American cultures. The lunch will be available for purchase in the Hillside Café from 11 am -1:30 pm.
WSU Pullman is located on the ancestral homelands of the Palus people and on the ceded lands of the Nimíipuu (Nez Perce) Tribe. Everyone is welcome to attend the Indigenous Peoples’ Day festivities and learn a little something about the local Tribes and the WSU Native community!
PULLMAN EVENT SCHEDULE:
8:15 am – Tipi setup, Todd Steps
9 am – Tabling on Todd Steps (til 3:30pm) by WSU Native American Programs
11 am – Indigenous Foods lunch at Hillside Café (served til 1:30pm)
12:00 noon – Welcome from Miss Pah-Loots-Puu Jaissa Grunlose, Todd Steps
12:10 – Rounddancing (til 1pm) on the Terrell Mall
3:30pm – Tipi takedown
4pm – Done!