Native American Student Union members filled the Associated Students of the University of Oregon’s weekly senate meeting on March 13, delivering speeches against ASUO’s scheduling of its spring concert on the same weekend as NASU’s Mother’s Day Powwow, May 10-12. This was the second consecutive year the student government had done so.
A motion to create a working group, titled “Protect the Powwow,” to draft a resolution in order to protect the and support the weekend of the Powwow was made during the same meeting. This group was facilitated by ASUO senators Ravi Collup, Charlee Evans and Frankie Bodine.
On April 4, the working group met for the first time.
Twenty people attended the working group’s first meeting, including ASUO president Chloé Webster, ASUO vice president Finn Jacobson, NASU co-directors Tierra Garrty and Marisol Peters, as well as a handful of NASU members and ASUO members.
“Protect the Powwow” group members discussed adding a Native American Studies academic chair to the senate, gathering documentation of instances where NASU was mistreated at the university and the logistics of creating a resolution, along with many other issues.
NASU member Yudith Chavez-Flores contributed heavily to writing the resolution. “As long as people allow it (the resolution) to make a change, we can write everything but if the next senate doesn’t read it nothing will change,” Chavez-Flores said.
Chavez-Flores said she has also done research of her own by looking into the history of NASU and the Powwow at UO through using library archives and past Daily Emerald articles.
In order to create a comprehensive resolution, ASUO has been working with NASU to advise them about official language usage and various ASUO guidelines. “I’ve seen that a lot of the officers are really taking their initiative and are very present during the meetings. They’re actually focused on doing the right thing,” Chavez-Flores said. “I think [at] points, especially like in the previous meetings, they would try to shift blame and it felt like more of an ASUO meeting.”
This year is the 56th annual Mother’s Day Powwow and if the resolution is passed, the weekend will be protected, and thus no ASUO or ASUO sponsored events will be able to take place the same weekend again.