UO’s Native American Student Union organized “Pack the Senate,” a sit-in during the Associated Students of University of Oregon’s bi-weekly senate meeting, on Wednesday March 13.
The sit-in follows ASUO’s decision in October to schedule its spring concert on the same weekend as NASU’s Mother’s Day Powwow, from May 10 to 12. This is the second consecutive year that ASUO has done so.
The Mother’s Day Powwow has been an event for 56 years and is one of the longest-running student union events at the University of Oregon.
Over 150 students and community members crammed into the Crater Lake room inside the Erb Memorial Union to listen to members of NASU speak. Nearly 30 people, including co-directors of NASU and faculty members of the Indigenous studies program, spoke during the meeting.
Tiera Garrety, a UO senior and co-director of NASU, was the first to speak during the public forum. “Today I cannot give thanks. I come here representing the Native American Student Union as a co-director. I do not come here asking for your time, I’m here to take your time. I do not come here asking for your full undivided attention for you will give me your full undivided attention,” Garrety said.
NASU and community members spoke up about ASUO’s scheduling last year during a senate meeting, but ultimately a change for a new schedule was not made.
Some speakers urged ASUO to cancel the concert altogether. UO’s 2023 Mr. Indigenous Yazzie Chee said “We demand that the date of the concert be changed and the weekend be protected.”
Others asked them to keep the date. “Keep the date this year,” Garrety said. “Sit in the emotions you have now reserved and mull your actions.”
All of those who spoke demanded ASUO to do better to support Indigenous people and people of color on campus.
Due to a $1.7 million budget surplus following COVID-19, $350,000 is being spent on the spring concert. Some speakers said they think these funds could be directed elsewhere, including toward BIPOC student organizations.
The public forum section of the meeting concluded after approximately 90 minutes.
ASUO did not respond to the speakers, however, Senate President Lucia Rutan said she “wishes she could.”
Rutan made a motion to form a working group to continue working on a resolution to protect Mother’s Day Weekend as well as creating a written record to formally protect the Powwow resolution. This motion was quickly approved.
Former NASU community organizer and UO senior Angela Noah, who spoke during the meeting, said “at the end when they [ASUO] said we’re going to form a working group and make sure this doesn’t happen again, it’s what I heard last year. Our trauma always comes at the expense of education for them.”
Local Eugene band Grrlband dropped out of the Battle of the Bands voting on March 11, and Bowl Peace dropped out on March 13, disqualifying them from the opportunity to be an opener during the spring concert.
Leyi (left) holds Mckena Wilson (right), who gave a speech to the ASUO senate about the recognition of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women at the annual powwow at the ASUO senate meeting on March 13, 2024. Over 150 students and community members protested the decision made by the ASUO to schedule the spring concert on the same weekend as the 56th Annual Mother's Day Powwow, a community and cultural event planned by the Native American Student Union. (Alex Hernandez/Emerald)
