BFA Assembly members voted to support a statement made by faculty and staff at CU's Center for Native American & Indigenous Studies (CNAIS) related to a comment made by CU President Kennedy in a recent CU Connections story. The story covers a recent CU System Faculty Council meeting, where President Kennedy predicted that unless the university moved forward with extensive online insturction a "trail of tears" would likely occur. Faculty Council sent President Kennedy an email regarding that statement, and Kennedy sent an apology. The faculty at CNAIS released a statement in response to the comment with insight into how normalizing colloquial phrases impacts Native Americans. The CNAIS statement also spoke to how the Center has a "primary charge to be a hub for innovative research and scholarship in the field" and also how faculty and staff at CNAIS "work tirelessly to create safe spaces and community for Native students, faculty, and staff at CU Boulder."
On September 10, 2020 Dr. Clint Carroll wrote an Guest Opinion article in the Daily Camera. Carroll is faculty in CU Boulder's Ethnic Studies department, an executive board member of CNAIS, a former BFA Department Representative, and a member of the BFA Diversity Committee.
For any questions about CNAIS, including the work Native faculty are doing on campus, and the NAIS certificate for undergraduates and graduate students, please contact: cnais@colorado.edu
BFA Motion to Support CNAIS "Trail of Tears" statement
