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[forwarded by Jacqui Koomar. Thanks!]
 

From: "CATHERINE DAVIDS" <cdavids@flint.umich.edu>
Organization: The University of Michigan - Flint
To: <<clipped>>
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2000 15:05:07 EDT
Subject: Re: MICHIGAMUA
 

I have received a phone call from one of the students in  the Native American
Student Organization at the  University of Michigan (Ann Arbor campus).

At approximately 11:00 a.m. on Sunday (2-6-2000)  members from the Native
American Student  Organization, the Latino Student Organization, and the
Black Student Union entered the offices of a campus  organization called
MICHIGAMUA.  These  courageous students have occupied the office in a
peaceful and organized manner.  They have a list of  demands and are asking
to speak with UM-AA  administrators starting with President Lee C. Bollinger
who heads the legal team fighting to retain Affirmative  Action at the
campus.

UM-AA Native American students have, for nearly  twenty years, sought to have
MICHIGAMUA rid  themselves of their "wahoo practices and bigotry."
Half-hearted concessions were made, on and off  throughout the years to pacify (read: make
them go  away quietly) the Native American students.  Instead  of "woo woo
woo'ing" in public the MICHIGAMUA  took their bigoted behaviors behind closed doors.

The students currently holding the MICHIGAMUA  offices are carefully
cateloging the Native/North  American items they locate.  Examples of what they  have
found:  drum skins, pipes, cradleboards, etc.

The group is in good shape and are led by respected  American Indian
students...among them Joe Reilly from  Tree Town Drum.

This group has taken a peaceful approach to righting a  wrong that has
existed for about 100 years.  They  deserve support.  I hope to speak with the students
again on Friday and if their demands have not been met,  and if they still
occupt the buildings then perhaps all of  us could meet in Ann Arbor to picket the
building.

Please write:
 
Lee C. Bolinger, President
University of Michigan
President's House
915 South University
Ann Arbor, Michigan  48109

or you can call his office at
1-734-764-6270.

It is my understanding that an article about this issue  appeared in
Monday's issue
of the Detroit Free Press.

Catherine Davids
Flint, Michigan
 

This is a brief history of MICHIGAUMA that was  written in 1996.

MICHIGAMUA is one of the oldest and strongest of  UM honorary societies.
It has existed since the  beginning of the 1900s.  The Tappan Oak, a large oak
tree stands outside the Graduate Library and is one of  the most "sacred
symbols" of MICHIGAMUA.  For  man years the members of MICHIGAMUA initiated
its members with sacred items stolen from North  American Indian tribes.  The
sacred items were then  used in bastardized rites initiating new members
into the MICHIGAMUA tribe.  Initiates were painted red  as they were picked from
the "land of the paleface."
MICHIGAMUA members have long prided  themselves on "preserving the culture of
others without  abusing the culture."  Since the group's inception, the
tomahawk has been a staple symbol, and a wooden  version exists (as of 1996) next to
the Tappan  Oak...embedded in a stone circle.  MICHIGAMUA  resides on the 7th
floor of the Student Union since  1931 after the University Board of Regents
voted to give "the tribe of Michigamua" the top tower room free  of rent.  MICHIGAMUA
members devised the  concept of the Union and were instrumental in funding
its construction.  MICHIGAMUA SQUARE, just  outside of the Fleming
Administration Building, was  built in the group's honor.

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