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[source: NativeNews; Mon, 14 Feb 2000 17:35:12]

Feb. 14, 2000
Students Object to Indian Rituals

By DAVID GOODMAN Associated Press Writer

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Eight minority students have
seized the office of a distinguished University of Michigan
organization for more than a week to protest the group's
alleged use of Indian symbols in its rituals.

The protesters say the 99-year-old Michigamua student
society, which counts former President Gerald Ford as an
alumnus, has not honored a 1989 promise to drop Indian-style
rituals.

The protesters want the university to evict the group from
its seventh-floor office in the Michigan Union.

"Our voices have been continually ignored," said Joe Reilly,
21, one of 213 American Indian students on the 6,600-student
campus. "We had no alternative to accepting the continued
degradation of our people but to stand up for ourselves."

Michigamua, which counts six women and eight minorities
among its 24 current members, claims it rejects the old
practices.

But the protesters don't believe it and say they have
evidence such as Indian pipes, drums and headdresses found
in Michigamua's office and a recent photo showing a member
holding a peace pipe in one hand and a glass of beer in the
other.

The sit-in began Feb. 6, after the protesters got a key to
the Michigamua office from a sympathetic member, said one of
the students involved, Diego Bernal, 23. Since then, as many
as 100 supporters have slept on the fourth floor, outside
the staircase that leads to the office. Others have brought
in food or offered to do laundry for the protesters.

"People see this fight as symbolic of the racism on
campus," said Jessica Curtin, a 25-year-old graduate student
and Michigan Student Assembly member. "There's been a steady
decline in minority enrollment."

Enrollment of blacks, Hispanics and Indians at Michigan has
fallen from 14 percent in 1995 to 13 percent in 1999. A
rising number of Asian-American students has kept total
minority enrollment steady at 25 percent.

Two lawsuits by opponents of Michigan's use of affirmative
action in admissions could further reduce the number of
minorities on campus.

Administrators and campus police have taken a hands-off
approach toward the sit-in. Royster Harper, interim vice
president for student affairs, said she urged the protesters
on Monday morning to talk with university officials and
members of Michigamua.

"The university has a rich tradition of protesting in this
manner," Harper said. "We have pretty much allowed this kind
of expression."

Michigamua (pronounced mi-chi-GAW-muh) was founded in 1901,
its name taken from the Ojibway words for "great water." It
annually invites a small number of campus leaders -- all
male until this year -- to join.

>From the beginning, each got a "tribal" name upon
initiation. Ford, a football standout and 1935 graduate, was
dubbed "Flipp 'Um Back" Ford.

Ford "always have 'um time to powwow with Old Braves," said
the caption for a picture of the former U.S. president at a
1978 reunion. "He speak 'um wise words to the Tribe of
'78."

Ford, who lives in Rancho Mirage, Calif., was out of his
office Monday and could not be reached for comment, said his
scheduler, Judi Risk.

Other Michigamua rituals included wearing loincloths, body
painting and holding ceremonies around a totem pole. In
response to growing criticism, the group promised in 1989 to
abandon such practices.

The current members reject the past practices and are
"trying to alleviate the pain" they have caused Indians,
said spokesman Nick Delgado, a 21-year-old political science
and sociology major from Chicago.

Michigamua's rituals were overhauled in 1990 to comply with
the agreement, Delgado said.

"It's important that we go through this healing process,
especially with the Native American community," he said.
"It's important that we build bridges."

AP-NY-02-14-00 1621EST
Copyright © Associated Press.

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