Support for Student Petition
Sept. 22, 2016
The Anthropology Department supports the petition calling on the University Advisory Council to "Vote to Change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day” during its upcoming Oct. 10 meeting. The petition encourages faculty to support a name change from ”Columbus Day” to ”Indigenous People's Day” on the academic calendar.
The current name favors a Eurocentric view of world history that heroizes the actions of an explorer funded by the Spanish empire, while the proposed name highlights the experiences and perspectives of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, whose role in the historical process continues to be silenced and marginalized.