Native American Land Acknowledgment
TCU’s Native American Land Acknowledgment was created by the university’s Native American Advisory Circle in November 2020 and approved by the Chancellor’s Cabinet in April 2021.
Full Version
As a university, we acknowledge the many benefits we have of being in this place. It is a space we share with all living beings, human and non-human. It is an ancient space where others have lived before us. The monument created jointly by TCU and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes reminds us of our benefits, responsibilities, and relationships. We pause to reflect on its words:
This ancient land, for all our relations.
We respectfully acknowledge all Native American peoples who have lived on this land since time immemorial. TCU especially acknowledges and pays respect to the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, upon whose historical homeland our university is located.
Short Version
TCU acknowledges the many benefits, responsibilities, and relationships of being in this place, which we share with all living beings. We respectfully acknowledge all Native American peoples who have lived on this land since time immemorial. TCU especially acknowledges and pays respect to the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, upon whose historical homeland our university is located.
Why It’s Important
The land acknowledgment is more than a statement. It:
- Fosters recognition of how colonization of Native Americans and their lands has shaped our university’s policies, practices, curricula and activities.
- Affirms and empowers Native Americans at TCU and prompts conversations on the presence or absence of Native Americans in TCU’s personnel, curricula, goals and activities.
- Creates the conditions of trust necessary to innovatively partner with Native American peoples and communities.
- Prepares students to enter into ethically responsible relationships and partnerships with Native Americans in their chosen fields.
- Leads us to ask ethical questions about who we are as a university and as individuals within this community and what we want to strive to be.
- Meets students’ request to have faculty include the land acknowledgment on syllabi as expressed in an SGA resolution in 2022.
How and When To Use It
The Land Acknowledgment should be used in print, online and verbally at all major official TCU events (such as Convocation and Commencement), programs (such as DEI activities and special lectures), and other appropriate forums (syllabi, web pages, job descriptions and searches, student and employee orientations, etc.).
Using the full version of the Acknowledgment is preferable, but the short version may be more appropriate for some instances.