Jaime Hebel | Head of Illustration

When junior Marissa Mathieson, a Diné student at WashU, arrived on campus, she was frustrated to find how little support there is for Native American students such as herself.

“I was disheartened and disappointed,” Mathieson said. “Something I was looking at when I was applying to schools was how strong the Native communities were. When I came to WashU, I found that the current state of Native support here was appalling, to say the least.”

Mathieson said she was frustrated by WashU’s lack of an undergraduate Native affinity group on campus, courses about Native American Studies (NAS), and professors in ArtSci specializing in Native Studies. 

St. Louis is important to Native history, as it stands on top of what used to be the city of Cahokia: one of the largest, most technologically advanced, and complex societies in the world. Native Americans in Cahokia flourished from about 1050 to 1350. 

Since there are not many opportunities to visit Cahokia, a place that carries significant weight in terms of its artistic and sociocultural merit, many students do not even know St. Louis is built upon it. At WashU, it has historically been difficult to find a class that looks at the peoples and cultures that have existed there. 

According to the Association on American Indian Affairs, as of 2019, there are 220 universities that offer a major, minor, or certificate in NAS in the U.S. Nationally, there are 2,982 higher-education institutions, meaning that only 5.5% of universities have NAS programs. 

Peer institutions of WashU — like Tufts University, Cornell University, and New York University — all have NAS programs. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has the only NAS program in the greater St. Louis region. 

The Native population at WashU is small, at 0.1%. This figure is similar to universities like Tufts and Cornell, in part because of histories of oppression that have led to poverty rates and gaps in pre-college preparation for Native communities. And, partly owing to the fact that there is no NAS program or department at WashU, there are few resources on campus for Native students.

In an article published by Student Life in spring of 2024, Mathieson and senior Taryn Dixon — a Choctaw and Chickasaw student — argued that Native students need more support at WashU. In fall of 2024, Dixon and Mathieson wrote a 70-page proposal for a Native Studies class that they were in, which outlines three main recommendations: that WashU create an NAS department, that WashU perform a cluster hire of NAS scholars, and that WashU prioritize Native-student support and retention.

Senior Cecilia Burke, who transferred to WashU from Columbia University her sophomore year, was shocked at how little support Native students have at WashU. 

“[Native students] don’t even have a dorm,” Burke said. “I went to Columbia for my freshman year, and [they have] Indigehouse, a themed living community. I had a friend who decided to live in Indigehouse his sophomore year, and it changed his entire perspective.”

Research has shown that when underrepresented students have the opportunity to critically study their own past and history, those students feel more appreciated and seen.

This semester, there are six classes offered at WashU that center around Native Americans. Cornell, on the other hand, is offering 10 NAS courses this semester. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville consistently offers 15 courses that fulfill the minor in NAS, of which they are offering seven this spring.

Paige McGinley, Director of the American Culture Studies (AMCS) Program, said that when she stepped into her current role in 2022, one of her priorities was to align the program with other American Studies programs that have strong NAS offerings.

“You cannot, to my mind, have a program in American Studies that does not include Native and Indigenous studies. That’s intellectually bankrupt,” McGinley said.

Balraj Gill, Native Studies postdoctoral fellow, wants to help students understand how to situate St. Louis in Native history through her class “Place, Space, and Power: Indigenous St. Louis.” 

“What I appreciate about NAS [is that] there’s a real emphasis on situating yourself in a place, and understanding the dynamics of that place and space,” Gill said.

The majority of NAS classes at WashU are offered through the AMCS program, which poses a number of issues. 

Erin Lewis, Manager of Dean’s Office Operations, said that, unlike departments, most programs — such as AMCS — are unable to hire tenure-track faculty, though there are some exceptions. McGinley said that in order for AMCS to hire tenure-track faculty, they would have to partner with an academic department. The other main difference between departments and programs is that departments can grant PhDs and programs cannot. 

And for hiring faculty in NAS, it is hard to only hire one new faculty member when developing a burgeoning program.

McGinley explained that the AMCS program is allowed to hire two postdoctoral fellows for two years each, and the program aims to have both fellows specialize in NAS. Gill is one such fellow. 

Sabnam Ghosh, Lecturer in Asian American Studies (AAS), said that in order for a new program or department to be successful, the University needs to hire a network of tenure-track or already-tenured faculty who can build up a curriculum together, rather than just relying on one new hire to do a significant amount of work. 

When Ghosh was hired as a teaching-track faculty member, she was also tasked with building up the recently formed AAS minor, leaving her overwhelmed since she had to do a significant amount of extra work beyond her typical role, without a tenure-track position to support her.

“I started tracking my hours, and my hours, weekly, came to 65,” Ghosh said. “It is very difficult for me to have a family life or spend the evening not working.”

To Ghosh, ideally, the new program would have multiple researchers in NAS that can work with each other to establish the program. Currently, four of the six NAS classes at WashU are taught by teaching-track faculty. 

McGinley also suggested that a tenure-track professor would be necessary in order to support an assistant professor to the point of tenure by offering mentorship. She also underscored the importance of not allowing the current lack of NAS faculty to serve as an excuse to never hire more.

“Sometimes you hear people say, ‘Well, there’s no mentors for them, so we can’t hire in that area,’ and nothing ever gets done. We don’t want to go down that road,” McGinley said.

If NAS were to become a major or minor, Mathieson said it would likely start in the form of a program within AMCS. Dixon said that those in favor of NAS at WashU need to speak more with the administration to decide where to place NAS, which would ideally happen by 2026. 

“Then, over the course of a couple years, through cluster hires and extensive cross-listing with other departments, Native American Studies can [theoretically] become its own department by 2030,” Dixon said.

A cluster hire — most recently seen in 2020-23, where 14 faculty at WashU were hired for the Race and Ethnicity Scholarship — brings in scholars from many different disciplines that do work on a similar subject. NAS scholarship exists across different academic disciplines, such as Sociology, Art History, Environmental Studies, and more. 

Rather than one department having to carry the financial weight of hiring an NAS faculty member, the University itself would perform the hires. For example, the Race and Ethnicity Scholarship cluster hire was funded by the Office of the Provost. 

Jeffrey Catalano, Director of Environmental Studies, explained that cluster hires can alleviate pressure from departments because hiring a tenure-track faculty member is a huge financial decision. In comparison to a teaching-track faculty member, a tenure-track faculty member is a much larger investment, as the University expects to keep them for 30-40 years. 

Catalano also pointed out that to offer more NAS classes, there is a circular issue with lack of demonstrated interest.

“It’s a bit of a ‘chicken and the egg’ issue, because you have to demonstrate student demand to get some financial support to hire people to teach things. But if you don’t ever offer courses in it, you can’t stimulate demand,” Catalano said.

In a survey sent out by Student Union (SU) during the Spring 2024 semester on the creation of an NAS program, in response to a question asking, “Are you interested in taking a course related to Native American and/or Indigenous Studies?” 71 out of 97 respondents filled out “definitely yes.” All 97 respondents were in favor of creating an NAS department. 

Mathieson, along with Dixon and senior Kane Goggans, formed the student group Washington University Native-American Student Alliance (WUNASA) after they saw how little support Native students are offered. 

Mathieson noted that when she first came to WashU, she was often referred to the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, a center within the Brown School. However, the Buder Center has limited support for undergraduates. Student Life reached out to the Buder Center, and the Buder Center clarified that they primarily work with the graduate-student community.

“I’m a lot more grounded now, but when I first came to campus, the lack of classes, the lack of community, the lack of support, and everyone pushing it off by saying, ‘There’s the Buder center’ … only made me feel unseen, unheard, and not supported by WashU,” Mathieson said.

Dixon said that she met a number of other Native students who shared her experience — where they arrived on campus and reached out to the American Indian Student Association (AISA), which is housed within the Buder Center, but didn’t find resources for undergraduates. 

“They’re a graduate community, so they’re not really going to be reaching out to undergrads,” Dixon said. “I just think they’re so busy [and] overwhelmed. They don’t really have the chance to take time and reach out to undergrads.”

The lack of a central undergraduate club or collection of classes made it hard for Native students like Dixon and Mathieson to find connection when they first got to WashU. 

Mathieson specifically mentioned that, during her first year, she saw that many other cultural studies were offered on campus when NAS was not.

“I was like, ‘Hey, I’m still here. I’m still on campus.’ I’m a Native student on Native land, and it still seems that the University refused to acknowledge me,” Mathieson said.

Dixon said that she and others involved with the proposal want to push it forward to the administration. 

“We want to make a petition to show interest in the program,” Dixon said. “We want to get this document to the Chancellor, [to] the Board of Trustees.”

Ghosh stressed that NAS programs are especially important because students are often first exposed to Native Americans through harmful stereotypes.

“How do we know Native Americans? Through Pocahontas, through stories of ‘Red Indians’ and ‘Robinson Crusoe,’” Ghosh said. “It feels like an intentional act of erasure.”

Ghosh said that NAS helps students understand and question existing power structures, including seemingly innocuous concepts like government land control (such as federal parks) and corporate control of natural resources like gas and water. 

“When you think from the perspective of Indigeneity, a lot of current power structures, such as the nation-state and all of these permanent things we think about, really fall apart,” Ghosh said.

By engaging in NAS, Gill has been able to use her own marginalized position as a Punjabi person to advocate for others.

“Part of my nation is in India, and the other part is in Pakistan, which is a result of the [Indian Independence Act],” Gill said. “My family history is shaped by the history of colonization of that region. I engage in [my work] as a person whose own migration is shaped by that history. It’s my mode of solidarity.” 

Burke, who took Gill’s class, said that even if students aren’t aware of it, Native history is all around them.

“I feel like being in the Midwest, there’s so much around us that is related to Indigenous life,” Burke said. “Even though people aren’t necessarily where they were before colonization, there’s just so much history around us.”

Burke also said she felt her worldview significantly expanded after taking the class. 

“I went to middle and high school in Texas, so what they taught specifically about Native people was definitely horrible,” Burke said. “The base of St. Louis is Indigenous people — probably like every other Midwestern city — but we don’t know about it since we don’t talk about it.”

Mathieson, for her final project in Gill’s class, prepared a proposal to present to WashU’s administration in support of the creation of an NAS program.

Mathieson said that ultimately, WashU needs to develop an NAS program quickly if they want to support their Native students and add to the global academic discourse on NAS. Additionally, she said that the opportunity, albeit limited, to take courses in NAS is something that she has found to be meaningful. 

“Native American discourse is underlooked and undervalued at Washington University,” Mathieson said. “My first class at WashU with Native American Studies pushed me into wanting more and knowing that if one person can see me, if Dr. Gill can see me as a Native student, other professors, other students, and WashU administration can, too.”