BY LINDSEY HAZLETT | PHOTO BY SHANZEH AHMAD
After taking an Environmental Justice course at Edgewood College, three students– Lauren Downs, Alyona Guns, and Kristel Renn– stepped forward to share the changes they’ve implemented on campus.
“Initially it was just a class with a project, but then we wanted to get everyone else involved within the community,” Downs said.
As a part of the class, students are required to organize and carry out projects involving preservation of the natural environment. This past fall, the class chose to focus specifically on the mounds at Edgewood College.
In order to identify the most appropriate course of action, the class held a stakeholder meeting last October. Ho-Chunk administrators, legislators, members of the historical society and Madison parks, authors, mound researchers, and the Edgewood grounds crew attended.
Following the meeting, Renn said her group completely changed its course of action. “Originally, we thought it would be cool if we designed some sort of app that would show people where the mounds are, but [the Ho-Chunk community] didn’t want that,” she said. “It drew too much attention, and they were worried about vandalism. That shifted us to finding ways to keep the area sacred by working with the maintenance crew on campus to properly groom and care for the mounds.”
The group determined that creating signage acknowledging that this area has mounds and is spiritual would be a crucial step.
Labeling the mounds individually concerned the Ho-Chunk people, so Downs instead suggested that members of the student body and community educate themselves on the location of these sites. That way people would not disrespect them by walking on top of the mounds.
The Edgewood College webpage will soon include resources for students to learn about these sacred areas.
Renn said the Environmental Justice class work is important. “What I think made the projects really meaningful is that we worked closely with the Ho-Chunk community who claim this land as theirs,” she said.
“ All of our projects came out of communication with them and hearing what they wanted and what would make the projects worthwhile.”
In addition to the students’ work with the mounds, Downs encouraged educators to concentrate more on the native peoples’ current culture and less on the past.
The class also changed “Columbus Day” to “Indigenous Peoples Day” on the Edgewood College Campus. “Hopefully next semester, students can plan a whole week of events for this,” Renn said.
Environmental Justice is taught by Ashleigh Ross each fall, which satisfies both the COR 2 and E-tag requirements. The course is not intended for any specific major.
Renn said, “Everyone can take it. Everyone should take it.”
Post your comments