Some Sonoma State University professors have begun including tribal land acknowledgements, recognizing Indigenous Peoples and tribes as the traditional stewards of the land, on their syllabi. 

SSU is located on the traditional homelands of the indigenous peoples collectively known as Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo but is far from the only California State University institution with Native roots. Other CSU programs and faculty members have taken to formally honoring America’s Native people and their land that we reside on.

Cal State East Bay has rolled out a recent initiative to honor the Native land the school is located on. CSEB faculty, staff, and departments have adopted the inclusion of formal land acknowledgment within all their syllabi.

Darrius Fatemi, a Psychology professor both here at SSU and CSEB, said, “The land acknowledgment at Cal State East Bay shows up as an automatic attachment to a lot of staff and faculty emails. They’ve been doing that for a while before it became a mandatory part of the syllabus this fall semester.”

In his email, Fatemi expressed how he agreed with the CSEB land acknowledgment requirement so much, he carried it over to his SSU course syllabus. 

As it is not a University enforced policy, it seems there aren’t many professors currently including this land acknowledgment in their syllabi; Fatemi is one of the few. Considering the strides CSEB has made in honoring Indegenous People and land, some professors like Fatemi are curious why Sonoma State doesn’t do the same. 

Mary Churchill, an adjunct SSU faculty member in Native American Studies, said, “I encourage the SSU administration to require a land acknowledgement in course syllabi and to integrate land acknowledgement more thoroughly into campus life, such as at official events and meetings, in signage, and on the web.”

Churchill believes that the land acknowledgement is only the beginning of a much larger process and we must recognize there is more to be done. “It’s a first step in a process of coming to terms with our settler-colonial history and how non-Native people continue to benefit from land theft and genocide.  Without actual steps to make changes today, in particular returning land to Native Americans, then land acknowledgements can become mere performances that maintain the status quo.” Churchill said via email.

On the home page of the SSU Associated Students site, the school’s land acknowledgement text can be found. Included beneath the text is a link to the Graton Rancheria of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people’s webe. 

Earlier this year, the US Congress officially recognized the Graton Rancheria community as a tribe of Coast Miwoks and Southern Pomos.