Indigenous Student Union

By: Aidan Sheedy

Quinnipiac University’s Indigenous Student Union President Aiyana Baker has known who she is since day one. Her grandfather engrained the pride and power of the Mohegan people into her as a little girl as she would attend pow-wows and then feel excited enough to share with anyone she could the next day at school about her traditions.

Unfortunately, Baker’s grandfather, Bill, died in her senior year of high school. But it is through her work in the ISU that carry on the values he set for her to spread in the world.

“He was my biggest connection to my drive,” she said. “He always kept me wanting to learn more about my culture. He was always so proud of it.”

That want never stopped, but it did hit the wall after Baker started college at Quinnipiac. The sophomore nursing major was met with a scarcity of people like her as soon as she entered her first year. In comparison to the freeness she felt back home, she knew this was going to be an adjustment.

“When I first came here, I knew about my background, but navigating it at such a big space can be hard for a lot of students,” she said. “Being at a predominantly white institution, I think a lot of people don’t know about other ethnicities and it kind of makes us all feel lost.”

And thus, Baker found it hard to embrace her identity for the first time.

“Coming from a small town, I knew nobody coming here, so it was hard for me to share that side of me with people,” she said. “(ISU) has helped me dig even deeper into my culture.”

The University itself was built on indigenous land which belongs to the Quinnipiac tribe of the Algonquian peoples of the northeast region. This is an initiative ISU is working on. Baker said she hopes to have a land acknowledgment come from the university soon.

“I feel like so many students don’t even know that we are on Indigenous land,” she said. “That’s really sad.”

That’s why Baker stands today as president of ISU. She wants all students to feel comfortable in their own skin, as well as aware of the rich intersectionalities that surround us. Baker has used this opportunity as an organization leader to educate the Quinnipiac community about its own history, including Indigenous student voices and embrace the diversity that exists across Indigenous communities not just locally, but worldwide.

“The organization makes it easier for me to share,” she said. “It’s about getting the organziation on its feet and being able to become something bigger than Quinnipiac (University).”