Photo by Max Jiang
Haskell Indian Nations University, KU Engineering Partner to Develop ‘Center for Justice’ on Haskell Campus by Joel Mathis
O
fficials at Haskell Indian Nations University are partnering with KU engineering students to develop a justice center on the Haskell campus. The Hiawatha Center for Justice is the brainchild of Dan Wildcat, a longtime Haskell professor. The project is to redevelop historic Hiawatha Hall — an 1898 stone building on the campus that has fallen into disuse and disrepair after being shuttered in 2005 — into an interdisciplinary center for work on systemic justice issues. Members of IHAWKe (which stands for Indigenous, Hispanic, African-American KU engineers) — KU’s association of underrepresented and women engineers — held an “IHAWKe-athon” in October 2020 to generate ideas on how to
rehabilitate the building and best use it for its new mission. Wildcat first came up with the idea for the center in the summer of 2020, as the nation was convulsed by Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. “As people took to the streets and watching the demonstrations and everything, I was really moved and I kept thinking — there’s got to be some way that our school as an institution of higher education — and really the de facto national tribal college — could play a role in education and helping to heal some of the wounds we have in this society,” he said. At the same time, Wildcat had been a champion to find a new use for Hiawatha Hall on Haskell’s campus
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