from the hub
koteenki ciinkweepitaawi: ‘Let’s sit by the fire’ By President Greg Crawford
We tend the fire of our relationship through a resolute determination to carve out shared experiences.
You are invited to write to President Greg Crawford at president@MiamiOH.edu. Follow him on Twitter @MiamiOHPres.
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miamian magazine
Over the past five decades, Miami University and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma have forged a partnership that rests on a foundation of personal openness and trust. This partnership grew from mutual respect and empathy of individuals who made the effort to know and understand each other — beginning with Chief Forest Olds and Miami University President Phillip Shriver in 1972. We have been able to create a relationship that is not only mutually beneficial, but one in which we each feel that we are able to accomplish more together than we could on our own. In 2001, the university and the Tribe collaborated to launch the Myaamia Project to advance the Miami Tribe’s language and cultural revitalization effort, deepening our partnership in learning. We started this new initiative together in direct response to decades of national policy and historical events that significantly impeded the ability of the Miami Tribe to preserve its most precious resources — language and culture. The project began with one employee and has since evolved into the Myaamia Center, which today employs 16 dedicated staff, including its executive director, Daryl Baldwin, who received a MacArthur Fellow “Genius” grant for his research and leadership in revitalizing the Myaamia language. We tend the fire of our relationship through a resolute determination to carve out shared experiences. For example, some 500 students, faculty, alumni, and staff, including Renate and me, have attended the Miami Tribe’s Winter Stomp Dance and Story Telling events in Oklahoma over the years. At the same time, Chief Doug Lankford and other tribal leaders visit campus frequently to see the work of the Myaamia Center, connect with Myaamia students, and engage the Miami University community.
Both entities have invested significant resources in the partnership, signaling a commitment to justice, solidarity, and common good. The relationship is truly distinctive. The Tribe directs the work of the center and maintains proprietary control over the language and cultural products it produces. In return, the Tribe has shared the abundance of its cultural knowledge and values to ensure that together we provide an authentic education and experience on campus and beyond. The Myaamia term neepwaantiinki — “learning from each other” — defines our ever-expanding relationship. It is the foundation of our frank dialogue, our energetic research and scholarship, and our creative initiatives to elevate unity in diversity and diversity in unity. The learning happens in curriculum that covers the Tribe’s history, culture, and language; in special events and activities that highlight our partnership; and in countless personal encounters among students on campus. We are equal partners in a project where both sides benefit, never one at the expense of the other. It is, among other things, an arena where we habituate ourselves for successful encounters with others who are different, wherever we may find them. The university and the Tribe now stand together as evidence that we can flourish when a relationship is shifted toward a platform of mutual respect and inclusion. In January, we will begin an exciting, yearlong celebration to recognize our 50 years of growing together. Yet we know that the quest for equity and equality is an organic evolution, not a race with a finish line. Together, we look forward to future collaborations and the benefits of this partnership for ourselves, our institutions, and our society.