Land Acknowledgement

We welcome all members and guests of the University at Buffalo community, in order to study, teach, work and learn; we welcome the respectful exchange of ideas, including those which diverge from our own. We acknowledge the varied lived experiences people bring to this campus, differences that can be caused by discrimination, disparity and inequity.

The land on which the University at Buffalo operates is the traditional territory of the Seneca Nation, part of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, which also includes the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora Nations. The Haudenosaunee sustained the beautiful lands and waterways of this region long before European colonists arrived here. We acknowledge the harm done by European colonization, by the theft and exploitation of Indigenous lands, as well as by subsequent U.S. laws and policies designed to eradicate native people. Further, we acknowledge the continuing impact of settler colonialism, racism and discrimination upon Indigenous people, and upon others who identify with non-dominant racial, ethnic and/or religious groups in our shared history.

[Pause in silence]

This region is still home to the sovereign nations of the Haudenosaunee people. The members of the Professional Staff Senate are grateful for the opportunity to live, work, learn and share ideas in this territory, and are committed to working to ensure Indigenous futures by affirming Indigenous histories, traditions, knowledge systems and political entities. We will better educate ourselves, and in turn, promote education and awareness to support the continuity and wellbeing of all.