A Kumeyaay land acknowledgment is to be included in course syllabi at San Diego State University. The acknowledgement is meant to cultivate honor and respect for the first people who live in San Diego and call the land home. But some faculty say they think the statement is political and don’t want to include it in their syllabi.
According to Tuesdays's SDSU Senate Agenda the Land Acknowledgement statement reads:
"We stand upon a land that carries the footsteps of millennia of Kumeyaay people. They are a people whose traditional lifeways intertwine with a worldview of earth and sky in a community of living beings. This land is part of a relationship that has nourished, healed, protected and embraced the Kumeyaay people to the present day. It is part of a world view founded in the harmony of the cycles of the sky and balance in the forces of life. For the Kumeyaay, red and black represent the balance of those forces that provide for harmony within our bodies as well as the world around us. As students, faculty, staff and alumni of San Diego State University we acknowledge this legacy from the Kumeyaay. We promote this balance in life as we pursue our goals of knowledge and understanding. We find inspiration in the Kumeyaay spirit to open our minds and hearts. It is the legacy of the red and black. It is the land of the Kumeyaay. Eyay e’Hunn My heart is good."
The Land Acknowledgement was written by an SDSU graduate, Michael Miskwish, who is a member of The Kumeyaay Nation.
The university senate will decide Tuesday if the statement will be required or optional for all course syllabi.
Gary Robbins who covered the story for The San Diego Union-Tribune joined Midday Edition to explain the controversy.
UPDATE March 2, 2022 :
On Tuesday March 1st the SDSU Senate voted the Kumeyaay Land Acknowledgement will now be optional rather than required on course syllabi.
