This article is the second in a series of stories about the University’s land acknowledgment commitments.
From exploring the history of a river to examining the enslavement and servitude of Indigenous peoples in American history, several research projects across the University involve collaboration with Indigenous communities.
Many of these projects were cited in the Inventory of Tribal Engagement Initiatives section of a 2026 status report on the five land acknowledgement commitments, which were originally released in 2022. In the status report, the University also updated and transformed those commitments into new frameworks.
“By aligning specific projects and activities with this updated framework, Brown seeks to demonstrate institutional accountability to the original commitments,” the report reads.
But some of the faculty members who have worked on these projects did not expect to see them listed in the report as evidence of progress toward the commitments.
Bathsheba Demuth, an associate professor of history and environment and society, who has served as faculty director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative, is a lead researcher on one of these projects. Her work centers around the environmental history of the Yukon River, which she has explored through partnership with the tribal nations of the Yukon River watershed.
In an email to The Herald, Demuth wrote that she was surprised at the report’s inventory of tribal engagement initiatives, including its inclusion of the Yukon River project, which precedes the five commitments and has mostly been funded by an external grant.
“The Land Acknowledgment process hasn’t played any role in the work, materially, intellectually or logistically, and I’m not sure how the participants in the project would feel knowing they’re now listed as part of Brown’s meeting these commitments,” she wrote.
Other NAISI faculty expressed similar reactions. Mack Scott III, an assistant professor of critical Native American and Indigenous studies, CNAIS director of undergraduate studies and an enrolled member of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, wrote that he “was surprised and honestly a bit disappointed” to see multiple projects that “the University did not initiate or substantively support” being used as evidence of progress towards the commitments.
“The status report intended to capture the breadth and depth of relevant work happening across the University,” University spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in response.
Clark noted that the University has supported other ventures out of NAISI and replaced some initial expired grant funds with “University budget to enable NAISI to continue important activities — for example, visiting instructors for language courses, and the Tribal Community Member in Residence — and to maintain staffing for the program.”
Linford Fisher, a professor of history, founded the Stolen Relations project — which examines the enslavement of Indigenous peoples in American history — in 2015. The 2026 report names the Stolen Relations project twice as evidence of progress towards the commitments.
Fisher told The Herald that he is concerned the NAIS-related activity cited in the study will be read as justifying the University’s switch away “from the original five commitments to an expanded and more generalized seven principles.”
Demuth thinks that the report demonstrates a gap in understanding between what NAISI-associated faculty and the University administration think carrying out the commitments should look like in practice. She described this division as “a gulf that indicates that there is a lot of work ahead.”
“In compiling information on these efforts for the purposes of the report, Brown’s Office of Community Engagement endeavored to be clear and direct about the many Brown units, campus community members and external partners who have played essential roles in advancing the commitments made in 2022,” Clark wrote.
NAISI is listed in the fifth commitment, which pledges increased investment in the initiative. Many faculty members of NAISI, like Demuth and Fisher, are involved in tribally-engaged work that is inherently relevant to the broader goal of the commitments, which is to strengthen relationships between the University and local Indigenous tribes.
Faculty emphasized the need for continued and increased effort from upper levels of the administration in working toward the commitments. “I worry this report indicates the University considers their investments in NAISI sufficient and complete,” Demuth wrote, emphasizing that there is “a need for continued hiring to ensure a more robust curriculum” that the report does not address.
The same commitment that pledges increased investment for NAISI also states that the University will increase investment in Natives at Brown, a student group dedicated to building community for Native American and Indigenous students.
In an interview with The Herald prior to the report’s release, Javin Felipe ’26, a former senior advisor for NAB, said Native students often shoulder a disproportionate amount of labor to organize events and projects that align with the goals of the commitments, rather than the University bearing the majority of the responsibility for meeting its goals.
Increased financial support from upper administrative levels would help ensure that “this extra amount of labor isn’t put on Native students,” he said.
Following the report’s release, Lavender Roberts ’27, a co-coordinator for NAB, wrote in an email to The Herald that she is glad the report was made but emphasized the need to go “beyond (its) creation.” Without continued action, she wrote, there is a risk of it being used performatively to “allow for less work to be done.”
Roberts said she hadn’t seen increased funding come in for NAB.
Clark noted that “the vast majority of funding for student organizations comes from the Undergraduate Finance Board based on decisions made by UFB’s elected student leaders” and that the process for obtaining additional funding from administration is often highly competitive.
Clark added that Brown recognizes fulfilling the commitments is “a long-term endeavor” and that the report was intended to document progress, outline a path forward and reaffirm “our collective responsibility to the tribal nations and Indigenous communities of the region.”
endawnis Spears, practitioner in residence for tribal engagement in the Swearer Center, wrote in an email to The Herald that she thinks “the report is an important step in the University's efforts to be held accountable.” Spears’s role involves supporting tribally-engaged projects across campus and general work aligning with each of the commitments. The report is “by no means an endpoint,” she wrote. “We are still in the initial steps of this journey.”
Rachel Wicker is a senior staff writer covering affinity and identity. She is from Athens, Georgia and plans on concentrating in English on the nonfiction track and International and Public Affairs. Outside of writing, she enjoys reading books of any genre and doing yoga.
