This article is the first in a series of stories about the University’s land acknowledgment commitments.
Read at convocation and commencement ceremonies each year, Brown’s land acknowledgement is something all current students will hear during their time on College Hill. The statement declares that Brown’s campus rests on the ancestral homelands of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, recognizes the University’s legacy as intertwined with the harm done to Indigenous communities in the region and affirms Brown’s commitment to “honor our past and build our future with truth.”
Though now a hallmark of some of Brown’s most important events of the year, Brown’s land acknowledgement was introduced just four years ago, alongside commitments aimed at strengthening Brown’s relationship with the Narragansett Indian Tribe and other Indigenous peoples. This past May, the University updated those original commitments, introducing new frameworks — including some aimed at making the initial goals more achievable — in a status report shared with the community.
In a letter introducing the report, Mary Jo Callan, vice president for community engagement and executive director of the Swearer Center, wrote that the new framework “maintains accountability to the goals of the original commitments while allowing progress to continue beyond the specific projects identified in 2022.”
But in interviews before and after the report’s release, several Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative-affiliated faculty told The Herald that they believe some of the updated frameworks are not entirely satisfactory.
In the first of the 2022 commitments, Brown pledged to adopt the land acknowledgement statement, which was officially established in June of that year. The updated framework for the first commitment calls for “ongoing recognition” that Brown is located on the ancestral land of the Narragansett Indian Tribe, and “public education and acknowledgment of this recognition.”
“There’s always awareness to be raised,” endawnis Spears, practitioner in residence for tribal engagement at the Swearer Center, said in an interview prior to the 2026 report’s release. Spears’s work focuses on supporting tribally-engaged projects across campus and helping carry out the commitments. “I think we can’t operationalize until people are aware that these exist and that we’ve made these promises,” she added.
The second commitment from 2022 stated that the University will “commission and support” scholarship regarding the history of Brown’s founding and of its relationships with Indigenous peoples in southern New England.
The report mentions various projects by departments across campus related to Native American and Indigenous histories that have been undertaken since 2022, such as the “Stolen Relations” research project, the appointment of a coordinating curator for Native American and Indigenous collections in the John Carter Brown Library, the “Reimagining New England Histories” project and the North Burial Ground Documentation Project.
The updated framework for ongoing work aligning with this commitment involves “advancing education and scholarship” and “facilitating opportunities for collaborative research,” including collaboration with Native and Indigenous peoples.
Prior to the report’s release, Spears said that there has been significant work toward this commitment in terms of support, but “there is more work to be done on the commissioning side,” which she thinks could involve funding more research within NAISI.
In an email to The Herald following the release of the updates to the commitments, Linford Fisher, an associate professor of history and a NAISI-affiliated faculty member, expressed concern that the updated framework for the second commitment did not focus on commissioning new scholarship. He wrote that he wished the University would commission an in-depth project — similar to the 2006 Slavery and Justice Report — that detailed the history of Brown’s relationship with Indigenous communities in the area. He also noted that he thought the updated frameworks were “expanded and more generalized.”
In an “ongoing work” update to commitment two, the report also states that NAISI and the Office of Community Engagement are working to organize a tribal community advisory body that “would lend expertise and consultation” to support work in scholarship and tribal engagement.
The third commitment from 2022 outlined a similar plan: to “establish a working group to work closely with the Narragansett Indian Tribe to explore how Brown can effectively honor and memorialize its College Hill location as part of the homeland of the Narragansett people.”
But this commitment has not yet been realized, according to the report.
In April 2026, the Office of Community and Engagement convened members of different departments, such as NAISI and the Simmons Center, to discuss this commitment, according to Spears. Spears said that she hopes this working group will start to “lay out the first steps,” but that much of the progress toward this commitment depends on Brown’s communication with the Narragansett Indian Tribe. While Spears thinks the University has strong relationships with citizens of the tribe, “we also need to continue to increase the quality of our communication with the Narragansett tribal government,” she said.
The updated framework to commitment three is the same as the update to commitment one and emphasizes “recognition” that the land College Hill sits on is within the Narragansett Indian Tribe’s ancestral homelands.
The fourth commitment from 2022 directs that Brown will provide educational opportunities for youth from the Narragansett Indian Tribe and other New England tribes. It also outlines the creation of a working group in fall 2022 to “coordinate efforts around existing initiatives, including Summer@Brown, Brown Summer High School, the College Access initiative and other programs,” though the report details that this group did not convene until Spring 2025 and, as of Spring 2026, “was in its initial organizing stages.” Spears said that the working group is set to launch this fall.
The report also lists three initiatives related to the commitment that have been undertaken so far, including a free summer program for high schoolers and workshops for K-12 educators on Black and Indigenous histories in New England.
The updated framework reinforces support for educational outcomes for Indigenous youth and adds a focus on communication with Native and Indigenous communities. This includes “strengthening and expanding community engagement” by creating “clearer pathways to best engage with the University.”
Fisher expressed concern that the updated framework does not explicitly name the Narragansett Indian Tribe, unlike the original 2022 commitment. “I would also urge Brown not to abandon the specificity of the original commitments,” he wrote.
The report concludes with “Reflections on the Path Ahead,” which summarizes the purposes of the report and the updated frameworks and their role in continued work toward the commitments. In an email to The Herald, Mack Scott, 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 found it “concerning” that in this section, “the Narragansett-the people to whom these commitments were made-were not even mentioned.”
“We recognize that fulfilling our commitments and achieving a strong relationship with Indigenous communities in New England, nationally and globally is a long-term endeavor,” University spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.
“The report aimed to build awareness and to document not only the 2022 commitments, but progress to date based on the successful efforts led by faculty, staff and students; the path for moving forward; and the continued importance of our collective responsibility to the tribal nations and Indigenous communities of the region,” he added.
The fifth commitment from 2022 outlines support to NAISI and the student organization Native Americans at Brown. This commitment is what led to the creation of the critical Native American and Indigenous studies undergraduate concentration.
The updated framework focuses on continuing this investment and “building community at Brown and locally.”
In addition to the updated language of the five 2022 commitments, the report gave a rundown of initiatives — titled “Enhanced Internal Support Shaping Brown’s Evolved Approach” — that arose over the last four years that did not fall into the realm of the original commitments.
These new initiatives included Brown’s community engagement agenda and the 2025 release of the Statement of University Values and Voice. In addition, the report referenced the relocation of the Haffenreffer Museum to downtown Providence and the repatriation of ancestral remains and belongings from the Haffenreffer.
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.
