Indigenous voices making change on campus

Marquette University
We Are Marquette
Published in
7 min readApr 7, 2021

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The dedication of the Tribal Flag Room in November, 2019.

By Andrea García, graduate assistant in the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion

I had the honor of speaking with two campus community members who have been instrumental in making Marquette a more inclusive place for Indigenous students: Alex Liberato, Navajo, a senior in the College of Business Administration and co-president of the Native American Student Association (NASA); and Jacqueline Schram, Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) and a band member of her father’s community, Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba, Canada, on Treaty 1 Land. She’s also the director of public affairs and special assistant for Native American affairs at Marquette.

Support and engagement
When Jacqueline Schram first arrived at Marquette in the fall of 2007, she walked the physical grounds of campus to feel the space. She got to know faculty, attended programming and searched for Indigenous students. “I felt that this place could support Indigenous students. It is intimate enough where students could blossom here,” she recalls.

In her role, Jacqueline connects students to resources on campus. “I look to the past Indigenous staff, from the first American Indian Counselor to a succession of counselors,” she says. “I acknowledge the work that they have done. I look at the documentation of the successes and the archives so I can feel that work and see if I can pick up any work and carry it.”

Jacqueline with her family: husband Ron and sons Hudson and Sage.

Jacqueline also works to bring greater awareness to the experiences of Indigenous students and issues affecting Native communities, which is essential to fostering a climate of empathy and understanding. Jacqueline looks to the wisdom of tribal members in creating opportunities for learning and engagement. “I really try to bring in the Indian community to both guide and be a part of the presentation. The Council on Native American Affairs — I rely on that membership roster for many different things. All of those professionals bring different gifts and knowledge,” she says.

As co-president of NASA since his sophomore year, Alex has also supported these efforts: “We made an outward facing organization that really educates the campus on the issues we face but also on our culture, our arts, the tribes here in Wisconsin,” he says.

Some of these experiences are facilitated through existing platforms. Jacqueline comments, “I personally love the Soup with Substance platform. It is a really intimate and conversational space. It is usually in AMU 157 — a ‘home’ on campus since it is the Tribal Flag Room. I look forward to building up that space as an opportunity to learn about our tribes here in Wisconsin and our resiliency and survival in this country.”

Jacqueline and Alex have also built key partnerships to ensure that there is robust programming around Native American Heritage Month in November— particularly with the Center for Engagement and Inclusion (CEI).

Jacqueline observes, “As one of the few Indigenous staff people at Marquette, it is a lot of work to plan so I am very dependent on and interested in collaboration.”

Thanks to the efforts of students like Alex, current staff members like Jacqueline, Tiffany Fulford, coordinator of cultural engagement programs and services, and Dia Henderson, graduate assistant in the CEI, and staff members from previous years, there is a blueprint for future Native American Heritage months. “That blueprint, in my opinion, has many fingerprints,” Jacqueline said.

Acknowledgement and solidarity
Much has changed since Jacqueline first walked the campus back in 2007. Now, she says, “The institution is acknowledging much more overtly Indigenous students and where they come from and differences in their needs when they walk through those doors.”

One example of the growing visibility of Indigenous people is the development of a land acknowledgement for the university. While some changes are anticipated before it is broadly disseminated, Jacqueline noted, “The Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion is one of the first to have our land acknowledgement on the website. Jacki Black (associate director for Hispanic initiatives) and Dr. William Welburn (vice president for inclusive excellence) have been very supportive.”

Alex agrees that the presence of Indigenous students on campus is being acknowledged. “People are really starting to recognize and realize that we exist — that our issues are important and what the issues are,” he says.

One notable example was the march to Zilber Hall from West Town Square that took place on Oct. 12, Indigenous Peoples Day. “There was an outpouring of support, from students showing up to our alumni members putting up real fires and teepees in the middle of campus,” Alex recalls. “People have really stepped up this year and built a cohesive support system that has elevated the causes that we are advocating for to the forefront of Marquette students’ minds.”

Alex Liberato at the march to Zilber.

After the march to Zilber, Alex saw even more momentum building for their causes. “My colleague, Sir Lawrence Tender, and I built a committee with administrators. Now, we have direct lines of communication with the president and the provost,” he says. “We are having meetings and are implementing real changes. The new Native students in the future have a chance at Marquette to really have a successful academic career and come out on the other side a lot better than when they came.”

In an important symbolic change, Alex is actualizing a request that has been made by students for years. “When I came to Marquette, changing the seal was the dream. It was something that seemed impossible. It has been Marquette’s seal since the early 1900's,” Alex says.

In summer 2020, President Michael R. Lovell appointed a committee to work on updating the university seal. The committee has broad representation from across campus and from the Milwaukee community, including Marquette faculty, staff, undergraduate and graduate students, Indigenous community members, Jesuit community members and more. See the full list of committee members.

“I was invited to be a student representative on the Marquette seal committee. We have brought on artists to design the seal. It still seems surreal to me! We are also making sure the university adopts an official land acknowledgment and plasters it across campus on plaques and inscriptions, making it a prominent feature.”

Marquette University’s Eagle Staff. Photo by Jesse Lee.

Related content: An Indigenous Peoples Day reflection: From tidal eddies to a sea change

Hopes for the future
While acknowledgement is a good first step, Alex and Jacqueline believe that the institution needs to do more to be responsive to students’ needs. Alex notes, “Although I am really happy with the change [in the seal], it is a symbolic change. A lot of Native students are worried about their financial situation, food security, a lot of quality-of-life issues.”

Jacqueline shares the sentiment. “Now the job is to connect students’ needs with the resources we can provide in a culturally responsive way while acknowledging the fiscal constraints. We need to have more supports in place,” she says.

Alex hopes that the work he and other members of the Marquette community are doing impacts Native students on campus. “My hope for Native students who come to Marquette is that they won’t have to go through the struggles I went through at Marquette,” he says. “I don’t want anyone to have to wait to register because of issues with coming up with money for tuition. I don’t want anyone to feel that they are less of a member of the Marquette community because of the hand that they were dealt in life. My work is only going to stain a small fragment of Marquette’s campus but if it can change one person’s life it is going to be so worth it.”

Advice and encouragement
As the campus pivots toward greater inclusivity and support, Alex and Jacqueline advise Indigenous students to also be proactive in seeking out connection and help.

Alex urges his fellow students to “Find your support system. Find the people that are going to look out for you. Find people who you know you can ask for advice.”

“That’s what has really got me through to where I am now. I have found Jacqueline Schram who has been my number one biggest supporter since I got here. She and Dr. Jodi Melamed, associate professor of English. Other people like Dr. Bryan Rindfleisch, assistant professor of history, and Dr. Samantha Majhor, assistant professor of English, plus the folks at the CEI — Tiffany Fulford, Clara Dwyer, Dia Henderson, Brittany Ramirez — even other undergrads like Victoria Gokee, class of 2018, the previous president of NASA, Aleah Ibarra and Johnny Borja, class of 2019, are some of the folks who helped me out” Alex said.

Related content | October 2019
Dr. Samantha Majhor and Chris T Cornelius, architect and Nohl Fellow artist featured at Haggerty Museum of Art, discuss intellectual and personal experiences with Native American art, history, culture, as well as their exploration of indigenous ways of knowing.

Alex adds, “Success anywhere starts with a quality support system with people who hold you accountable, steer you in the right direction, and speak based on their experience here at Marquette about what works and what doesn’t work.”

It is clear how passionate Jacqueline is about supporting Indigenous students at Marquette as she says:

“I just want to shout from the carillon that I am here, and you have some amazing staff people and some amazing faculty that are here to support you.”

Celebrating diversity and inclusion at Marquette University

This story is a part of the “We Are All Marquette” series, which celebrates diversity and inclusion.

Read more stories at today.marquette.edu/category/we-are-all-marquette/

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