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NAISO focuses on community, demands for MSU in Indigenous People’s Day march

The North American Indigenous Student Organization, along with students and alumni, marched across campus in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day Monday.

Meeting at Beaumont Tower, participants showed up to honor and pay respect to those who came before them and their continued work. The theme of this year’s march was building community.

The march followed multiple days of advocacy from the organization, which set up camp over the weekend on campus in an effort to honor ancestors and their sacrifices that enabled MSU to become a land grant institution.

At 3 p.m., students started marching to their first stop: the Hannah Administration Building. They held signs while chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, Columbus Day has got to go” and “MSU, rent is due!”

The march made its way to the wiigwam that NAISO set up on campus over the weekend. This was meant to call back to the original “Indian Encampment” present on the first day of classes at MSU in 1857.

After the ceremony, students and attendees made their way to the Rock to listen to speakers.

Indigenous People’s Day artwork covered by student group, promptly replaced

“We are still here.”

That is the message that students from the North American Indigenous Student Organization (NAISO) chose to leave on the Rock as part of their celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday. After a weekend of camping in People’s Park to fight the erasure of Indigenous people on campus, the group covered the Rock in vibrant colors and depicted a chain of people holding hands.

Before the end of the day, NAISO’s artwork was vandalized. Replacing it was white text on a pitch black background reading “‘Dibs.’ -Columbus 1492.”

The graffiti was an attempt at a joke referencing the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas in 1492. Columbus’ encounter with the New World marked the beginning of European colonization in the Americas, efforts that would ultimately lead to millions of Indigenous people being killed by disease and European conquest, and the forceful dispossession of their land.

The other side of the Rock, where NAISO members painted a dreamcatcher earlier in the day, was also painted over. In its place was an American flag and the name of the group responsible for its depiction, “MSU TPUSA.”

In the following hours, as people learned about the graffiti, several groups took turns repainting the Rock with their own messages. First replacing the fake Columbus quote with the phrase “Free Palestine” and later with a heart that remade the Rock into a celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Closer to midnight, members of Turning Point USA repainted the Rock with the U.S. flag, writing “p.s. dibs.”

Since daybreak Tuesday, students have gone back and forth painting messages on the Rock in support of Indigenous Peoples’ Day or Turning Point USA.

In a statement to The State News, MSU communications manager Mark Bullion wrote that the university is disappointed by messages painted on the Rock but affirmed its place as “an important landmark and form of expression of the MSU community.”

ASMSU hosted virtual Board of Trustees candidate forum this Wednesday

Yesterday afternoon, students had the opportunity to speak with the four Board of Trustees candidates on this year’s ballot via a virtual event hosted by the Associated Students of Michigan State University.

The event comprised of two separate webinars, each one corresponding with each open seat.

The first meeting was hosted by Mike Balow (R) and Thomas Stallworth (D). The second session was hosted by Rebecca Bahar-Cook (D) and Julie Maday (R).

Students also had the opportunity to submit their own questions to moderators, some of which were selected for the candidates to respond to.

The event was purely informational, allowing people to get to know the candidates and hear them speak on various issues.

Based on original reporting by Demonte Thomas, Emilio Perez Ibarguen and Anish Topiwala.