The Inaugural Native American Symposium at Santa Clara University focused on the Challenges of the Federal Recognition Process and was held on Friday, May 5, 2023 from 9:30am - 4:30pm at the Mayer Theatre on the SCU campus.

This newly developed symposium was planned in collaboration with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area and co-presented by SCU’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion, de Saisset Museum, Community Heritage Lab, and Center for the Arts and Humanities.

The symposium is just one component of the University’s ongoing collaboration with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, and is intended to bring greater dialogue and civic engagement to the campus community and regional community. SCU sees the importance of providing a space in which Native leaders and community members come together with academics and others to explore themes and issues important to Native community partners; a responsibility that is important for all Bay Area institutions. 

The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is not federally recognized, which is true for many of California’s Native tribes that were colonized into the mission system as well as other tribal communities whose ancestral territory is located throughout present-day California.

Symposium was FREE and open to the community. 

The full recording of the Symposium is now available and links to the two Powerpoint presentations are listed below in the meeting agenda. 

If you have questions, please reach out to Lauren Baines (lbaines@scu.edu) and/or Ray Plaza (rplaza@scu.edu).