AISC Director

Congratulations Madison,

You are walking down an important path of being the next American Indian Student Commission Director. It’s my honor and privilege to be able to greet you not just as an intern or director but as an Indigenous knowledge keeper and innovator at the University of Washington. You stand on the shoulders of some amazing past AISC directors; Eric Alipio, Danielle Lucero, Damon Cunningham, Sharayh Lane, Savannah Romero, Rani Williams, Brittany Barrett, Shanoa Pinkham, Joseph Dupris, Emma Noyes, Stephan Selam, and many more since the creation.

People will tell you that this next upcoming 21-22 year will be different, but every year is different, that’s the power of student advocacy. You don’t need to please anyone except yourself and the community you hold yourself to. As Indigenous people, this is second nature.

As we begin to return to in-person event planning, activism, and advocacy, keep in mind the positive aspects of the virtual space regarding accessibility to all people. This can be a make-or-break moment for someone attending or it can be a kind gesture to those who like to be able to view an event at any time like a panel. However, keep the traditions of potlatch alive, sometimes the best events don’t need to be recorded, shared, or invited widely. Use your strengths as a young leader to make those decisions. Again, for your community but most importantly yourself.

As I entered the pandemic and took on this position as being director, my biggest goal was to rehire for this position at the end of the year. I knew if I was to continue the work in my community, I needed to facilitate a learning environment with my interns that stemmed from healthy relations rather than a task-based relationship. I know that you will exceed my expectations of you, you already have, and I can’t wait to see what you do at the end of 2022 year.

That being said, the most important thing you can do is to create a vision plan or roadmap for what you’d like to do. If you want to focus more on advocacy through the senate do that! If you want to focus more on collaborations do that! If you want to put on the best potlatch west of the cascades you can do that! Find what you want to do, and your interns will follow. But remember to work up to it. We didn’t achieve the virtual powwow road trip by blindly doing it, it was built on our knowledge and diligent planning. Doing so, rewarded us greatly.

Lastly, this job was one of the most rewarding things I’ve done at UW because I was able to work with you and the dream team. You really get to see people grow and become the future of the seven generations to come. Have fun, get out there, and show them what it means to be coastal.

Sincerely,
Owen L. Oliver

Your UW Net ID is “asuwaisc@uw.edu“. And your password is “2018ASUWrulz!“, which you can change with the help of your SAO adviser. This is the most crucial login as it allows you to access google drive and gmail. Within the drive are a ton of notes, plans, programs, and more login information to various sites.

I’d highly recommend changing the password as soon as you find your way into google drive and gmail. To reset passwords contact asuwtech@uw.edu or your SAO adviser (most likely Christina Coop).

If you are trying to edit the ASUW AISC website: aisc.asuw.org/ contact asuwtech@uw.edu as well! They are extremely helpful.

Details about your office phone should be given to you at the beginning of the year or at orientation. If you have not received these instructions please feel free to ask your Personnel Director, SAO adviser or contact asuwtech@uw.edu.

I’ve have made a store of all logins and passwords in the google drive titled “Login Information” under the “2019-2020” Folder. This includes sites like Canva, Facebook, and Instagram.

ASUW also uses slack as a primary source of communication this is the link https://asuwseattle.slack.com/

You will have meetings with several entities, (this can be found in the next section) these count towards your weekly hours but you will need to also have office hours. This past year, the office has been the virtual space but the physical office is a healing space for students. You will need to update your office hours each week. Sunday night is the deadline. Here is the link for office hours: hours.asuw.org/

One of your weekly to do’s will to update the other commissions and the Director of Diversity Efforts at JCC meetings. This past year, we would do this by updating a weekly PowerPoint but you’ll find more details about these meetings in the first quarter.

Quarterly Goals can be directly related to the events you are working on, resolutions you see that can make a greater change for American Indian/ Alaska Native students (or students in general).  It’s a nice remind yourself of these goals throughout the year and also can give you something to celebrate when they’re accomplished. The Diversity Chair also sits down with you to create these goals at the beginning of each quarter. Previous directors recommended reviewing the goals you set at the beginning of the year and I feel that is a good strategy to reground yourself.

Student Advisory Board (SAB) (Mondays at 4 PM) , Joint Commission Committee (JCC) (TBD each quarter), SAO Adviser, ASUW Student Senate (Tuesdays at 5PM),  Tribal Liason at the Intellectual House (TBD each quarter), First Nations (Usually Wednesdays at 6PM).

AND….

SACNAS usually has one meeting at the beginning of each quarter. Check your email to stay updated! As for NALSA, they also have quarter meetings. You will need to get in contact with them ASAP as Fall starts. This is the best way to stay in touch and to keep them in the loop. AISES is another group that may establish meetings at the beginning of Fall quarter and the Native Business group is another org that started to meet on Mondays in Spring 2k18.

Medicine Wheel Society (MWS) is another group that would be helpful to build a relationship with. NOIS is also another group that has more casual coffee/happy hour meetups.

Often the best way to find out about any of these groups events is through Facebook. There may be times when RSOs need your help for navigating programming,  here is link to some important RSO forms http://depts.washington.edu/thehub/sao/rso-forms/

*I highly recommend developing relationships with your fellow JCC members and figuring out intersections between each to really maximize the diversity of events and the audience of your events.

Native American Heritage Month

Native American Heritage Month happens during November where you can plan events that promotes identity and cultural awareness. I feel like there is opportunity to really program for this month to celebrate Indigenous excellence but it takes a team so I encourage getting that together as soon as the quarter starts.

Taking Back the Dinner

Taking Back the Dinner usually happens right before thanks-taking and it is usually between your constituents and any other constituents you want to invite. In past year a story teller came to tell a couple of stories.  This past year we had around 50 students come and learn Fry Bread skills and also eat other Indigenous centered foods.

Sidenote: because this event occurs during Native American Heritage month, you will receive lots of requests to talk about what “Thanksgiving” means to you. I was very cautious about who I spoke with and what I wanted to share. Our knowledge is sacred.

AISC Winter Event

Traditonally, the ASUW has sponsored a Winter Powwow. Winter Powwow is an event that has been going on for years at the UW. If you find that another large event would be better suited for the current cultural and campus climate, I highly encourage you pursue that.

Virtual Powwow Road Trip 

KickAss: Women’s Self-Defense Workshop: Instructed by Jey Seung, we collaborated with SARVA to talk about violence against Native women and help build prevention skills

Strengthening Native Alliance and Community: This is a quarterly event that had plans for things like archery nights, movie nights, downtown trips, lunches, BBQs, talent shows, and more. Our SNAC event at the beginning of the year is usually at the HUB Game area. This program really is just a space for Native students, faculty, staff, and allies to get to know one another and build community.

Shimba Mawum: A weekly open office hour to talk about Indigenous identity

Native Professional Development Night: An event to foster off-campus connections with Native alumni and provide opportunity for Native students to work on their resumes, ask questions about Native experiences in the workplace, and more.

Talking Circles: A weekly meeting for Native folks to engage with more culturally relevant mental health practices. This a supplement to whatever resources the students are pursuing (like counseling within the Counseling Center or Hall Health). On a rotating basis of womxn, men, two-spirit, and all gender meetings, we invite community Elders to facilitate meetings with the students. We usually have a reserved space within Hall Health.

There is lots of opportunity to expand on any of these programs and also build your own. There is a blank event planning sheet in the google drive. I did my best to record all ideas, tentative plans, and completed events in the google drive. You can find the “Events and Programming” information in both the folders marked “2018-2019” and “2019-2020” of the google drive.

Other important forms you may need are the food permit form https://depts.washington.edu/ehas/pubcookie/prod/foodpermit/client/atfs.php to serve food at an event and a UUF https://depts.washington.edu/sprogram/uuf-info/uuf-request-form/ when events include fundraising or have off campus guests.

Also, if you need food for an event, we are not allowed to purchase it with our budget, however, the HUB director Justin has money set aside for supporting student events with food. His email is: jcamp77@uw.edu. You can also have a department/RSO co-sponsor your event for food (i.e. you pay for the facility and program, they pay for the food)

The Office of Volunteers can advertise for any volunteer positions you need. Just fill out their google forms which are located on their website http://volunteer.asuw.org/

“American Indian/Alaska Native” is a legal term that will be used a lot to describe the AISC Constituency. When writing “legislation” and talking with faculty/staff/administration about change, I will usually use this term. At the UW, there are about 300 American Indian/Alaska Native students, making up less than 1% of the population (I think our community is only about 0.4% of the UW population). This 300 includes both graduate and undergraduate students.

There are many students who have ties to their nations and tribes, but because of rules of blood quantum and lineage (forms of colonialism), they can not obtain “official” status as citizens of their tribes. Other Native peoples have been denied their legitimacy as a nation/tribe and continue to fight to obtain federally recognized status. My point is that the absolute definition of your constituency is complex and elusive.

You should try to get interns as soon as you can because they can offer valuable insight. Try to reach out to multiple places in order to gain as many  applications as you can. You would also want to have meeting with your interns. This way it is easy to delegate tasks. Overall, they are one of your many support groups. I would also recommend next year having someone specifically focus on advertising and media (keeping the FB and website up and also spreading the word about your events). Additionally, having a senate lead is extremely helpful.

Be prepared with taking notes because some issues that come from your meeting impacts your constituents. Also make sure your are ready ahead of time with entity reports and other updates that you might have to give.

Some important resources to know:

http://www.washington.edu/counseling/

https://www.washington.edu/counseling/services/emergencies/

I’d recommend having a general ideas of all resources on campus as you can. For example, having basic info on the IC, IH, ECC, OMAD, Writing Center, Hall Health, Counseling Center, CAIIS, the Burke, and the CIC.

Also, be sure to talk with your RSOs for more resources to add to your resource compendium.

There are lots of communities to build relationships with including Daybreak Star which where you can go to a sweat. The Chief Seattle Club provides a safe and sacred place to rest, revive, and nurture the spirit of urban Native peoples in need. Seattle Indian Health Board is a great place to receive health care specific to Native populations. It would also be great to build a relationship with Clearsky Native Youth Council. Local elders like Roger Fernandes and Paul Wagner are also excellent resources. There is also a strong group of Native Poets in the area such as Celeste Adame, Sara Marie Ortiz and Cassandra Lopez.