Yesterday, while the rest of the nation observed Columbus Day, a racially and ethnically diverse group of people packed into the International Center for a discussion in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, a celebration of the thriving culture of the native peoples of America.
Notices around campus announced the dinner discussion with the phrase, "Fighting Terrorism Since 1492."
Native Americans at Princeton, a student organization, sponsored the event in conjunction with the Frist Campus Center and the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality.
Native Americans make up .7 percent of the University's undergraduate population.
Leading the discussion was Dr. Geraldine Gutwein — mother of Rachel Gutwein '04 and a professor of English at the Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania — who grew up on a Sioux reservation in South Dakota.
The discussion focused on how Columbus Day should be celebrated, if at all, and why.
"Is it just a day we're talking about in terms of a name change?" Gutwein asked rhetorically. "It's much deeper."
To facilitate the debate, she handed out two counterpoint opinion pieces that appeared in Monday's Daily Princetonian — one anti-Columbus Day, by Christopher Francis '05, and one pro-Columbus Day by Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky '04.
Columbus proved to be a problematic icon for those present.
Gutwein pointed out what she saw as the disparity between the myth of a perfect Columbus and the lesser reality.
"Columbus is a man who has come to symbolize not only discovering, but also what happens as a result of discovery," Gutwein said. "We're celebrating an image, and that image should be celebrated, but it's a lie."
Francis, president of Native Americans at Princeton, said he struggled with the need to conform to both the proand anti-Columbus cultures to which he belongs.
"I am an American, not just a Native American," Francis said, "The country I have citizenship to still chooses to celebrate this man."
One of the options proposed was to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day not instead of Columbus Day but along with it. Others wondered whether the day has lost its meaning for Americans, who now simply consider it a good day off.
Francis said that although his group had considered holding an academic panel discussion, there is a dearth of experts in Native American academia. Not a single professor at the University is Native American, for instance, nor is there a department of Native American studies.
Francis said that the difficulty Native American students have in adjusting to the University environment varies depending on where they come from.
"If they come from the reservations it takes longer to adapt," he said.
Though students recognize that the administration has expressed support and provided funds for the group, there remains a feeling of isolation.
"There's a sense of marginalization," Willow Miller-Young GS said. She said that when people find out that she is Native American, they react with surprise or even disbelief.
Several students said they would summarize the problem in the fact that, in his column, Ramos-Mrosovsky placed "Native Americans at Princeton" in quotes — to them, a form of delegitimization.
"Oftentimes we are very, very silent. How can we get our voices heard?" Gutwein asked.
"I've heard people say, 'Stop being a victim,'" she said.
But she said she views Indigenous Peoples Day as "time to speak out, have history heard and acknowledged."
Gutwein applauded the students who organized the event, calling them the "young voice for the very quiet few who are left."
The dinner was followed by a drum circle featuring the group Silvercloud.
Francis said Native Americans at Princeton fluctuates in membership year to year, depending on the number of Native Americans on campus.
"There is always a presence on campus," he said. There were seven students present at the dinner who were Native American.
Francis said that the group sponsors study breaks and other get-togethers. The tradition of holding an event on Columbus Day began last year.
"We felt it was necessary to do something on this particular day," Francis said.
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