Written By || Mallory Glynn; Student, Minnesota State University, Mankato
During each heritage and history month, Students United welcomes the opportunity to share the diverse voices of students across the seven Minnesota State universities. The opinions reflected are their own. To be featured in an upcoming heritage/history month blog, please contact Abeer Syedah at asyedah@studentsunited.org.
Haŋ mitakuyapi! My name is Mallory Glynn and I am the 2019-2020 President of the Native American Student Association at Minnesota State University, Mankato. I identify as a two-spirit individual, a lesbian and a person of European and Dakota ancestry. I am a descendant of the Yankton Sioux Nation of South Dakota through my father.
(From left to right.) Mallory Glynn, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and Dominik Drabent pose for a photo at American Indian Night at MSU Mankato.
To begin to discuss the idea of being Native within Mankato is something that comes with talking about the tragedy and pain of the region for the Dakota people. To be specifically Dakota here in Mankato is something that I could imagine my ancestors only dreaming of. This place here at Mankato is our homeland and it is one of the places we come from in this world. This place is also a location of tragedy, regarding the US-Dakota War and the hanging of the Dakota 38 in retaliation for the war. This tragedy is not lost within the students; we have multiple Dakota and Indigenous students who are working on making sure this story and the history of the location is heard.
Within the University there is a support system for Native and Indigenous students who need it, regarding not only mental and physical health, but also spiritual health. We have not only the American Indigenous Studies program and faculty, but the American Indian Affairs office, the Native American Student Association and the MNSU Powwow Committee. We also have our community within the city of Mankato and our elders. All of these organizations and people are support for any student who identifies as Native and regardless of enrollment or acknowledgement status, they are welcome. I find joy in having these people here at the University. These people and resources allow us to grow as people, and one of our large events for the fall is something that we all come together for.
On Monday, November 11th, 2019, we had American Indian Night on campus. For this event, we always try to bring a keynote speaker who is important to the community and this year we had the honor of bringing our Lieutenant Governor, Peggy Flanagan to MSNU. Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan is a member of the White Earth Nation and is the highest elected Native Woman in office across all 50 states. Bringing her to campus was something that I personally worked on with our Director, Megan Heutmaker and our AIS Director, Dr. Rhonda Dass. It was an obvious choice in trying to bring her as our keynote because since her election last year, she has been a driving force for Indigenous representation within the State of Minnesota. In her speech, she spoke about how at the Capitol, her job is to do the work the communities desperately need and “…hold the door open for you” while referencing the five Indigenous graduates that were also honored during this event. AIS and AIA have five graduates for the 2019-2020-year: three undergraduate and two graduate.
To be able to simply have this event, and have the opportunity to bring an Indigenous Woman of high standing to our campus is something that I never dreamed of when I came to MNSU. I imagined I would get involved on campus with the Native Community, but never to the point I am now. As Native people, we discuss how our ancestors are proud of us and how they guide us to where we need to be in the world. I can honestly say that I know for a fact, our ancestors are confident in who they placed here in Mankato. Our executive board for NASA is all indigenous women and driven to do what we can to make our ancestors proud of the place we now call home here in Mankato.