The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Vermont hosted a panel discussion on April 16 in the Silver Maple Room of the Davis Center to highlight the collaborations between the university and the four Vermont Abenaki tribes and other indigenous people. The event, titled “Highlighting Abenaki: UVM Collaborations that Bridge Communities,” was moderated by Dean William Falls of the College, who welcomed attendees and read the university’s Land Acknowledgement, which he noted was created in collaboration with Abenaki leaders. Dean Falls also reminded those in attendance of the university’s principles of academic freedom, stressing that academic freedom is not solely a right or privilege of the faculty, but is the fulfillment of the obligation on the part of the university to provide an atmosphere in which intellectual growth may take place. 

Panel members were Sherwood Smith, senior executive director of inclusive excellence and faculty engagement at UVM’s Division of Diversity, Equity and inclusion, and a member of the College of Education and Social Services faculty; John Crock, associate professor of anthropology and the College of Arts and Sciences’ director of the Consulting Archaeology Program; Kris Stepenuck, UVM Extension associate professor in the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources and associate professor and Extension Program leader for the Lake Champlain Sea Grant; Jess Rubin, Myco-Phytoremediation Research Technician in the Department of Plant and Soil Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; and Katherine Elmer, lecturer in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences  and the Osher Center for Integrative Health.

Professor Smith began the panel discussion highlighting the UVM Summer Happenings program with Missisquoi Valley Union High School. The program involved introducing Abenaki students in Vermont to the university experience by providing resources, mentoring, and guidance. Over approximately 30 years the program saw many Abenaki students go on to attend post-secondary colleges and universities, including UVM. Smith also highlighted Blackboard Jungle, which began in 2017 and was designed as a professional development opportunity for faculty and staff at the university. The program included bringing indigenous speakers to connect the UVM and Abenaki communities. The Division of Diversity, Engagement, and Inclusion has built on these experiences by sponsoring an annual event for Indigenous Peoples Day. Smith also cited the considerable inventory of films available for streaming at the UVM library that has served as a resource for people learn and gain better understanding of the experiences of indigenous people. “These are personalized relationships that we've worked on throughout the years to both provide greater education in terms of our mission around recognition and acknowledgement of history and also to expand our campus’ knowledge of the different issues that have been raised for indigenous people,” Smith shared.

Professor Crock spoke from the standpoint of his field of research and education in the field of archeology. Crock spoke of a former professor and mentor, Professor emeritus William Haviland, who set about ingdocument the archeological past of the area in his 1981 book, Original Vermonters. It was the first work of its kind to document the archeological history of the indigenous peoples of Vermont, dispelling the established notions among many Vermonters that native peoples did not previously inhabit this region. Haviland was able to link the archeological past to the present. Faculty here at UVM continue to add to this knowledge, Crock noted, refining the data and correcting some aspects, and showing that indigenous peoples have been here for more than 12,500 years, at a time when the Champlain Basin was a saltwater sea, connected via the St. Lawrence to the open ocean. Crock spoke of archeologist’s goal to preserve important parts of these native people’s past, doing the best that they can to collaborate with native people. “I’ve certainly learned a lot interacting with Vermont Abenaki in my time here,” he said. Crock told a story of a time when human remains were found during a house excavation and how UVM faculty and students volunteered for weeks to sift soil to uncover any remains so that every fragment of bone could be identified and reburied. 

“I’ve been privileged to work with and learn from indigenous people beginning about 20 years ago,” began Associate Professor Kris Stepenuck, as she recounted her work on and around Lake Champlain – known to the Abenaki as Pitawbagw, meaning “the waters between.” As extension leader of the Lake Champlain Sea Grant, Stepenuck supports research projects to deliver science-based information intended to benefit the environment, communities, and economies of the Lake Champlain Basin. Stepenuck recounted working with Abenaki Chief Don Stevens and others to share indigenous creation stories of Lake Champlain as part of their education in classes and on educational trips on the lake. Her work has included hosting a panel discussion for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, during which Abenaki tribal members shared their perspective about water—always seeking to invite indigenous perspectives. One of these perspectives she learned and shared with attendees concerned road salt – a substance whose overuse is viewed today as problem for nearby plants whereas, when Lake Champlain was a salt-water body, certain native plants like sweetgrass would have thrived in a salty environment and continue to do well today in those “problematic” conditions. Today the Lake Champlain Sea Grant co-funds an indigenous educator position, currently held by Chief Don Stevens, providing watershed education programs and bringing indigenous knowledge to the public. 

Jess Rubin shared her work to bridge the scientific community and the indigenous communities with humility and reverence. “The field of ecological restoration, I learned from scholars, is much more aptly deemed ecological reconciliation, because technically we can’t bring back the 90 plus percent of indigenous people that were killed and displaced, nor their life ways, nor return the species and ecosystems that have been damaged,” Rubin shared. “But we can reconcile that slowly through generations.” Rubin explained how an article she published with Associate Professor Josef Görres on ecological reconciliation recognized the need to repair the social injustice that accompanies ecological devastation. Rubin also spoke about her research and learning from Abenaki elders on the importance of cyclical harvesting, both for reducing phosphorus intake in plants and for allowing pollinators and wildlife to thrive. In her slide presentation she shared her five principles for reciprocal collaboration with the Original Peoples: decolonizing your mind; know your histories; decolonize access; decolonize expertise; practice ethical ecology in inclusive teams. Rubin concluded her remarks by asking, “individually and collectively, what opportunities do we have to facilitate reparations as members of a land grant university?”

The final speaker of the panel was Katherine Elmer, who is a clinically trained herbalist who focused her remarks on teaching traditional knowledge, acknowledging that she is a white-bodied person on stolen land. She talked about teaching her students about “unpacking Eurocentrism.” Elmer explained that  one of the pieces of erased history that are engaged with when exploring the history of medicinal plants of indigenous people is the series of laws passed nationally in the 1800s that made it illegal for indigenous people to practice their religion, to have artifacts to practice their religion, and even to access their sacred lands. This was not corrected until 1978 under President Jimmy Carter, when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed. Elmer partners with Alnôbaiwi, a non-profit located in Burlington on the former Ethan Allen Homestead dedicated to preserving Vermont Abenaki cultural heritage. Through partnership with gardeners there, Elmer is able to do plant sharing, and assist in the construction of an agroforestry buffer.  Elmer has worked with indigenous people to create a medicinal plan garden, labelled with Abenaki plant names, at Jeffords Hall on the UVM campus. Elmer concluded her remarks by noting current controversial discussions on heritage that are made worse by a colonial border which impedes healing conversations. 

The panelists then took questions which had been submitted by attendees. Dean Falls remarked how he was struck by the generosity of the indigenous people that panelists interacted with. Panelists reflected on this, and Kris Stepenuck shared: “I really feel indebted to each and every indigenous person, Abenaki person, who is been willing to share their knowledge, knowing that me and likely many others are coming from positions of no knowledge or very limited knowledge. It's a very giving space that they exist within.”