{"id":17755,"date":"2021-11-08T11:57:45","date_gmt":"2021-11-08T16:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=17755"},"modified":"2021-11-08T12:17:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T17:17:19","slug":"msu-news-montana-state-university-celebrates-new-american-indian-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/11\/08\/msu-news-montana-state-university-celebrates-new-american-indian-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"MSU News: Montana State University celebrates new American Indian Hall"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Grand<\/a>
Dancers lead a processional to a opening ceremony for the American Indian Hall at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, on October 16, 2021. MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez<\/figcaption>\r\n
MSU celebrates \u2018a promise kept, a dream fulfilled\u2019 with opening of American Indian Hall<\/div>\r\n
Monday, November 8, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Carol Schmidt<\/div>\r\n
MSU News Service<\/div>\r\n
montana.edu\/news<\/A><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nCalling it \u201cthe finest building of its type in America and the world,\u201d Montana State University President Waded Cruzado opened the university\u2019s long-anticipated American Indian Hall at colorful and often joyous ceremonies on Saturday, October 16.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cToday we make history at Montana State University,\u201d Cruzado said. She explained that exactly three years ago MSU announced the gifts that launched the construction of the $20 million facility. \u201cWe said then that the building of MSU\u2019s American Indian Hall would be a promise kept and a dream fulfilled. Today, I am so proud to say, \u2018mission accomplished.\u2019\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAcknowledging that the university sits on ancestral lands of many tribes, Cruzado welcomed home the members of Montana\u2019s Indigenous community who attended the ceremonies, many in Native regalia. They were among the more than 1,000 people who basked in the warm October morning.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cI want to say thank you to the hundreds, if not thousands of people, who have been unwavering in the belief in the American Indian Hall project,\u201d Cruzado said. \u201cYour prayers and commitment brought us to where we are today. We thank you for your loyalty and love of Montana State. This building is a reality because of you. May your children and your children\u2019s children find a home here as well.\u201d\r\n

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People get their first views of the interior of the American Indian Hall at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, on Saturday, October 16, 2021. MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nThe event began with a grand procession to the new 31,000-square-foot building down the university\u2019s Michael P. Malone Centennial Mall from the current American Indian Center. The 1,100-square-foot AIC, located in the basement of Wilson Hall, has been home to MSU\u2019s American Indian students for more than 40 years. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nSaturday\u2019s procession, which was a pleasure for the eye and ear, was led by a Native American veteran honor guard carrying the American flag followed by flag bearers for the state and Montana\u2019s 12 tribal nations, fancy dancers, jingle dress dancers, traditional dancers, representatives from Montana\u2019s eight reservations and other tribes in the region, alumni, friends, donors and friends of MSU\u2019s Indian community.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nWalter Fleming, the director of the Department of Native American Studies and member of the Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, who served as master of ceremonies for the event, said the day was about a new era for MSU Native American programs. He also acknowledged the decades-long journey to opening the doors of the facility that will be home to the record 811 Native American and Native Alaskan students enrolled at MSU this year.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cToday it is about new beginnings as we walk through the doors to the building that will belong to our young people,\u201d Fleming said, \u201cSomeday, they will look back and recognize how important this day was.\u201d\r\n

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Walter Fleming, right, welcomes people to the American Indian Hall at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, on Saturday, October 16, 2021. MSU photo by Kelly Gorham<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nCruzado was joined at the podium by Henrietta Mann, a nationally recognized tribal elder enrolled with the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and MSU professor emeritus who helped build MSU\u2019s reputation nationally in Native American education when she became the first Endowed Katz Family Chair in Native American Studies. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nMontana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, who spoke about the importance of education for Native American issues nationwide, said the American Indian Hall holds out its hand to the Native American \u201cpeople of this state and this country and says \u2018come.\u2019\u201d\r\n

<\/p>\r\nCruzado credited the work of the five MSU presidents who preceded her: Leon Johnson, Carl McIntosh, William Tietz, Michael Malone and Geoff Gamble. She detailed how each, beginning in the 1960s, took steps that built a foundation MSU Native American programs and enrollment.\r\n

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