I had a great weekend in Eugene! Thank you to the University of Oregon NALSA for inviting me to speak at the first Summit of Northwest American Indian Law (SNAIL). It is always great to come back to the law school and see friends and colleagues and talk with law students. The Summit was focussed on moving beyond land acknowledgement.
Oregon Law Summit
Jason Younker, Assistant Vice President, Advisor to the President on Sovereignty and Government-to-Government Relations, provided the opening remarks and did provide a land acknowledgement. The University of Oregon provides the following for the Eugene campus:
The University of Oregon is located on Kalapuya Ilihi, the traditional indigenous homeland of the Kalapuya people. Following treaties between 1851 and 1855, Kalapuya people were dispossessed of their indigenous homeland by the United States government and forcibly removed to the Coast Reservation in Western Oregon. Today, descendants are citizens of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians of Oregon, and continue to make important contributions in their communities, at UO, and across the land we now refer to as Oregon.
We express our respect for all federally recognized tribal nations of Oregon. This includes the Burns Paiute Tribe; the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians; the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon; the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon; the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs; the Coquille Indian Tribe; the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians; and the Klamath Tribes. We also express our respect for all other displaced Indigenous peoples who call Oregon home.
I spoke on a panel with fellow Oregon Law alums Caleb Norris from Hobbs Straus Dean & Walker and Elaine Albrich from Davis Wright Tremaine about our experience practicing Indian Law, and challenges and opportunities ahead. We spoke about our experience in private practice. It was an interesting conversation since I have been fortunate to work as in-house counsel for a municipal government and as outside counsel. I was able to bring these perspectives to help law students consider the path they might take after law school. And share about my journey from Eugene to Barrow (Utqiagvik) AK and back. I also spoke about the challenges graduating into the economic recession in 2009, while Caleb shared his experience graduating in May 2020.
Tim Simmons, Counsel for Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, and Vanessa Jackson, General Counsel for Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, spoke about their experience working in-house for Tribes, and their experience being somewhat new to the roles.
We had a keynote presentation by the former National Park Service Director Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III, Senior Fellow, Native Environmental Sovereignty Project, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center, Oregon Tribes Scholar-in-Residence, University of Oregon School of Law. He provided a wide range of context, from Creator to the history of federal Indian law and the impacts on Tribes particularly in Oregon through the termination era and restoration and adaptation into the future. We ended the day with a reception in the Many Nations Longhouse and an opportunity to connect with colleagues. It was really a great event. I look forward to the next one.
Since I was in Eugene, I attended the home opener for the Oregon Women’s Lacrosse team. I had to leave early in the third quarter to make the Summit, and the team was down by a lot. I was really excited that they made an epic comeback and overtime victory! (And a little disappointed that I missed it.)
I also attended a women’s basketball game against Ohio State. It was great to be back at Matthew Knight arena! It was funny to see a <om in the Ducks store, in full Ohio State gear shopping with her kids for Ducks gear. I asked her about the split loyalty and she wanted to show her support for former Duck, Chance Gray. But her family was making her sit far away from them.
Go Ducks! 💛💚
Some photos from the weekend:
