About 40 members of the Syracuse University community gathered on the Quad Monday to encourage the recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Columbus Day.

The members — some indigenous and some not — said recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day will “create a sustainably inclusive atmosphere on campus” and possibly increase enrollment of indigenous peoples at the university. The Indigenous Students at Syracuse, which aims to “create visibility and awareness of indigenous culture and issues,” organized the rally.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day at SU would celebrate indigenous culture, a student at the rally said.

Some of those in attendance at the rally held signs saying, “We are still here,” “Celebrating Indigenous Survival” and “It’s a great day to be Indigenous.”

As SU students and faculty members passed by the rally, some signed a petition to bring recognition to the day, which is intended to replace Columbus Day. Currently, SU, along with most of its peer institutions, does not formally recognize Columbus Day.

Only four of SU’s peer institutions formally recognize the holiday: Northeastern University, Boston University, Georgetown University and Boston College.

A Change.org petition was created Sunday night for the cause and received about 400 signatures, as of Monday night. Combining the Change.org petition numbers with the amount of written signatures Monday on the Quad would put the total over 500, a woman working the petition table said.

“This day would honor the unlikely survival and resilience of over 567 distinct peoples, cultures, and traditions,” the Change.org petition reads. “As a neighbor to the Onondaga and Oneida Peoples, Syracuse University holds a unique and politically diplomatic position to address this change.”

The letter that accompanies the Change.org petition is addressed to the SU Board of Trustees, University College Dean Bea González and Syracuse University.

There are 125 American Native or Alaska Native students at SU, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

Vicky Zhou, a junior psychology major, said she attended the rally because she wanted to support her friends who are indigenous.

“Clearly no matter what race you are, there are a lot of different students coming out here and actively wanting to know about Native American culture and that really means something because that means students actually care about the native people,” she said.

Published on October 12, 2015 at 10:08 pm

Contact Justin: jmatting@syr.edu | @jmattingly306