UConn, Connecticut's 5 Recognized Tribes Launching Historic Partnership

Dec 18, 2024

The University of Connecticut (UConn) and the five recognized Tribes in CT are launching a historic partnership, envisioning wide-ranging collaborations in academic and research pursuits, economic development, community service, and cultural enrichment.

Such a comprehensive agreement is the first of its kind on the East Coast between Tribal Nations and a university. The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), which was two years in the making, was met with applause, embraces, and more than a few tears of happiness when it was presented recently to UConn’s Board of Trustees by citizens and representatives of the Eastern Pequot, Golden Hill Paugussett, Mashantucket Pequot, Mohegan, and Schaghticoke Tribal Nations.

UConn is seeking to position UConn Avery Point as a Native American-Serving, Nontribal Institution (NASNTI), a federal designation earned when at least 10% of the undergraduate population of a campus identifies as Native American and/or Alaska Native. That would make UConn only the fourth institution east of the Mississippi River to have a campus with NASNTI designation.

Connecticut, whose name is derived from the Algonquin word Quinnehtukqut – meaning roughly, “beside the long tidal river” — will benefit for generations to come from the expertise and commitment that the Tribes and University will bring to bear, officials said.

“Connecticut: It’s a word of our founding language. How appropriate that the flagship university that bears this name will be the first college that respectfully involves Tribal Nations here, today and beyond, to teach and learn about ourselves on our own land, including our language, history, politics, arts, and sciences,” Beth Regan, Chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribe Council of Elders, said at the trustees meeting.

“At the same time, we will bring our Indigenous knowledge of the ancient stories and ways of this land, as well as the Native perspective on Connecticut in an informed way from its first peoples,” she said.

The MOA also includes strategies to increase recruitment, enrollment, and retention of Native American and Indigenous students throughout UConn and, especially, at Avery Point.

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