Two Kutztown University student organizations want to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the university calendar.
Diversity Council and Vote Everywhere seek support in a petition to the KU Calendar Committee for a holiday celebrating the indigenous peoples of North America and to serve as a counter-celebration to Columbus Day, promoting Native American culture and commemorating the history of Native American peoples, according to the www.change.org petition posted by KU senior Michael “Nykolai” Blichar Jr., from Palmerton.
Blichar is ambassador for Vote Everywhere, a national, non-partisan, civic engagement movement of student leaders and university partners. He is also co-chairperson of the Diversity Council, a diversity-focused standing committee of the KU Student Government Board that serves as a forum to address concerns that diverse communities face at Kutztown University and beyond.
Vote Everywhere and Diversity Council plan to present this holiday change petition to the University Calendar Committee in the beginning of the spring semester. They encourage other related organizations in PASSHE and the State to build this movement and push their communities to recognize Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Blichar said.
“Across the nation, there has been a push to recognize the hardships and cultural traditions of Indigenous Peoples. Christopher Columbus Day often neglects the struggles that Indigenous People faced when European settlers came to the Americas,” Blichar told The Patriot. “Students at Kutztown University in particular wanted to follow this movement in recognizing a day that is more inclusive to Indigenous Peoples and commemorates their culture and unique history.”
Blichar started the www.change.org petition with a single signature, and now has 137 supporters. He seeks a total of 200 signatures.
“I have received nothing but positive reactions and supportive responses from administrators, students, staff, and faculty. The only difficulty that Vote Everywhere and Diversity Council has faced is getting more people to engage with the petition and sign it.”
A few comments posted on the www.change.org petition page include the following.
“We, as a country, neglect the hardships that Native Americans had to face, and it’s time we change this,” posted Rebecca Schultz, Kutztown.
Raul De La Selva from San Jose, Calif., posted, “Enough is enough! Stop perpetuating the lie! Christopher Columbus DID NOT DISCOVER ANYTHING!!! The World has been known and explored since ancient times by the Natives and their ancestors. They all are the TRUE DISCOVERERS of the so called American Continent. It belongs to them by natural law of possession and has been taken away from them by invasions. October 12 belongs to the Native People of the American Continent as a whole, from the North Pole down to the Tierra de Fuego and the South Pole. We should erase the historical mistake about Christopher Columbus and his fairy tale as being the ‘discoverer of America.’ Enough stupidity is enough!”
Deborah Carl from Allentown posted, “Columbus was a slave trader and murderer of the Native peoples of this country. He should in no way be celebrated by the people of the USA.”
Donna DiMella of Silverdale, PA, posted, “We should honor the Native Americans of this country in every way possible including reparations. It is a travesty that we continue to ‘celebrate’ the man who represents the beginning of centuries of injustices against the indigenous folks of North America.”
Francois Bessing of Allentown posted, “I’m signing because after studying American history and knowing the truth, I cannot in good conscience celebrate Columbus Day. I fully support the petition to change Colombia Day to Indigenous People’s Day.”
Lisa Ladd-Kidder of Kutztown posted, “Read ‘Lies my Teacher Told Me’ by Loewen. The havoc that Columbus brought to the new world was incredible. But we were never taught the whole story. Columbus should not be celebrated in any way because of his abuse and enslavement of native peoples.”
Christopher Carl of Allentown posted, “I’m signing this petition because I have firmly believed that this day shouldn’t celebrate a person who brought sorrow and despair… It needs to be switched to show recognition and celebrate a culture and the people who have been and continue to be wronged by this country.”
Marni Bowen of Fleetwood posted, “It is about time the indigenous peoples of these United States be recognized.”
Michael Shaw of Kutztown posted, “Columbus as well as numerous other European proxy ‘explorers’ brought untold misery to indigenous people. Knowing our history compels us to change this.”
Blichar said, “Personally, as an advocate and activist for marginalized groups on campus, this would mean a victory for inclusion and recognition of the experiences that different groups of people have and experience.”
He believes this would be a step forward in creating an ever more inclusive KU campus.
“For the campus community, the change that I would like to see is the campus community coming together to recognize the history and culture of Indigenous Peoples. As a higher institution, exposing students to a variety of new movements and cultures is important and crucial to their development as a student who is civically engaged and knowledgeable of the world around them,” he said.
On the state and national level, Blichar said he would love to eventually see a push to recognize Christopher Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day.
“I believe it is finally time to commemorate the experiences, struggles, and history of Native Peoples instead of ignoring that fact as we have in the past.”
Blichar hopes the KU movement can be applied to other schools in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Eduction to adopt.
Vote Everywhere is a national, non-partisan, civic engagement movement of student leaders and university partners.
According to Blichar, “The program provides extensive training, resources, as well as a peer network to support its Ambassadors while they work to register voters, bring down voting barriers, and tackle important social justice issues on their college campuses.”
The Diversity Council, he said, is a diversity-focused standing committee of the KU Student Government Board that serves as a forum to address the concerns that diverse communities face at Kutztown University and beyond.
“The Diversity Council reports these concerns and issues to the Student Government Board and University administration. The Council is made up of diversity focused organizations on campus that have a dedication to women’s and gender rights, the LGBTQ+ community, disabilities, multicultural issues, faith and spirituality, international students, socioeconomic issues, veterans and military affairs, and social change,” said Blichar.
A KU senior, Blichar is studying political science with minors in international studies, women’s and gender studies, and public administration. He is also an advisor on the It’s On Us National Student Advisory Committee working with the White House and Civic Nation. He is an undergraduate assistant at the GLBTQ Resource Center and is the former president of Allies, gay-straight alliance and the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance.
View the petition at https://www.change.org/p/kutztown-university-of-pennsylvania-replace-columbus-day-with-indigenous-peoples-day-kutztown-university?recruiter=247450&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_page&utm_term=mob-xs-share_petition-no_msg
