At the American Indian and Indigenous Student Association Center, Indigenous or native-identifying students can find a community space and access resources.
UCSB is located on the land of the Chumash people, which Julia Gore said the AIIC has established a relationship with. Iris Guo / Daily Nexus
The center is located in Room 107 of Building 434, directly next to Counseling & Psychological Services. The American Indian and Indigenous Student Association (AIISA) is part of the UC Santa Barbara American Indian & Indigenous Collective (AIIC), a space that connects Indigenous undergraduate students, graduate students and other community members to collaborate and build community.
Julia Gore, a fourth-year economics and accounting major and AIISA’s native families rapid rehousing coordinator, said that any student who is native or Indigenous-identifying, but doesn’t necessarily have to be affiliated with a tribe, can find community at AIISA.
“Our mission together as a center is to provide a community and a comfortable environment, as well as a family to our native students here,” Gore said. “We are trying to help students find a community as well as somewhere they can feel comfortable and accepted for who they are.”
At AIISA, students can attend events including workshops and mixers. The six staff members provide access to resources in food security and housing. Additionally, AIISA works to educate the larger student body on native culture, history and presence.
“We’re working to provide understanding and education for students in general on the land that UCSB is on, and how we can respect that as visitors,” Gore said.
UCSB is located on the land of the Chumash people, which Gore said the AIIC has established a relationship with.
“As a community, we’ve always had a relationship with the local Chumash community members,” Gore said. “In terms of how that started from time before, I have no idea, because it’s a long-lasting relationship that has been established for over a decade.”
One particular Chumash community member is Mia Lopez, who Gore describes as an “auntie” to members of AIISA.
“She’s always worked to take care of the AIISA students because she knows that there is a disconnect coming to a predominantly-white institution for Indigenous students,” Gore said. “Especially being away from our communities and our culture and our families because it is different for all of us.”
In addition to AIISA, the AIIC also supports the American Indian Indigenous Cultural Resource Center (AIICRC), which is a part of the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and serves as an additional space for resources through programming, advising and scholarships.
According to McKinley McPherson, a fourth-year sociology major and AIICRC peer mentor, both groups often collaborate and share the mission of “building a sense of community and closeness for students,” but are not officially connected.
According to the UCSB Office of Budget & Planning, only around 1% of the student body identifies as American Indian or Alaskan Native.
McPherson said that one of the struggles of being a part of the Indigenous population on campus is that it sometimes feels “kind of heavy being Indigenous” due to “feeling pressure to represent our community.”
Gore and McPherson are both pursuing a minor in American Indian and Indigenous studies. Both said taking courses for the minor contributed to their journey to their current roles in the AIISA and AIICRC.
“I decided to do the minor because I am in a tribe that’s in Oklahoma, and I just wanted to get a little bit closer to my roots,” Gore said. “One of my professors was Margaret McMurtrey, and in that class I was able to get exposed to more of the center and also AIISA and to be able to get more involved in knowing the resources that are here for students like me.”
Additionally, Gore and McPherson said that both groups share an overarching goal of conducting more outreach so that more Indigenous students on campus know about the resources available to them.
“We want everyone to feel seen, and I know native folks can be shy,” McPherson said. “We just like meeting people where they are.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 5 of the Oct. 30 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
