Land Acknowledgment

Colorado State University’s land acknowledgment is a statement crafted by a variety of Indigenous faculty and staff, as well as other officials at CSU. The statement recognizes the long history of Native peoples and nations that lived and stewarded the land where the university now resides. The land acknowledgment statement also maintains the connection Native people and nations still have to this land.

Colorado State University acknowledges, with respect, that the land we are on today is the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute Nations and peoples. This was also a site of trade, gathering, and healing for numerous other Native tribes. We recognize the Indigenous peoples as original stewards of this land and all the relatives within it. As these words of acknowledgment are spoken and heard, the ties Nations have to their traditional homelands are renewed and reaffirmed.

CSU is founded as a land-grant institution, and we accept that our mission must encompass access to education and inclusion. And, significantly, that our founding came at a dire cost to Native Nations and peoples whose land this University was built upon. This acknowledgment is the education and inclusion we must practice in recognizing our institutional history, responsibility, and commitment.

View the land acknowledgment website and an accompanying video at https://landacknowledgment.colostate.edu.

The Council Tree was a well-known gathering point for Arapaho and other Native people on what is now the southeast side of Fort Collins. The tree is referenced in names for a city library branch, a street, and a church. Photo: Colorado State University Libraries, Archives & Special Collections.

To learn more, read the CSU Magazine story on CSU’s Land Acknowledgment and learn more about the council tree.