Lehigh University will now have an office within its Institute of Indigenous Studies for the Delaware Nation, a Native American tribe indigenous to Pennsylvania, to be connected to their homeland once again.
The university signed a memorandum of understanding with the tribe last month to establish this link.
The Delaware Nation is currently headquartered in Oklahoma, where they relocated in the mid-1900s due to backlash from the United States government. Pennsylvania, the original homeland of the tribe, has no federally recognized reservations, limiting the reach of the indigenous community here.
The partnership was created to increase the reach and build the community of indigenous people at Lehigh, which currently has an indigenous population of about six students and about four faculty members, said Carly Camplain, professor of indigenous health, law, and policy, who is one of the few indigenous faculty members.
Source : TBAW