As the University of Hawaii­-Hilo shapes its mission for the following years, employees of the university, students and community members have been asked to reflect on the following question for the month of September: “What does it mean to be a (or the) premier indigenous serving institution?”

I share my reply.

I’ll begin by stating the obvious. It means that as an indigenous serving institution we do not engage or propose projects, such as the Thirty Meter Telescope, that desecrate or further desecrate or damage lands or waters that are held sacred by the first peoples of Hawaii, those indigenous to this land, nor do we participate in projects that negatively impact indigenous communities anywhere on our planet.

TMT is proposed for the purpose of research, yet scientists and scholars working in and around indigenous communities, let alone a university that seeks to be a “premier” indigenous serving institution, should be aware of the movement of the last two decades, triggered by Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s landmark book (1999), “Decolonizing Methodologies,” to engage in indigenous research protocols and methodologies prior to pursuing research.

The University of Hawaii’s record on Mauna Kea (see kahea.org for an excellent and accurate timeline) is but one demonstration of how academic and scientific institutions and academics and scientists historically have claimed indigenous places and knowledge with little or no reciprocity or acknowledgement, often causing conditions for historical trauma to be experienced by indigenous families.

This is not without appreciating that UH-Hilo has succeeded on many fronts in shaping itself as an indigenous serving institution. This includes not only Ka Haka ‘Ula o Ke‘elikolani and the immersion schools fortified by it, but also the Kipuka Native Hawaiian Student Center and the Pacific Islander Student Center, all which deserve significantly more funding to support our indigenous student body. These entities also provide programming that teaches and informs the entire UH-Hilo community of indigenous knowledge systems regarding nature, society, politics, philosophy and the arts.

My own five-year journey in Hawaii and at UH-Hilo — a child of Greek islanders who immigrated to Mannahatta, and first-generation high school graduate, college graduate and Ph.D. — has been enriched by these trainings and the learning I have received from Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander students and faculty and their allies on campus.

They have offered me information and perspective to nurture the growth of our entire student body as well as my own research. They have assisted me to recognize the traditional knowledge students bring to my classroom and how I might facilitate students to reach their full potential.

Recently, my learning in indigenous knowledge systems has been advanced each time I visit or stay on the Ala Hulu Kupuna (access) road to Mauna Kea. I venture that if more members of UH-Hilo’s community took some time to visit the Mauna and participate in protocol or take a class at Pu‘uhuluhulu University, we would soon become pa‘a as an indigenous serving institution.

Marina Karides is chairwoman and professor of sociology at the University of Hawaii-Hilo.