MADISON, Wis. — More than 250 people watched as Ho-Chunk Nation President Marlon WhiteEagle raised the Ho-Chunk Nation flag over the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on Thursday.
The flag, located at UW-Madison’s Bascom Hall, will fly for more than six weeks this fall, starting with one week in September. It will also be flown on Indigenous Peoples Day in October and for the full month of November, which is National Native American Heritage Month.
“These efforts here are very thoughtful and very inclusive to not only the Ho-Chunk people, but it’s a real opportunity to learn about the people who lived here,” WhiteEagle said. “Some of it brings out some emotion, some brings out a pain inside, but we’re working through that to want to become a part of the community and share our culture with you.”
The UW campus occupies land that once belonged to the Ho-Chunk people. By flying the flag, the university aims to educate the campus community about Ho-Chunk culture and First Nations history.
And it’s not the first gesture by the university to honor and recognize the Ho-Chunk Nation.
In 2019, the university dedicated the Our Shared Future heritage market on Bascom Hill, recognizing their shared history with the group and pledging their support for future collaboration and innovation.
The Ho-Chunk also serve as caretakers of the many conical, linear and effigy burial mounds that are found on UW-Madison grounds.
Now, flying of the flag further indicates the university's commitment to inclusion of the Ho-Chunk people.
“I am deeply honored to reaffirm UW-Madison’s commitments to strengthening the relationships between the university and the Ho-Chunk Nation and acknowledge that the university is built upon the ancestral lands of the Ho-Chunk people,” Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin told the crowd. “I’ve learned that UW-Madison hasn’t always acknowledged the ways that its history is entwined with Native Nations, but I also do know that we are working to change that and to tell broader, fuller, more honest stories of this place.”
Mnookin also said they’re also placing a focus on incorporating content about Native Nations into the curriculum and enrolling more Native students.
But despite the work that’s already been done, WhiteEagle acknowledged that Ho-Chunk students have sometimes struggled to feel included on campus.
“Events like this today help to break down barriers that we have within ourselves, as well as other individuals may have within themselves,” said WhiteEagle.
This is only the second time the Ho-Chunk Nation flag has been flown at Bascom Hall, but university leaders said they expect the flag to become a regular part of campus life at UW-Madison.