Northeastern Illinois University acknowledges the history of the land that it occupies, recognizing that Native Peoples, including the People of the Council of Three Fires: The Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa and more than a dozen other tribal nations hold ancestral relations to this territory. The area known as Chicago is at the convergence of multiple ecosystems and waterways, including Lake Michigan, sustained as a site of trade and healing. Native People, since time immemorial, live in reciprocity with these lands and waterways.

From the 1920s through the 1970s Chicago experienced a Native and Indigenous population boom stemming from the policies of The American Indian Citizenship Act, and The Relocation Act establishing one of the largest urban Native populations in the nation. By acknowledging this history we shift perspectives in a way that connects dispossession and ongoing colonialism to our university and our community. 

Apply for the Native and Indigenous Scholarship 

NEIU is committed to recruitment and retention of Native and Indigenous students. One way we are supporting the success of these students is through a scholarship NEIU started in spring 2022 as part of our work toward racial justice, equity, liberation, and community, here at NEIU.

We ask you to support our Native American/Indigenous undergraduate and graduate students by donating to the Native and Indigenous Student Scholarship. Thank you very much for supporting this important initiative.

Support the Native and Indigenous Scholarship