By Alexcia E. Negrete At California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), people from the Tongva Nation, Acjachemen Nation, and other supporters are fighting for the over 2,000-year-old sacred land Puvungna. Puvungna used to be more than the current 20 acres, but the university was built on top of the land. This land originally belonged to the Tongva Nation but has also been a home and a gathering place for prayers and ceremonies such as ceremonies for many local Native Americans and others that come to learn about the culture. However, many Native Americans and supporters fear losing the land to future construction projects by CSULB. The university began to move piles of dirt filled with debris and other trash from their previous construction projects onto the sacred land back on Sept. 27, 2019, which also fell on the 52nd annual Native American Day in California. This sparked outrage within the community. Native Americans and activists immediately began
Photo provided by Rebecca Robles: taken at Puvungna
American site without conducting an environmental review of the potential impacts.” Assistant professor in American Indian studies at CSULB and descendent of the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel Dr. Theresa Gregor explains how the situation between the university and Native Americans first started. “When the dumping occurred in 2019, it was a mistake by a subcontractor who was not informed about the protocol in the way he should have been. It was a miscommunication within the process that had already been established,” she explained. On Jan. 13, 2021, CSULB released a video addressing the situation on their YouTube channel titled, “A Message about Puvungna.” In this video, CSULB President Jane Close Conoley addressed the community about the dumpings.
“ It is damaging to Puvungna. It is damaging to the community. It is damaging to the tribes.” protesting and began to spread awareness of the incident via social media. Almost two years after the incident, the Daily 49er, the campus’ newspaper, now reports that the university is being sued for its actions by members of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation-Belareds and California Cultural Resources Preservation Alliance, Inc. This lawsuit was originally filed back in October 2019 but is still ongoing due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a press release from March 15, 2021, authored by a representative from the groups who are suing the school, the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation-Belareds and California Cultural Resources Preservation Alliance, Inc. are suing CSULB for violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). According to the release, the university dumped “6,400 cubic yards of construction dirt and debris on a listed historic and sacred Native 12
“At the time, keeping soil from campus here on site was the preferable method of managing excavated earth based on counsel we received from our campus committee on Native American Burial Remains and Cultural Patrimony,” Coloney stated. Despite this statement, Michelle Castillo, land caretaker for Puvungna and Indigenous from the Acjachemen Nation, explained that this is not the first time the university has done something like this.
According to Castillo and the About Puvungna page from CSULB, in 1993 CSULB attempted to build a strip mall on the sacred land. Native Americans and activists protested against the university’s plans and a lawsuit was filed against the school. Eventually, the university’s plans were blocked by the Puvungna Sacred Site Struggle. Castillo explained that she, alongside other Native Americans and supporters, has now been protesting for the protection of Puvungna for nearly two years. She is part of an Indigenous-led community group known as Friends of Puvungna. They are active on social media and share details of virtual gatherings, ceremonies and fundraisers. Castillo, along with others that care for Puvungna, claim that the school had dumped dirt on the land four different times.
