Land acknowledgment adopted

At UMass Chan Medical School, promises made more than a year ago to right relationships with tribal nations began with a conversation about the importance of acknowledging that the land on which the Medical School sits was once part of the original homeland of the Nipmuc people. From that conversation, a collaborative group was formed and a land acknowledgment was created.

In 2022, Chancellor Michael F. Collins approved the statement appearing here and it was introduced at the September town hall meeting. The land acknowledgment will appear, among other places, with the mission statement of UMass Chan Medical School in all future issues of @umasschan magazine.

UMass Chan Medical School acknowledges that its campus is located on lands that were once part of the original homeland of the Nipmuc people. We denounce the violence that stripped these original stewards of lands that were their ancestral home and denied their descendants the opportunity for an authentic connection to it. In making this acknowledgment, we announce our intention to listen to and follow the lead of our Indigenous neighbors and work together to create new legacies of equity and respect.