Centralight

2013 Meet the For the first time ever, CMU has granted an entire nation the distinction of homecoming grand marshal. The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe will serve as grand marshal this year and celebrate its relationship with the university that carries its name during homecoming weekend. Among other festivities, the grand marshals will offer a drum blessing for both football teams prior to the game and will lead the homecoming parade. The two entities share a storied relationship, emerging from strained relations early in the 1960s into a new era of diplomacy and respect, says tribe spokesman Frank Cloutier. That change was ushered in with an articulation agreement between CMU and the tribe in 2000, which "detailed the respect that each entity had for one another." First Pow wow on CMU campus, 1989 "We've come a very long way in a very short time," he says. "There are other universities throughout the U.S. that have Native American jurisdictions that are actually looking to the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and CMU as a model." Today, the tribe and CMU have collaborated on various projects – from tribe professionals regularly giving lectures and seminars at the university; an agreement that encourages tribal college students to attend CMU; the university's proactive repatriation of Native American remains back to the tribe; a mentoring program that sends CMU students into tribal schools; and a new course curriculum that explores the history of the Indian Boarding School. "There's always this ongoing exchange," Cloutier says. "We walked into an era of diversity and strength." As for being named grand marshal, Cloutier says, "It's an honor and a privilege. For the tribe, it's always a very strong sense of appreciation to be recognized for the work we do and for the involvement we have in the community. It's a very proud distinction, and we consider it a personal honor." 20 centralight fall '13 Then tribal chief Arnold Sowmick, grand marshal, and Kristen Connors, Homecoming queen in 1989 E. C. Beck, head of CMU's English department, was named an honorary member of the tribe in 1950.

• Cover