Beyond Land Acknowledgments: Harm and Remedies Within Morrill Act of 1862 “Land-Grab” Universities

• In Event: Settler Colonialism and Education

Abstract

Land acknowledgments are common in higher education, but previous studies show these statements are often performative and lack commitments and responsibility towards practices of decolonization. Our study examines the 47 “land-grab” universities who gained their land from the Morrill Act Land-Grant Act of 1862. Through website searches, we identify instances where practices reflect concrete remedies for the settler colonial violence and dispossession. We find a wide range of ways that institutions have responded, from not acknowledging their histories to the implementation of practices of land repatriation. The study seeks to identify the scope and scale of the remedies and tangible actions taken by Land Grant universities since the publication of Lee and Ahtone’s (2022) “Land Grab Universities.”

Authors

• Daniah Hammouda, University of Kansas

• Ryan Kevin Fitzpatrick, University of Kansas

• Morgan Ashley Murakami, University of Kansas