How Fort Lewis College is confronting its history and creating space for belonging
Belonging takes practice. Belonging Colorado partners share what they’re trying, what they’re learning, and ideas you can apply in your own work.
At Fort Lewis College, that practice starts with taking an honest look at the institution’s history as a federal Indian boarding school and considering what that history means for the college and the broader community today. Through its Belonging Colorado project, Fort Lewis is bringing people with different experiences and perspectives into the conversation about the college’s past, present, and future.
We spoke with Paul DeBell, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science and Coordinator of the Civic Engagement and Bridging Institute at Fort Lewis College, about what they’ve learned along the way.
What challenge was your organization trying to address?
We are working to have difficult but important conversations about how to acknowledge our college’s history as a federal Indian boarding school and create belonging for our campus community.
What belonging or bridging practices did you use?
We have a few interwoven initiatives supported by this project.
The yearlong Constellations of Place exhibition at the Center of Southwest Studies leverages the USA 250 / CO 150 anniversaries as an opportunity to broaden the public conversation by sharing perspectives from cultures and people who have and continue to connect with this place long before 1776 / 1876.
We also supported a related faculty ambassador program to spread these conversations and the exhibition themes of history, land and environment, and identity and belonging across the curriculum.
Our most targeted bridging initiative is a series of two learning communities bringing students, FLC employees and alumni, and community members together to learn and practice bridging skills. They make recommendations to FLC’s leadership on acknowledging the history and legacy of the Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School more transparently and truthfully, and fostering a present and future for FLC with greater understanding, connection, and belonging.
What surprised you about what you learned? What worked, and what was difficult?
One thing we’ve learned is that people working towards a common cause they care about can hold a lot of difference and difficulty with amazing grace.
These learning communities ask a great deal of participants in energy, time, and emotion, but participants emphasized the importance of the mission that kept them engaged and dedicated even through the difficult moments.
We also learned how important leadership buy-in is. The college president joined the first session of each learning community and made clear that she and other FLC leaders were eagerly awaiting the participants’ recommendations. That helped participants understand that their time and perspectives could have a meaningful impact on the institution.
What’s one idea another organization could adapt?
We have done best when we have applied the bridging skills to our work as well, especially active listening and seeking different perspectives.
We spent a lot of time listening to lots of different folks as we designed both the exhibition and the learning communities. These insights continue to enrich everything we do.
For other organizations, one lesson may be that bridging doesn’t have to be a separate activity from the work you’re already doing. The skills of listening, seeking different perspectives and staying connected through disagreement can strengthen the work itself.