NASD | Centers for Educational Justice & Community Engagement

Native American Student Development

Acknowledgement of land and place

At NASD, we recognize that Berkeley sits on the territory of xučyun (Huichin (Hoo-Choon)), the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo (Cho-chen-yo) speaking Ohlone people, the successors of the historic and sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Muwekma (Muh-wek-muh) Ohlone Tribe and other familial descendants of the Verona Band.

We recognize that every member of the Berkeley community has benefitted, and continues to benefit, from the use and occupation of this land since the institution’s founding in 1868. Consistent with our values of community and diversity, we have a responsibility to acknowledge and make visible the university’s relationship to Native peoples.

By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold the University of California, Berkeley more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.

This statement was developed in partnership with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and is a living document

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Our Mission

The Native American Student Development office (NASD) at Berkeley exists to serve and support the diverse and changing needs of Native students in their time at Cal. We strive to provide relevant, accessible and engaging programs and resources, promote intertribal and cross cultural approaches to community building with a social justice lens.

We work to partner with both off and on-campus entities to provide students with the best experience possible in their time here, while also supporting continuing growth and understanding of their individual identities as Native people. We also work to bring the histories, experiences and worldviews into a valued realm within the university as a whole.