South SFV Today

In the 1970s, a group of Stanford students acquired two rooms on the ground floor of Old Union and established the Native American Cultural Center (NACC). Over the decades, this space has evolved into a vibrant hub for numerous Native student organizations on campus. The NACC has significantly influenced the Stanford experience for Native and Indigenous students and has impacted the university's cultural fabric.

“The center has been a great asset for Native students and the broader Stanford community to participate in its activities and programming,” said Ben Atencio, ’77, who helped establish the center as an undergraduate.

This year marks the center’s 50th anniversary. To commemorate this milestone, a digital story map titled "Indigenous Excellence at Stanford: Histories, Voices, and Perspectives from the Past 50 Years" explores its creation and legacy.

Stanford’s relationship with Native people dates back to its founding. The campus is located within the traditional territory of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. John Milton Oskison, a member of the Cherokee Nation who enrolled in 1894, was among Stanford’s first Native students and its first Native American graduate.

In the late 1960s, anti-war protests and growing awareness of race and representation swept American college campuses. The Occupation of Alcatraz inspired Native students at Stanford to mobilize. At that time, Stanford had fewer than ten Native students, but their advocacy led to increased representation.

Constance Owl, ’18, interim director of the NACC, noted that a surge in Native student enrollment began in 1970. “Twenty-two Native students enrolled that year and when they got to campus is when the Stanford American Indian Organization (SAIO) formed and took off,” she said.

With support from outgoing president Wallace Sterling, incoming president Richard Lyman, the student senate, and university staff, these students signed a petition against the Stanford “Indian” mascot. They also launched the first Stanford Powwow in 1971 to bring authentic representations of Native cultures to campus.

Initially using temporary gathering spaces like a house on Alvarado Row and later Fire Truck House, they moved into part of Old Union's ground floor in 1973 to establish NACC formally. Atencio recalled helping fellow students move into this space: “Before us, it had been a storage facility... But we cleaned it up.”

The effort was collective; students hung flyers around campus asking others for help while staff offered support. By February 1974, they held a reception marking its opening.

The NACC particularly helped first-year students transitioning from reservations or rural communities by providing them with a sense of home at Stanford. In its early years before professional staff joined, undergraduates served as Tecumseh Fellows coordinating programming and serving as peer counselors.

Today, occupying Old Union Clubhouse's entire ground floor with a team of 15 student staff members supported by professional staff including assistant deans Denni Woodward and Greg Graves. It serves as a gathering space where many Native Americans can study or socialize.

The largest student-led event brought hundreds of tribes together at Eucalyptus Grove on Mother’s Day weekend each year. Powwow has become one of Stanford’s most popular annual events celebrating Indigenous traditions.

Currently representing over 50 Native nations and island communities are about 450 Native and Indigenous undergraduate/graduate students at Stanford continuing shaping experiences through NACC's ongoing commitment fostering community/belongingness This fall will host another pre-orientation retreat marking its thirty-fifth year

Reflecting on its influence during an event last February attended by alumni/former staff like Shunatona expressed pride seeing thriving/expanding over decades

“The NACC is real living space culture/traditions," Atencio said "And proud pleased see community keeps growing”