Voices of O’odham Students at ASU

By: VOSA at ASU

If you have been familiarized with the opportunities at Arizona State University, you may have observed the diverse element of inclusion, enabling opportunities to all backgrounds. There are organizations and classes available for involvement dedicated to Indigenous students at ASU. What’s more, the university’s campuses are situated on the homelands of O’odham and Piipaash. However, ASU had never offered anything related to O’odham culture until August of 2019.

That is when we established the first O’odham language class. Soon, students in the language class decided to group together to assemble the first O’odham organization at ASU. Voices of O’odham Students at ASU (VOSA) was created to provide a unified forum for inter-university dialogue, to organize student involvement, and to endorse and administer services, resources and programs that benefit the O’odham students.

Within our values, we endeavor for higher education, decolonization and indigenization of education, representation building, and highlighting the presence of O’odham students. VOSA aims to advocate for and amplify the Indigenous student voice, including that of O’odham people, (both on-campus and online) at ASU. The organization is in favor of the university providing resources for students to be successful in their academic goals, specifically the O’odham community and its O’odham students.

We aim to unite the voices of all students of O’odham identity, leaders, and student organizations at Arizona State University, and thereby inform university administration about the authentic experiences and available resources within all campuses and online. VOSA supports the recruitment, retention and graduation of all students, both graduate and undergraduate, of O’odham identity at ASU. The organization encourages social awareness of the impact of colonization and the experiences colonization has created among students, faculty, staff, and administrators at ASU. Thus, to utilize and emphasize our purpose, we strive to promote mentorship, culture, community, education, and advocacy.

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