Richard Moves Camp Receives
WINHEC Honorary Doctorate Antelope Lake, S.D. ---- Lakota elder and fifth-generation spiritual healer Richard Moves Camp was named a recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) University. The educator and advisor of Sinte Gleska University’s Lakota Studies Department was recognized at the 2023 WINHEC International Conference held July 17-21st at Fairbanks, Alaska. “The WINU Honorary Doctorate awards duly recognize the meritorious work of Indigenous Educators, Scholars and Knowledge Holders who are acknowledged by their peers and Nations as inspirational leaders,” wrote Berice Annington in the WINU award letter. Richard Moves Camp has provided leadership with traditional prayers, practices and cultural knowledge throughout the United States and abroad. He and his family have been active in the preservation and integration of Lakota religion and spiritualty throughout the 20th century. He earned a masters degree in Mental Health counseling from Sinte Gleska University. He is a lifelong teacher, promoting indigenous principles and values to re-establish pathways for reconciliation and healing for the historical trauma impacting Native relatives. As a mental health specialist, he has worked to share knowledge about the Euro-western and Lakota healing practices to address the cultural gaps in worldviews and perspectives. This has been shared with Native and non-Native people on traditional homelands and in non-reservation settings. Moves Camp has demonstrated leadership roles as an advocate of Tribal sovereignty, religious freedom and the protection of sacred sites. His voice has been heard by the United Nations Assembly and the International Treaty Council. He was involved with the passage of the Religious Freedom Act of 1979. His most recent role in helping people cope with the COVID pandemic was critically important during this most stressful period. Prayers of his ancestors were always used to guide the healing process and to navigate the future well-being of Indigenous Peoples. Moves Camp is a proponent supporting the repatriation of the remains of tribal children from residential boarding schools. With other concerned families, he traveled to Pennsylvania asking for the return of nine Sicanġu Lakota children from Carlisle Indian Industrial School. They were returned in 2022 after more than 140 years when they were forcibly taken from their families. Richard worked closely with Sicangu tribal leaders to properly take care of the spirits of the lost children and to support the descendent families. With these attributes and other accomplishments, he has maintained his dedication to his life’s work toward the spiritual and cultural restoration of our Lakota Oyate. The SGU board of regents, administration, faculty, staff, and students offer our humble gratitude and appreciation to WINHEC for honoring the legacy of Richard Moves Camp.
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Our decision to withdraw from the Art Market this year was a hard one and the group discussions left us frustrated. We have a group of people here at SGU who have been working on the Market for years. We talked about a number of issues around the Art Market and Sinte Gleska University with both the small group and with the administration.
One concern with the way the Market has evolved is the lack of participation of SGU students and in many ways the Rosebud community. Very few community members are able to afford to come to Sioux Falls for the event. We also have seen a decreasing role for SGU students in the Market. What was reported through the group meetings was the reticence to have students at the Market as their presence would skew sales to students and away from the artists. We also discussed the cost of the show. Last year the Market generated $ 25,000.00 in income and an additional $ 5,000.00 grant from the South Dakota Humanities. The final cost for the Market was $ 80,000.00. This left Sinte Gleska paying $ 50,000 out of our General Fund for the Market. The SGU General Fund is built from an appropriation for the Tribally Controlled College Act. These funds are designated to support students through activities that range from Faculty salaries, teaching supplies, transportation, and a number of other activities. The University has, in the past, used a significant amount of money to support the Market as well as other activities through these funds that have not been directly connected to our students. Two weeks ago, we received notification from the BIE that we were receiving a $ 300,000 cut in our dollars for this upcoming year. We are expecting further cuts in the next three weeks due to the Federal Budget cuts most recently in the news. In our deliberations, we asked the Development Office how many people donated to SGU from the Art Market activity and were told that there was no impact on our fundraising and that the Market which began as a broader community project is now an SGU event. That said, because there is a need to support the Arts, we are needing to re-think how we do so and build broader community support. In March we met to discuss the Market and one of the things we decided was to see how many artists were going to sign up for the event. We set a deadline in early June and waited a few weeks after to see how many artists had signed up. It turned out that we had a total of fourteen. This was not near our goal of thirty or more artists. Our discussion right now is about how we can move the market forward into the future. The funding structure needs to be addressed and I am hoping to have our Art Institute embrace the Market. We have a grant for on-reservation tourism incubation and hope to get those folks working with the Art Institute to develop a Market type activity here in either Mission or Rosebud. Given State politics, it is important for us to create a collaboration with a community that will embrace the Market. This collaboration will take time to build. We have received five letters of concern and intend to bring those people into a larger group to explore how we can support artists with greater student involvement Thank you for your concern. Ted Hamilton The SGU Adult Basic Education Department will be hosting an open house at our White River office located in the SweetSpot America Business Center Wednesday, May 10th from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. If you are interested in getting your GED or know someone who is, stop by to find out more about what the SGU Adult Basic Education department has to offer in White River! For more information, call 605-856-8207.
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April 2024
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