Last Updated: June 2024

Our Core Values represent the values of Home - values cherished by the Native communities we serve, but not comprehensive or exclusive to any single community. It is from these guiding Core Values - the foundation of our Native home at MSU - that we welcome Indigenous students and walk with them as they pursue their educational goals.

From these foundational values spring the four essential pillars of the work we share with our students and communities - Knowledge, Relationship, Land, and Sovereignty. We believe our Core Values are at-practice in the home, and that these values begin with Spirituality and end with Humility, in a continuous cycle. Our Core Values guide our processes, procedures, and assessments within the Department as an implementation of Indigenous methodologies.

This is a diagram displaying our cultural values in a star pattern, featuring eight branches. Clockwise, from the top of the star, the are Humility, Spirituality, Kindness & Inclusivity, Honesty, Family, Humor & Respect, Hard Work, and Generosity. All of these branches converge in the center where home is pictured.

Image of the Spirituality prong of the Cultural Values model, showing individuals during the practice of smudging.

Spirituality

When we come together, we pray, we smudge, and we involve our medicines. Many Native peoples value their connectedness to “that which is greater than self.” These beliefs often form a sense of meaning and purpose, a sense of self, and a relationship with the Supernatural. However, the individual or culture defines spirituality. The Department acknowledges these beliefs, and itself honors the Creator in its private and public activities. 

Kindness and Inclusivity, taken from the cultural values model showing students showing out at our Missing and Murdered Indigenous People event.

Kindness & Inclusivity

We treat all who come into contact with the MSU-NAS Department with kindness and openness, acknowledging all peoples’ backgrounds, being aware of needs, and respecting their own cultures. It is our priority to create an atmosphere of friendliness. For us, Kindness & Inclusivity looks a lot like eating together and sharing our meals beyond our tables’ edge.

The Honesty section of the Cultural Values model, showing students drumming and singing outside of Montana Hall.

Honesty

We acknowledge each other’s voices, especially when our words differ. The Department operates within the leading principle of honesty, acknowledging that our integrity is everything.

The Family section of the Cultural Values model, showing female dancers in traditional elk-tooth regalia at the MSU Powwow.

Family

It is of central importance for us to support our Native students, who often have complex familial and community responsibilities to attend to – sometimes resulting in ceremonial leave from the university. We are sensitive to that and strive to be flexible in our expectations of students when unforeseen circumstances arise. Like a lot of families, members of the NAS family tease each other and hold each other in high regards.

The Humor and Respect section of our Cultural Values model, showing two ladies laughing in traditional regalia at the MSU Powwow.

Humor & Respect

We laugh together, we laugh at ourselves, and we laugh with each other. In our dealings with each other and our students, we find that these two Core Values, Humor & Respect, are two sides of the same coin, which is part of the commerce of human relationships. The foregoing values all work together to create a mutually respectful and safe working, learning, and teaching environment where no one takes themselves too seriously.

The Hard Work section of our Cultural Values model, showing Buffalo Nations Food Systems Initiative staff looking through Indigenous varieties of seeds.

Hard Work

We work to carry out the Department’s mission to achieve its goals of serving students and the community. We work to preserve and foster Native American ways and traditions. The work is often difficult, but we push past the hard parts and the dry parts for the overall benefit of our community.

The Generosity section of the Cultural Values model, showing the American Indian Hall.

Generosity

We cooperate with and serve the community and students, gladly sharing what has been entrusted to us for the benefit of others. The NAS Department helps students to financially navigate college through fellowships, internships, scholarships, tuition waivers, and emergency funds. As a Department, we work hard to blow the budget and build it back again. As Dr. Fleming says, “Fundraising is Friend-raising."

The Humility Section of the Cultural Values Model, showing individuals participating in a round dance outside of Montana Hall.

Humility

Thre is no 'I' in 'we.' Humility is the knowledge that none of us can do what we do without the help and support of others. We gather our community together and share our work so that we are accountable to one another. We take feedback and follow our Core Values cyclically as we start again with Spirituality.