Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - The 11th annual University of Wisconsin-Platteville Traditional Pow Wow will be held on Saturday, Oct. 31 at Williams Fieldhouse on the UWP campus. Grand entries and dance sessions will be held from 1-4 p.m. and 7-9:30 p.m. The Pow Wow is the way of the Native American people meeting together by dancing, singing, visiting, renewing old friendships and making new ones. The Pow Wow is designed to include everyone. The event sponsers include the UWP Department of Ethnic Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Education, Teaching Excellence Center, UWP Department of Humanities, School of Education and Multicultural Educational Resource Center.

The Pow Wow begins with the Grand Entry, which honors veterans as the eagle staff, American flag and other emblems are brought forward. All spectators are requested to stand as the flags and eagle staffs of the host and visiting tribes are brought in. The eagle staffs and flags represent nations, families and communities. As the drums of the Grand Entry song begin, the chief or tribal chair of the host tribe and visiting dignitaries enter the arena. They are followed by other honored members and the color guard of veterans.

Also included in the festivities is a symposium on Friday, Oct. 30 in the Pioneer Student Center from 9 a.m. until noon as well as from 1-4 p.m. The symposium is a series of legislative items in the Senate Bill 31, now called Act 31. Act 31 includes a number of items that mandate organized education from kindergarten through grade 12 about Wisconsin Indian peoples. It also includes mandates that universities in the school of education programs cannot license K-12 teachers without the ability to teach about American Indians.

"No one enforces that," said Carl Allsup, department chair of UWP Ethnic Studies. "There have been poor attempts to see this through. The symposium addresses that issue."

Allsup, of Meixan heritage, will give a presentation at the symposium along with Lance Tallmadge, a Ho-Chunk speaker, and Kerry Stephenson, a Lakota speaker.

"We will be presenting from our own knowledge and experience, which is considerable," Allsup said.

Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Allsup at (608) 342-1705.

Contact: Carl Allsup, department chair, UWP Department of Ethnic Studies, (608) 342-1705, allsup@uwplatt.edu Written by: Laura Becherer, Office of Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, bechererl@uwplatt.edu