On July 24, 2019 faculty from the University of Washington sent a letter to the school's president raising concern over the college's connection to the construction of the Thirty Mile Telescope (TMT) on the sacred mountain Mauna Kea.

The university is a member of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) who are listed as partners in the construction of the TMT.

They state, "This 18-story telescope will desecrate Mauna Kea, a sacred site of major cultural significance to the Kanaka Māoli (Native Hawaiians), the Indigenous people of Hawaiʻi. It will also disturb significant and delicate ecological systems, and disrupt access to cultural practices on the mountain.

Any institutional affiliation with AURA, including Associate Member, means that we are complicit in supporting a project that will desecrate sacred sites, disturb and threaten ecological systems, and undermine Indigenous sovereignty."

For too long, Indigenous peoples and other minoritized groups have been asked to bear the burden of land acquisition, economic development and research primarily to benefit corporate and governmental interests, not for the preservation and honoring of Indigenous culture and space. The TMT project is currently moving forward without the free, prior and informed consent of and appropriate consultation with the Indigenous people of Hawaii, a violation of Articles 19 and 28 of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Furthermore, the project is currently resulting in the criminalization, including arrests of kia’i, including kupuna (elders) protectors who have been peacefully staged at the entrance to the mountain for the past ten days."

They call on the university to:

1) to critically investigate the ways the UW is involved in this project, either through AURA or other scientific endeavors;

2) to condemn and ask to stop increased military and law enforcement action against peaceful and lawful cultural mobilization to honor (not protest on) the mountain;

3) to reach out to other presidents and administrative leaders of institutions that are members of AURA to urge them to stand in solidarity with protectors who support the preservation of Mauna Kea from the TMT; and

4) to write a public letter of support of protectors of Mauna Kea.

Read letter in full below

Dear President Cauce:

We hope this letter finds you well. We are writing to you as concerned University of Washington (UW) faculty. It has come to our attention that the UW is an institutional member of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), which is listed as an “Associate Member” of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project. This 18-story telescope will desecrate Mauna Kea, a sacred site of major cultural significance to the Kanaka Māoli (Native Hawaiians), the Indigenous people of Hawaiʻi. It will also disturb significant and delicate ecological systems, and disrupt access to cultural practices on the mountain. Over the course of many decades, environmental and cultural impact statements relating to the area, and to smaller proposed developments on Mauna Kea, have warned of substantial adverse impacts on cultural, environmental and other resources. Finally, there are already thirteen working telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea. We ask, why add another telescope spanning almost one and a half acres to this sacred landscape? From the TMTʻs own feasibility studies, there is an equally scientifically viable site in the Canary Islands in Spain, which welcomes the TMT. There is no ongoing cultural, environmental or national opposition to the TMT in Spain as has accompanied the project in Hawaiʻi since its inception.

Any institutional affiliation with AURA, including Associate Member, means that we are complicit in supporting a project that will desecrate sacred sites, disturb and threaten ecological systems, and undermine Indigenous sovereignty. We urge you 1) to critically investigate the ways the UW is involved in this project, either through AURA or other scientific endeavors; 2) to condemn and ask to stop increased military and law enforcement action against peaceful and lawful cultural mobilization to honor (not protest on) the mountain; 3) to reach out to other presidents and administrative leaders of institutions that are members of AURA to urge them to stand in solidarity with protectors who support the preservation of Mauna Kea from the TMT; and 4) to write a public letter of support of protectors of Mauna Kea.

For too long, Indigenous peoples and other minoritized groups have been asked to bear the burden of land acquisition, economic development and research primarily to benefit corporate and governmental interests, not for the preservation and honoring of Indigenous culture and space. The TMT project is currently moving forward without the free, prior and informed consent of and appropriate consultation with the Indigenous people of Hawaii, a violation of Articles 19 and 28 of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Furthermore, the project is currently resulting in the criminalization, including arrests of kia’i, including kupuna (elders) protectors who have been peacefully staged at the entrance to the mountain for the past ten days. As Native Hawaiian elder and protector Walter Ritte stated to a reporter last week as he blocked the access road,“We’re losing all of the things that we’re responsible for as Hawaiians… We’re responsible for our oceans. We’re responsible for our land. We’re responsible for our future generations.”We support the efforts of Native Hawaiians in expressing their opposition to the construction of TMT and are concerned about our University’s involvement with the telescope.

One of the many things we value about the University of Washington is this institution’s ongoing commitment to being in positive, respectful, reciprocal relationship with the Native people of Washington State. These commitments are represented in many ways, including the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding between the UW and Washington Tribes, and the annual Tribal Leadership Summit, during which Tribes come together with leadership, faculty, and students from the UW to work to collaboratively serve Native communities here on their lands. Another example of this commitment is of course the beautiful wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House, which is so central to much Native and Indigenous work on campus. The Tribal Leadership Summit, as well as your annual Presidential Address took place at wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ this year. Your meaningful acknowledgment of the lands and peoples that began your address this year further speaks to how the UW works to be in ongoing partnerships with Native and Indigenous communities. Our responsibility to uphold such good relationships with Indigenous communities extends of course beyond Washington state and to wherever our faculty and students engage in work. This is stated clearly in your important Race & Equity Initiative:“In order to support and sustain diversity and equity at the UW, as well as in the local, regional and global communities we serve, we must directly confront bias and racism at the individual, institutional and systemic levels.”

We would like to offer letters that have informed and motivated our own: An open letter from hundreds of concerned astronomers opposing the criminalization of Kanaka Māoli and demanding continued consultation about alternative sites before the TMT project proceeds on Mauna Kea; a letter from Unangax scholar Eve Tuck, a professor at the University of Toronto, which is a member of The Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA), also involved in the TMT project; a letter from members of UC Berkeley’s Indigenous Americas Working Group (UC Berkeley is a member of the TMT Project); a letter opposing the project from the Associated Students of the University of Hawai’i (ASUH).

We appreciate your leadership on issues of justice, equity, and Indigenous sovereignty. We ask that you respond to this letter informing us what actions, if any, have already been taken and how the UW will move forward in relation to AURA and the TMT project. Please note that we will share this letter with others as a means of raising awareness at other institutions supporting TMT.

Regards,

(Names Listed in Alphabetical Order)

Wayne Au, School of Educational Studies (Bothell)

Filiberto Barajas-López, College of Education

Anis Bawarshi, Department of English

Miranda Belarde-Lewis, The Information School

Erika Blacksher, Department of Bioethics & Humanities

Wylie Burke, Department of Bioethics & Humanities

Ariana Cantu, School of Social Work

Anthony B. Craig, College of Education

Charlotte Cote, American Indian Studies

Jean Dennison, American Indian Studies

Bonnie Duran, School of Social Work

Emma Elliott-Groves, College of Education,

Anjulie Ganti, School of Public Health

Nanibaa' Garrison, Department of Pediatrics

Sara Gonzalez, Department of Anthropology

Juan Guerra, Departments of English & American Ethnic Studies

Zynovia Hetherington, School of Social Work

Joon-Ho Yu, Department of Pediatrics

Ann M. Ishimaru, College of Education

Bettina Judd, Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies

Valli Kalei Kanuha, School of Social Work

Elham Kazemi, College of Education

Clarita Lefthand-Begay, The Information School

Justin Lerner, School of Social Work

José Antonio Lucero, Jackson School of International Studies

Jane Macy, School of Social Work

Jennifer Maglalang, School of Social Work

Maureen Marcenko, School of Social Work

Dian Million, American Indian Studies

Suhanthie Motha, Department of English

Django Paris, College of Education

Rae Paris, Department of English

Chandan Reddy, CHID/GWSS

Margaret Spearmon, School of Social Work

Michael Spencer, School of Social Work & Indigenous Wellness Research Institute

Mira Shimabukuro, School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (Bothell)

Helene Starks, Department of Bioethics & Humanities

David Takeuchi, School of Social Work

Christopher Teuton, American Indian Studies

Manka Varghese, College of Education

Aliyah Vinikoor, School of Social Work

Megan Ybarra, Department of Geography

by Wakíƞyaƞ Waánataƞ (Matt Remle)

Matt Remle (Lakota) is an editor and writer for Last Real Indians and LRInspire and the co-founder of Mazaska Talks. Follow @wakiyan7

University of Washington Faculty Call on the School President to Address Connections to the Construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea