College to welcome faithkeeper
of Onondaga Nation of Indians

The State University of New York at New Paltz will welcome Faithkeeper of the Onondaga Nation of Indians of the Iroquois Confederacy and Distinguished Service Professor at SUNY Buffalo, Oren R. Lyons, at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 13, in Lecture Center 100.

Lyons is a scholar of Native American history; international indigenous affairs; contemporary indigenous issues and international environmental issues. At New Paltz, Lyons will be discussing both the burgeoning indigenous rights movements around the world and the environmental issues that currently face Onondaga Lake. The event is free and open to the public.

Lyons is the publisher of Daybreak Magazine, a national Native American magazine, and co-editor of the book “Exiled in the Land of the Free.” He has received the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor; the National Audubon Award; the First Annual Earth Day International Award of the United Nations; and the Elder and Wiser Award of the Rosa Parks Institute for Human Rights. In addition, he is a member of the board of the Harvard Project on American Economic Development and chairman of the board Honoring Contributions in the Governance of American Indian Nations.

Laurence Hauptman, SUNY Distinguished Professor of History at New Paltz, whose teaching focus is Native Americans, said Lyons has inspired several generations of Native Americans, especially his own Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) peoples – the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora – as an educator, orator and spiritual leader, serving as an Onondaga Faithkeeper.

“Lyons has been a passionate voice in the worldwide movement to protect the global environment,” said Hauptman. “Working with Native Peoples around the world for the past three decades, his efforts have led to the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We are honored to have Lyons here to speak to the college and Mid-Hudson communities.”

For more information, contact Hauptman at (845) 257-3523 or the Office of Public Affairs at (845) 257-3245.