The UW School of Social Work’s faculty, student advisory and staff councils issued a joint statement in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s efforts to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline until additional tribal consultation and environmental impact studies have been completed. The School’s governance councils released the statement in support of a powerful document drafted and signed by the School’s Indigenous Wellness Research Institute faculty, describing the pipeline’s infringement of the tribe’s cultural, water and natural resources.
Here is the full text of the School’s statement of support for IWRI:
The Faculty Council, Student Advisory Council and Staff Council of the University of Washington School of Social Work stand in support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in their efforts to halt construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline until full consultation with the tribe has been undertaken and appropriate environmental impact studies have been completed.
We fully endorse the statement issued by our colleagues at the Indigenous Wellness Research Institute (IWRI), outlining the significance and urgency of Standing Rock Sioux efforts and recommending specific steps for Congress and the President to take in order to begin the environmental and tribal consultation processes that are the legally mandated right of sovereign tribal nations.
Efforts to build the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation jeopardize the sanctity of the land and water and tribal rights. Preserving the land and water that sustains our lives is of paramount importance to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and to our collective future. We urge you, our community, to read IWRI’s detailed statement and to make your own contribution to the efforts of the Standing Rock Sioux.