Alys Alley, external co-chair of the Native American Student Association, is on a mission to spark dialogue among students about the obstacles minorities face on campus.

Alley, an LSA sophomore who is a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, began this dialogue last Friday at an event called “Reflect, Remember, Regroup.” Alley led a discussion with about 20 University students in the multicultural lounge in South Quadrangle Residence Hall to talk about past and current cultural barriers for minority students.

Alley began the dialogue with a movie called “Fight Like Hell,” which describes the history of the controversy surrounding the campus senior society Michigamua, now officially called Order of Angell, to show the difficulties minority students and minority groups face on campus.

Order of Angell is a senior honor society formed in 1902. The society allegedly both used Native American artifacts as part of its proceedings, and members spoke in a dialect that mocked Native Americans during group meetings.

In 2007, Michigamua was renamed the Order of Angell and has since remained mostly secretive about its role on campus, though it now releases the names of its incoming members each year.

After the movie, Alley led the students in a talking circle — a Native American tradition for community building where everyone takes time to discuss how they feel about the issues at hand.

For some students at the event, this was the first time they had heard about the society. Most expressed shock and could not understand how something like Michigamua had existed and how they had not heard about the group before.

Other students expressed frustration that groups like Michigamua not only existed but also seemed to have been condoned by University administrators.

LSA senior Josh Voss, internal co-chair of the Native American Student Association and a member of the Chippewa tribe, said though Michigamua is now the Order of Angell and denies having any racial biases, he cannot forget what happened in the past.

“The racism of the past is never going to go away,” Voss said. “I know that my decision on coming to this University would have been a lot different if I had known about the Order of Angell and Michigamua and their history, and all of the issues with the Native American community.”

LSA senior Andrew Dalack, spokesman for the Order and former co-chair of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality told The Michigan Daily in April that the group aims to repair relationships with groups on campus that are upset by the society’s controversial past.

“We do not intend to dismiss the past; rather, we look forward to building and strengthening relationships with groups that are affected by certain aspects of the organization’s history,” Dalack wrote in an e-mail interview at the time.

At yesterday's event, Voss also said that he felt minority issues are not stressed enough on campus, which makes it especially hard for Native Americans to feel connected with the rest of the community.

“The University says that this should be a place for diversity, and as a Native American, it’s really tough to take that message seriously,” Voss said.

LSA senior Gary Davis said he often feels issues of racism fly under the radar at the University.

“I’ve always felt that the University has not been supportive, or even sensitive, to the plight of students of color and the isolation and the incidents of race and bias and everything that goes on in the dorms, and even in the classrooms in most situations,” Davis said.

However, he said he believes that in order for change to alleviate racism, “something radical” needs to happen.

The students agreed that collaboration and conversations between diverse groups are necessary.

LSA sophomore Precious Jenkins, a member of the Black Student Union, said she could sympathize with many of the issues Native American students face on campus.