Andrew Mathews
SUNY Canton’s Native American Student Alliance President is Andrew Mathews, an Applied Psychology major from Star Lake. The multi-talented sophomore has an interest in fiber arts and handmade a traditional-style orange shirt for the Day of Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. Both were observed on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
He said that helping to revive the student-run organization has been an ambitious and rewarding undertaking. “Building a club from the ground up is one of the more challenging tasks we’ve undertaken,” he said, noting that the student partnerships with the Mohawk Names Initiative and strengthening student communications had driven the club forward.
Andrew is in the process of gaining his Mohawk name, which a clan mother bestows. Clan lineage is determined matrilineally and some of his ancestry was lost.
“Some of my ancestors went into hiding,” he said. “They burned all their documentation, their social security cards, their birth certificates, their marriage license, and changed their names to English names. They buried themselves so they wouldn’t be taken to the [residential] schools.”
He said he selected SUNY Canton because he was following in the footsteps of several family members on both sides. “Three of my grandparents are alumni of this school,” he said.
His favorite faculty member is Lecturer Daniel McLane, who also serves as the advisor for the Native American Student Alliance. His favorite class is sociology. “Sociology is the systemic application of group psychology,” he said.
SUNY Canton periodically selects Native American students for #PeopleLikeMe updates, notably corresponding with Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Native American Heritage Month. Over the past three years, the college has seen its population of students who identify as Native American or Alaskan Native increase, corresponding with both the creation of its Native student club and the Mohawk names initiative.