Generations of Leadership

Available on-demand

Step into a heartfelt father-daughter dialogue that bridges historic Potawatomi heritage with modern student and alumni leadership in ND’s Native American community. Experience authentic connection as Pete Slease ’96, current chair of the Native American Alumni of Notre Dame, and Emma Slease ’27, current co-president of the Native American Student Association of Notre Dame, share deeply personal stories of belonging, family lineage, and advocacy at the University of Notre Dame. Gain timeless wisdom, feel true community spirit, and envision a more inclusive campus future.

Recordings to come!

Indigenous Voices is co-sponsored on ThinkND by the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, the Initiative on Race and Resilience, the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, the College of Arts & Letters Native American Initiatives, and the Native American Alumni of Notre Dame.

Lineage and Local History

Pete’s awareness of his Potawatomi roots was heavily influenced by his relationship with his maternal grandfather, a full-blood Native American and alumnus of the Chilocco Federal Indian Agricultural School. Because of his experiences in federal Indian boarding schools, Pete’s grandfather rarely spoke about his Native heritage. However, Pete discovered deep regional connections during a rainy high school visit to South Bend. Passing a highway sign for Shipshewana, Indiana, he realized the town honored Chief Shipshewana, his direct ancestor on his mother’s paternal side (where the name was eventually shortened to Wano). Furthermore, his mother’s maternal lineage traces back to Pierre Navarre, Pete’s namesake, who was the first European settler in St. Joseph County. Navarre married a Potawatomi chief’s daughter—forming South Bend’s first multiracial marriage—and built a cabin preserved on the Indiana Registry of Historical Homes. Navarre is buried on campus at Cedar Grove Cemetery, grounding the family’s academic journey in long-standing regional history that predates the university. This historical arc also intersects with the broader trauma of the Potawatomi Trail of Death, which forcibly removed their ancestors from Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin to Kansas and Oklahoma before the family’s modern return to the region.

The Notre Dame Journey

Pete selected Notre Dame despite having no family alumni connections, confirming his choice when he viewed the Golden Dome on a rainy high school campus tour. Conversely, Emma grew up immersed in Notre Dame culture through alumni family members, game days, and campus visits. Her parents deliberately avoided placing pressure on her, allowing her to make an unforced decision. While Pete studied history and her mother studied Spanish, Emma established her own distinct identity at Notre Dame through a neuroscience major, club field hockey, inter-hall dorm sports, and off-campus housing with a culturally diverse group of housemates.

Student Leadership and Belonging

Upon attending her first NASAND meeting as a freshman, Emma experienced impostor syndrome regarding her physical appearance when meeting peers who arrived directly from reservations like the Diné or Forest County Potawatomi. Supportive club members and leaders quickly alleviated these worries. Stepping into the role of co-president, alongside her peer Lily, Emma prioritized expanding active club participation from five or six core members to ten or more. To achieve this, NASAND opened its events to non-Native allies, curious students, and friends. This deliberate allyship framework serves as a scalable model for low-representation affinity groups across higher education, demonstrating how small demographic populations (less than 1% on campus) can leverage inclusive community-building to amplify institutional advocacy and visibility.

“Pierre Navarre was the first European settler in St. Joseph County, and he married a Potawatomi woman who was the daughter of a chief. They had a lot of kids, including another Pierre. They were the first multiracial marriage in South Bend.” – Pete Slease ’96
“Another thing that the club really emphasizes and that we’ve been trying to do a little bit more as well this year is emphasizing that you don’t have to be Native American. You can be an ally, you can be curious, you can be wanting to learn more.” – Emma Slease
“Because the university is on historically native land, and our broader tribe (is) the Potawatomi, (it is) that much more important to me that the university does more than a land acknowledgment.” – Pete Slease ’96
“When I think of my people here, I think of… the people that get you, the people that see you, even if they’re not the exact same as you. Exact differences are important and necessary. They help you grow, they help you learn.” – Emma Slease
“There needs to be a statue commemorating what our people called the Black Robes and our people. It’s the foundation of the university. It’s the genesis story.” – Pete Slease ’96

How do students navigate identity and belonging within low-representation spaces on university campuses?
- Underrepresented students navigate low demographic representation (under 1% on campus) by working through initial impostor syndrome and connecting with welcoming peer networks. Rather than relying on physical stereotypes or narrow identity definitions, belonging is cultivated through shared advocacy, open dialogue, and finding diverse peer groups who offer mutual support across campus life.
What institutional actions extend advocacy beyond symbolic land acknowledgments?
- Moving beyond land acknowledgments requires structural, institutional commitments that address historical responsibilities. Key actions could include securing fully endowed Native student scholarships, establishing a formal Indigenous Studies major supported by Indigenous faculty, and erecting permanent campus monuments that honor the foundational relationship between local Indigenous tribes and founding religious orders.
How can student organizations structure effective advocacy for broader community engagement?
- Student organizations build broad community advocacy by organizing recurring, issue-focused campus initiatives that pair public education with targeted fundraising. Initiatives like the annual Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) 5K run/walk engage the wider campus community, raise operational capital for charitable organizations, and create sustainable traditions that persist across student leadership transitions.
Why is intentional allyship critical to sustaining small student affinity groups?
- Opening club membership to non-Native allies, curious peers, and interested friends allows small demographic cohorts to expand their active operational footprint beyond a core group of five or six members. This intentional allyship strategy builds strength in numbers, expands event capacity, and drives broader campus education regarding Indigenous culture and history.
How does intergenerational collaboration strengthen alumni and student leadership networks?
- Direct partnership between alumni board leaders and active student campus leaders creates structural continuity and sustained institutional mentorship. Emma’s articulated pathway—transitioning directly from student leadership in NASAND to prospective board service on the Native American Alumni Association of Notre Dame (NAA)—illustrates how intergenerational collaboration builds a permanent bridge between undergraduate advocacy and lifelong post-graduate alumni involvement.