OUR MOST HONORED SPACE : UND SCHOOL OF LAW HOSTS CEREMONY TO INSTALL THE FLAGS OF NORTH DAKOTA ’ S FIVE TRIBES
MICHAEL S . MCGINNISS Dean , University of North Dakota School of Law
In a formal ceremony held on Friday , Feb . 26 , the Five Tribes of North Dakota , the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate , Spirit Lake Tribe , Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa , Standing Rock Sioux Tribe , and Mandan , Hidatsa & Arikara Nation , presented their national flags to the University of North Dakota ( UND ) School of Law for permanent display in the Gerald W . VandeWalle Courtroom . The ceremony was jointly sponsored by the School of Law ’ s Northern Plains Indian Law Center ( Indian Law Center ) and the Native American Law Students Association ( NALSA ).
This event was a tremendous milestone in the history of UND Law and for recognizing the distinctive importance of our relationships with the Five Tribes . I was deeply honored to participate in the ceremony by offering my remarks , and I opened by confessing I could not “ begin to adequately express the significance to our School of Law of this magnificent occasion . Mutual respect between North Dakota ’ s state institutions and the Five Tribes is a priority of the highest consequence , and our desire to display these flags and the tribes ’ decisions entrusting us with them symbolize that mutual respect in a highly visible and meaningful way .”
Longtime UND Law Director of Alumni and Public Relations Rob Carolin , who now serves as the chief of staff to UND President Andrew Armacost , represented the President ’ s Office at the ceremony and read UND ’ s Land Acknowledgment Statement . One year ago , UND adopted the statement after a process guided by the expertise of many cultural leaders , experts , and elders , because it believes it is important to understand the history that has brought people to the land on which they reside . Mr . Carolin emphasized the statement “ has great meaning to the University and tonight ’ s flag ceremony involving all five First Nations in North Dakota is another way to strengthen this important relationship .”
It was also truly proper that we celebrated this special occasion with a ceremony in the beautiful courtroom that was renamed in February 2020 for the longtime and legendary North Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald W . VandeWalle . Not only is the VandeWalle Courtroom the most prominent and honored location in the School of Law , there is also a distinctive connection between Justice VandeWalle ’ s legacy on the Court and the law of North Dakota respecting these Five Tribes . Twenty years ago , under his leadership , the North Dakota Supreme Court adopted Rule 7.2 of the North Dakota Rules of Court , providing that North Dakota ’ s state courts would recognize tribal court judgments in the same way they recognize other state court judgments . This is essentially an administrative full faith and credit concept based on comity . North Dakota was one of the first states in the United States to take this action . This history made it especially fitting that the flag installation ceremony , symbolizing the mutual respect between the School of Law and the state ’ s tribes , occurred in a courtroom named after the jurist who shepherded into existence this significant rule codifying the obligation for state courts to respect tribal court judgments .
The Thundering Bear drum group from Turtle Mountain performed a tribal flag
24 THE GAVEL