Governor appoints this Tribal chair to Evergreen State College board of trustees
Gov. Jay Inslee appointed Squaxin Island Tribe Chairman Kristopher Peters to The Evergreen State College Board of Trustees, making him the first Tribal chair to serve on the college’s board.
“It is an honor to be selected to serve on Evergreen’s Board of Trustees,” Peters said in a news release. “There is a long line of Native graduates from Evergreen who have become leaders for not only their Tribal communities but for the entire state of Washington. I am honored to have a front-row seat to our future leaders who are making their way and choosing Evergreen as the place where they will learn.”
This is yet another historic appointment Gov. Inslee has made in recent weeks. On Oct. 25, he announced his appointment of Suquamish Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman as the first Native American to the University of Washington’s Board of Regents.
Peters’ term on the eight-member board that provides long-term strategic leadership, initiates policy and delegates authority to the college president began Oct. 26 and will run through September 2027. The governor appoints seven of the board’s members and an eighth student member is selected by campus peers.
“Kristopher knows the importance of a rigorous and ever-evolving education that will give life-long lessons to take you wherever you want to go in life and that is what The Evergreen State College offers,” Inslee said in a news release. “His depth of experience, as a student, a professor at Evergreen, and as a leader with the Squaxin Island Tribe, gives him the uncanny opportunity to meet people where they are at. He is a true leader and will be at the forefront with Evergreen as the college celebrates its 50th anniversary. He will help lead the college into its next 50 years.”
An alumnus of the college, Peters received his bachelor’s degree in Native American History and Tribal Government in 2014 and his Master of Public Administration in Tribal Governance in 2016. He has also been an adjunct professor at the college since 2018, served his community as Tribal administrator and police chief since 2012 and became Tribal chair in July 2020.
While Peters is the first Tribal chairperson to serve on the college’s board of trustees, many Tribal citizens have previously served, including Billy Frank Jr., who was president of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission; Sen. Claudia Kauffman, who works as the Intergovernmental Affairs Liaison for the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and who is from the Nez Perce Tribe; and Martina Wehlshula of the Arrow Lakes Nation of the Colville Tribes.
The college’s Olympia campus is located on the ceded territories of the Medicine Creek Treaty Tribes, which include the ancestral territory of the Squaxin Island Tribe, the Nisqually Indian Tribe and the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. The Squaxin Island Tribe’s habitation of the land on and around the inlets of the Southern Salish Sea, including what is now the city of Olympia and Evergreen spans thousands of years.
Since June 2021, the Squaxin Island Tribe flag flies at the Olympia campus to acknowledge the college’s commitment to an ongoing physical appreciation for the people of the Squaxin Island Tribe.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREPlease help support this reporting
Natasha Brennan covers Washington state tribes’ impact on our local communities, environment and politics, as well as traditions, culture and equity issues, for McClatchy media companies in Bellingham, Olympia, Tacoma and Tri-Cities.
She joins us in partnership with Report for America, which pays a portion of reporters’ salaries. You can help support this reporting at bellinghamherald.com/donate. Donations are tax-deductible through Journalism Funding Partners.
You can sign up for her weekly newsletter here.
“We are honored and delighted to have Kristopher Peters join the Board of Trustees,” said Evergreen Trustee Chair Karen Fraser in a news release. “We have lots of important work to do and it is an honor to have him at the table as we make important decisions for the next 50 years of The Evergreen State College. His voice and leadership will be a great compliment to the board’s existing members, and the college.”
The school will soon celebrate the 26th anniversary of its longhouse, The “House of Welcome,” an education and cultural center that opened in 1995 to promote Indigenous arts and cultures through education, cultural preservation, creative expression and economic development.
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Governor appoints this Tribal chair to Evergreen State College board of trustees."
