The following are optional Inclusion Statements to include on your syllabus:
Language that should NOT be included in a syllabus
Religious Observances and Holidays: Michigan State University has long had a policy to permit students, faculty/academic staff, and support staff to observe those holidays set aside by their chosen religious faith.
Links to the policies can be found below:
More information about religious holidays and traditions can be found online.
Equal Opportunity Statement: In compliance with applicable federal and state law, Michigan State University is an equal opportunity institution and maintains affirmative action programs as required for compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Act of 1974, as amended.
Through campus educational offerings, consultations and partnership, the Office for Inclusive Excellence and Impact supports MSU’s fulfillment of compliance requirements and our commitments to operational excellence.
In this role, the office works with campus partners and stakeholders to:
Provisional Land Acknowledgement: This is intended to be read at the beginning of formal events or published in printed material.
Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa and Bodéwadmi peoples. The University’s campus resides on the traditional Lands of the Saginaw Band of Chippewa, ceded under coercive or violent circumstances in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. Michigan State University is supported through the Land Grant Act, where 10.7 million acres were taken from 245 Tribal nations through the treaty system to fund and establish agricultural colleges. Michigan State University was established on and with 235,193 acres of Anishinaabe Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw and the 1836 Treaty of Washington.
Michigan State University recognizes, supports and advocates for the sovereignty of Anishinaabe Nations from the Great Lakes area, for historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their homelands. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold ourselves more accountable to the needs of Indigenous peoples and to the creation of equitable and fair policies for years to come.
Visit MSU’s American Indian and Indigenous Studies page for more information on Land Acknowledgements.