Brown renames October holiday to honor indigenous peoples

February 3, 2016 10:25 am

By News Staff

news@abc6.com

The Associated Press

The faculty at Brown University has voted to rename what used to be called "Columbus Day" to "Indigenous People’s Day."

In 2009, the Ivy League university changed the name of the holiday that falls on the second Monday of October to "Fall Weekend," but some people said the change didn’t go far enough. So, on Tuesday, they changed the name again.

Renaming the holiday, according to the rationale for the motion presented to the faculty, "would recognize the contributions of Indigenous People/Native Americans to our community and our culture and foster a more inclusive community.”

Efforts are underway across the country to drop the Columbus Day name–named in honor of explorer Christopher Columbus–because it represents the oppression of Native Americans.