The purpose of AISA: American Indian Student Association (AISA) is to strive to assist American Indian students in gaining leadership and advocacy skills while providing a cultural awareness and demonstrating a commitment to campus community involvement through the empowerment of education. More information is available on the American Indian Student Center page.

Word Warriors is an organization of social justice oriented writers inspired by Ojibwe author Gerald Vizenor. Language and writing is a tool through which we invigorate ancestral knowledge on the path to decolonization. This organization is dedicated to Indigenizing the university by supporting social justice oriented creative and critical writers who are locally based, and hosting Indigenous writers from across the Americas. Word Warriors will expose the UWM campus and surrounding community to the powerful Indigenous voices intervening on colonial institutions to create positive social change for all peoples. More information, or to join our group, find us here on Presence.

Minowakiing Biizhiwag Dewei’igan (The Milwaukee Panthers drum) is not an official student organization, but rather a gathering of students around a big drum to practice the Ojibwe language through song. If you ever hear the drum in Bolton Hall, you are welcome to stop by and join us. The current care taker of the drum is UWM student, Nathon Breu. For his Honor’s Senior Thesis, he wrote about the history of the Anishinaabek Big Drum, one specific Gete Dewe’igan, and how this dewe’igan came to be part of the community, and how she functions to promote wellbeing in this community. The PDF can be viewed and downloaded here.
To learn more about the drum a little more on the drum can be found through “UW-Milwaukee’s Pow Wow Has Deep American Indian Roots” by Ed Makowski.