2010 Annual Report University of Alaska Foundation Promise

A 45-foot Eagle Totem was erected on the UAS Auke Lake campus during a ceremony on April 24, 2010. Photo courtesy UAS
FIRST STUDENT-LED CAMPAIGN RAISES $140,000
Led by the Native student club Wooch.éen, the UAS Eagle Totem Campaign raised
$140,000 in private support to carve and raise an Eagle Totem on the UAS Auke
Lake Campus.
The UAS Auke Lake campus in Juneau is located on lands originally inhabited by the Tlingit Indian tribe
Aak’w Kwaan. Tlingit, meaning “The People,” are divided into moieties, which means “each of two parts.”
There is the Eagle moiety and the Raven moiety.
In March 1993, Chevron donated a Tlingit-carved totem pole to UAS that represented one of the two
Tlingit moieties, the Raven. The goal of Eagle Totem Pole Campaign was to honor the other moiety and
bring balance to the campus.
“It means a lot to Native students that the university wanted to balance the Raven pole,” said Wooch.éen
member and UAS student Ricky Tagaban. “There’s definitely a kind of an understanding or acceptance
on campus for Native students. I’m glad this is going on in my generation.”
The Sealaska Heritage Institute and Sealaska Corp. generously donated the 45-foot red cedar log for the
totem, valued at $40,000. Additionally, the UAS Alumni Association and the Rasmuson Foundation awarded
dollar-for-dollar matching gift incentives in support of the project at $5,000 and $25,000 respectively.
UNIVERSITY OF OF ALASKA FOUNDATION FY10 ANNUAL REPORT 21