For years, Indigenous students at UW-Madison have been concerned about a plan that would demolish their home base in favor of a parking lot for the new Letters and Sciences building, called Levy Hall.

The block contains the center of Wunk Sheek, a UW-Madison student group that connects Native students. Student leaders say university’s plans could displace Wunk Sheek in addition to other student groups supporting traditionally underrepresented populations, according to a master plan from 2015.

But earlier this month, students packed a student council meeting to share their concerns about the plan. At that meeting, one university official denied that there was any plan to demolish the building.

Three leaders in the Wunk Sheek student group – president Yelih Rodriguez, social activism chair Kira Adkins, and environmental chair Sagen Quale – join us in the studio to tell us about their student group, share their concerns about a possible demolition, and give us an update on what they’ve been promised now.

Editor’s note: In this interview, our News Director mistakenly stated that Native American students make up 2% of the UW-Madison student population. The correct number is much smaller – Native American students in fact make up .2% of the student population, according to a recent report from The Daily Cardinal. She regrets the error. 

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