From right, Haskell Indian Nations University junior Shereena Baker, Fortuna, Calif., of the Southern Ute and Karuk tribes; senior Margaret Stevens, Oneida, Wisconsin, of the Oneida tribe; and senior Willow Bonga, Portland, Ore., of the Quinault tribe, are among members of Haskell's American Indian Studies Club who have asked Lawrence city commissioners to change the name of Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. The students, pictured Wednesday at Haskell, are planning a noon march on Monday from the South Park gazebo to the Haskell campus to bring attention to the issue.

Keep the day. Dump the Columbus.

That’s long been the rallying cry at Haskell Indian Nations University each year as Columbus Day – which is Monday – approaches.

But now, Haskell students want city commissioners to also shine a spotlight on the subject. Members of Haskell’s American Indian Studies Club have asked city commissioners to proclaim Monday as Indigenous Peoples Day, instead of celebrating it as Columbus Day.

“It (the holiday) is in essence celebrating our genocide instead of celebrating our survival,” said Willow Bonga, a Haskell student and club member. “It was a time when it decimated our populations and brought the natives to the ground. It only was by our pure strength that we were able to rise up and still be in existence today.”

City leaders, though, aren’t making plans to change the name. Mayor Sue Hack said she respects the students’ views, but she said it is an issue probably better handled by state legislators.

“I think you are exactly right about the history,” Hack told students at Tuesday’s City Commission meeting. “But our policy has been to not use proclamations to make a political stand or do something that the state should change.”

City Commissioner Boog Highberger, though, said he was in favor of adopting a proclamation declaring it Indigenous Peoples Day. The move wouldn’t be unprecedented. In 1992, the city declared it American Indian Day, but the tradition didn’t stick.

“I think the history of what happened to native people is a story that doesn’t get told well enough,” Highberger said. “I know how those of us in Lawrence would feel if someone were celebrating William Quantrill Day.”

Margaret Stevens, a Haskell senior and secretary of the American Indian club, said students are trying not to take too negative of a tone in calling for the name change. But some historians have said Columbus and his followers were responsible for millions of American Indian deaths through conflict and disease that they brought from Europe.

“We understand that he was trying to make a better place for his people, but in doing so he did commit one of the greatest acts of genocide in history,” Stevens said. “That is not always taught in schools.”

City commissioners aren’t expected to take any more action on the students’ request. Commissioners don’t meet again until Tuesday, one day after Columbus Day.

Haskell students are planning a demonstration and march on Monday to draw attention to the name change issue. The event will begin at noon Monday at the South Park Gazebo, and will involve a march to the Haskell campus. The event will include several speakers and a potluck lunch.