Oren Lyons '58, H'93
Faithkeeper of the Turtle Clan and Chief of the Onondaga Council Nation of Chiefs
Skä •noñh. Thank you for being well. I bring greetings and respect from the people of the Onondaga Nation and to all who are gathered here to celebrate the inauguration Chancellor and President of Syracuse University, the honorable Kent Syverud.
We acknowledge, with great respect, the formidable array of leaders who will speak to this auspicious occasion. And with them, commit ourselves to support Chancellor Syverud, in the work that lies ahead.
We welcome you, Chancellor Syverud, to the ancient homelands of the Haudenosaunee, more commonly known as the six-nation Iroquois Confederation. Onondaga Nation is the seat of this great legal piece with a constitution based on the principles of peace, equity, and union, the power of the good minds, with governance by and for the people and responsibility equally divided between men and women.
The mandate of the Great Peacemaker laid before us a thousand years ago was to make our decisions on behalf of coming generations. Think not of yourself, he said, nor of your family, nor even of your generation. Make your decisions on behalf of those faces looking up from the earth each waiting their time. Make your decisions on their behalf unto the seventh generation.
Those instructions resonate today. We have a common future which lies entirely in our hands. Global problems require global solutions. So we greet you, Chancellor Syverud, and we extend our hand to you, and we welcome you to our ancient homelands, and thank you for continuing the Haudenosaunee Promise of Chancellor Cantor.
We leave you with a question imperative to our work ahead: How do we instruct seven billion people as to the relationship to the Earth. We believe the future of our species lies within the answers to that question. And time is now the factor. Peace. Myself, Faithkeeper, Turtle Clan, Onondaga Council of Chiefs, Haudenosaunee.