July 20: The Intertwined History of Indian Land Dispossession, Arizona Statehood, and University Enrichment

Professor Teresa Miguel-Stearns is Associate Dean of Legal Information Innovation, Director of the Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library, and Professor of Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona. Miguel-Stearns teaches and writes in the areas of legal and library science education, with a focus on AI, access to the profession, and legal history.

Monday, July 20, 2026, 3:00-4:00 pm, Koffler Great Room at ASA and Zoom

Ever since the Morrill Act of 1862, Congress has allocated millions of acres of land in the western United States as endowments for the support of public higher education. In Arizona, treaties, acts of Congress, executive orders, and force were all used to implement this. The land taken came from Indigenous peoples, communities, and tribes. As a result, by the time of statehood in 1912, the state of Arizona had approximately 850,000 acres of land to use for the support of higher education, including the University of Arizona. Dean Miguel-Stearns will discuss the University of Arizona’s historical and ongoing enrichment from these lands. She will give specific examples of how this benefits all of Arizona’s institutions of higher education.