Longhouse Tradition at the

University of Oregon



Spirit of the People

The longhouse is a community center traditional to many Native American peoples in the Pacific Northwest and around the country.  It is a place for celebrating the milestones of life, for passing stories from one generation to the next, for welcoming tribal members and visitors from other nations, for discussing community issues.  It is a place for the ordinary conversations of daily life and the sacred ceremonies that preserve a culture.  It is a place of safety and belonging.  It both symbolizes and embodies the spirit of a people.

With creation of a program to serve Native American students at the  University  of  Oregon  in  the  late 1960s, a  longhouse  was established in an old barracks dating to World War II. 

Now  the  longest  continually operating  longhouse  on a college campus in  the Northwest,  the small  building is deteriorating and needs to be replaced

.