Michalyn Steele, a professor in the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU, is a member of the Seneca Nation
PROVO — BYU’s eight-member committee tasked with improving racial equality on campus and in the local community has grown to nine members.
Michalyn Steele, a professor in the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU, has been added to the committee, BYU spokesperson Carri Jenkins confirmed to KSL.com.
The committee was formed to “examine issues of race and inequality” on campus and in the community; Steele’s appointment comes after calls for Native American representation on the committee. A member of the Seneca Nation of Indians of New York, Steele joined the BYU law school faculty as an associate professor in 2014.
“More information will be forthcoming about the committee and its goals,” Jenkins added.
Farina King, a member of the BYU Native American alumni, wrote on a Change.org petition that originally called for Native American representation on the committee that BYU president Kevin Worthen had sent an email to alumni group members advising them of Steele’s inclusion on June 26.
Steele’s professional career included work at a Washington D.C.-area law firm that specialized in representation of native tribes and as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division. She was also a counselor to Larry Echo Hawk, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, at the U.S. Department of Interior.
Steele received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in humanities from BYU, with an emphasis in English literature and Native American studies. She joins the previously announced eight-member committee. For more info visit ksl.com.
