Before the Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ occupied the traditional homelands of the squirrels, deer, possums, chipmunks, ants, chickadees, bacteria, mushrooms, pines, and ferns, these and other nonhuman organisms lived free in Rousseauian bliss. It is speciesist and a sign of species fragility to deny the implicit bias that allows one to dismiss the rights of the indigenous nonhuman organisms that were displaced by the humans who migrated into the pre-human paradise.

We demand that the official land acknowledgement of Cornell University be rewritten in a manner consistent with antispeciesism. A virtuous AntiSpeciesist land acknowledgement should say:

Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of nonhuman living organisms. The nonhuman living organisms are an alliance of the members of the animal, plant, fungi, protist, and monera kingdoms,  with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The alliance precedes the establishment of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of nonhuman alliance dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of the nonhuman alliance, past and present, to these lands and waters.