Dave Archambault II, former chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe who led the tribe鈥檚 resistance to the Dakota Access pipeline, has joined the University of Colorado Boulder鈥檚 First Peoples Investment Engagement Project (FPIEP) as a senior fellow.
The FPIEP is a partnership between the American Indian Law Clinic at the University of Colorado Law School and the Center for Education on Social Responsibility at the Leeds School of Business. As the nation鈥檚 first center for business and indigenous rights, its mission is to foster alliances and relationships between corporations and indigenous peoples to ensure that indigenous rights are upheld during every stage of resource development. The FPIEP serves as a hub for indigenous peoples, investors, companies, and banks by creating opportunities for direct dialogue to connect regarding development issues.
Under Archambault鈥檚 leadership, the tribe opposed the pipeline in one of the largest indigenous rights movements in recent American history. He pressured companies and banks supporting the 1,000-mile, $3.8 billion pipeline project and urged them to halt construction. The tribe鈥檚 opposition decried the lack of consultation of the U.S. government with effected tribes as to construction and placement of the pipeline, and advocated for consideration of the environmental and social impacts of the pipeline on the water and cultural resources of the tribes.
鈥淚 am so pleased that Mr. Archambault is joining the project as senior fellow to lead engagement with tribal leaders, investors, banks, and industry leaders,鈥� said Carla Fredericks, associate clinical professor of law and director of the American Indian Law Clinic. 鈥淗is experience and leadership is a vital asset to this project as it seeks to transform the current engagement practices that have resulted in adversarial dialogue between indigenous peoples and outside entities into a consensus-driven process based in mutual respect and understanding.鈥�
Learn more about the American Indian Law Clinic at Colorado Law and the at Leeds School of Business.
Pictured (L-R): Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples; Dave Archambault; Carla Fredericks.