The Legacy of Mission Santa Clara: Connecting Past and Present Communities

The campus of Santa Clara University was built on top of the land once occupied by the Ohlone people. And while there are opportunities to learn about the people who occupied the land before the university existed, Santa Clara generally disregards its history through the lack of markings or signage in frequently visited areas on campus to accurately explain the significance of the land it sits on.

As an open campus, people from all over are welcome to walk through the university and learn about Santa Clara’s past. However, a walk around this campus will not give anyone an accurate understanding of the land’s history, even if they chose to read the “informative” plaques scattered around the church.

The De Saisset Museum on campus has done an incredible job of creating an ongoing exhibition to dive into the history of Ohlone heritage and the Mission period, however, people have to go out of their way to go to the museum and not many people know this exhibition even exists. There are no “conveniently located” signs around campus that accurately tell the story of the Ohlone people. The accurate information is hidden on the bottom floor of the museum and the signs that are in locations with heavy foot traffic (near the rose gardens and the church) have plaques with a brief “history” of the area that ultimately omit a lot of crucial information.   

The Ohlone people endured a great amount of violence and brutality for this campus to exist and function the way it does today. Their story deserves to be told in a way that doesn’t make the Franciscan missionaries sound like saviors. Because Santa Clara sits on native land taken from the Ohlone people, the university should allocate more physical spaces on campus to tell the history of Mission Santa Clara in its entirety.