Andover Newton Seminary welcomed I’Noli Hall (MDiv ‘22) back to campus on April 10, 2026, to serve a leading role in Yale Divinity School’s Living Land Acknowledgement Celebration. Hall read Yale’s Land Acknowledgement Statement, before a panel in Marquand Chapel that featured representatives from the Golden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation, Mohegan Tribe, Nehantic Native Nation, and Schaghticoke Tribal Nation. The panel was followed by a ceremony outside The Living Village that served as the official dedication of the Memory Pile produced in collaboration by artists Sierra Henries and Inkpa Mani, with support from Royce Young Wolf and Hall. 

This special event carried great significance, because it presents a unique challenge to faith leaders. As Founding Dean Sarah B. Drummond explains, “Commemoration is a risky business, and it’s a business to which spiritual leaders must pay attention. Why risky? Because ethical remembrance requires us to reflect upon both what we celebrate and what we abhor. Why must spiritual leaders pay attention to it? Because our communities need their help. Through theological education, ministers learn how to acknowledge multiple truths’ coexistence. Whereas politicians broker in all-or-nothing thinking, ministers make meaning, and making meaning is never uncomplicated. I’m proud to know I’Noli Hall and Tisa Wenger and consider them to be models of integrity, showing us ways to consider the past with an eye toward the future.”   

For more information on the Living Village and the Memory Pile, please see  Wunnegen Mehquontamuonk– The Memory Pile at the Living Village.

Photo Credit: Moriah Felder (MDiv ‘19)