But in response to pressure from a student-led Native American
alliance, Northwestern officials say they plan to form a
commission to research Evans' connection to the one of the worst
massacres of Native Americans in the country's history. In 1864,
Evans was territorial governor of Colorado when a militia of
about 700 men attacked a temporary village of Southern Cheyenne
and Arapaho people at Sand Creek. According to the National Park
Service, the soldiers killed 165 to 200 Native Americans, about
two-thirds of them women, children and elderly. Known as the
Sand Creek Massacre, it is considered one of the worst acts of
genocide in the country's history and led to Evans' removal from
his governorship after a congressional investigation. According
to the Native American and Indigenous Student Alliance at
Northwestern, the university has ignored that part of Evans'
history. Evans continued as a major benefactor and member of
Northwestern's board long after details of the massacre came to
light. "Many institutio