Sen. Jerry Moran said Monday that he will propose legislation to remove Haskell Indian Nations University from control by the Bureau of Indian Education, a sweeping move that comes as the university has been criticized for failing to protect its students.
The university in Lawrence is the only Tribal Nations University in the country and is the only four-year college funded and run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Over the past decade, the university has faced turmoil as it ran through eight presidents and was subject to a congressional investigation over failing to address student concerns about sexual assault.
Moran’s bill, in partnership with Rep. Tracey Mann, a Salina Republican, would remove the university from the control of the Bureau of Indian Education and transfer it to a Haskell Board of Trustees appointed by the tribal community. The move would take the institution from being completely government-run to one modeled after public colleges and universities.
“For the last few years the university has been neglected and mismanaged by the Bureau of Indian Education,” Moran said. “The bureau has failed to protect students, respond to my congressional inquiries or meet the basic infrastructure needs of the school.”
ACCORDING to a 2023 report from the Department of the Interior, numerous student allegations arising from Haskell’s athletics department fell on deaf ears when they were reported to university leadership and federal officials in 2022.
Those allegations of sexual assault, harassment, theft, nepotism and fraud were ignored or dismissed by the university president, BIE director and the assistant secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the report found.
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Indian Education declined to comment about Moran’s plan.
But his plan does have the support of Brittany Hall, the president of the Haskell Board of Regents, and Joseph Rupnick, chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.
Hall said granting the university a congressional charter would help it better serve its students because it would no longer be constrained by federal agencies.
“Over the years, Haskell has encountered barriers to progress and innovation that stem from the structural and operational constraints within federal agencies,” Hall said. “These challenges, while not unique to Haskell, underscore the critical need for a more tailored governance model empowered by a U.S. Congressional charter — one that enables the University to thrive while better serving its students and communities.”
Troubled Haskell
University leaders have faced criticism in the past for failing to properly respond to serious accusations and upholding a culture of secrecy around alleged misconduct.
An earlier 2018 federal report concluded that former Haskell President Venida Chenault mishandled multiple sexual misconduct complaints. In 2021, then-President Ronald Graham was fired after issuing a directive that student journalists on campus not contact law enforcement or government agencies seeking information.
TRANSITIONING away from direct federal oversight would represent yet another transformation for Haskell, which has seen many different iterations since its inception in 1884 as a strict boarding school where Native children were forcibly assimilated into American culture.
Whether the historic institution can effectively serve students under the oversight of the Bureau of Indian Education became the subject of a congressional hearing earlier this year after the report detailing officials’ failure to respond to student allegations was finally made public.
