Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and Assistant Secretary ‘for Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland’s sweeping Bureau of Indian Affairs reorganization plan lands at the exact moment Haskell is under an HLC “Accredited on Notice” sanction—a sanction rooted in years of federal mismanagement documented by Congress itself. Yet Secretary Burgum has not addressed how his reorganization intersects with HLC’s compliance requirements. This raises a critical public question: did the Department of the Interior (DOI) vet its reorganization plan with the Higher Learning Commission and avoid mandated consultation with Indian leaders. Is the DOI restructuring the very systems responsible for Haskell’s instability without consulting the accreditor now demanding a Recovery Plan? Someone under Burgum’s authority must be working on HLC compliance, but the public has been given no transparency about who that is or how the reorganization aligns with accreditation obligations.
Secretary Burgum’s recent announcement to cut services and staff in the Burau of Indian Affairs (BIA) severely impacts the Haskell recovery plan to prevent loss of accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). Under HLC Criteria for Accreditation, an institution must demonstrate sustainable governance, financial stability and reliable federal support. The federal trustee owner of Haskell is abdicating its trust responsibility to Indian beneficiaries. HLC cannot fulfill its statutory and accreditation responsibilities without acknowledging the federal role in Haskell’s Instability. For years, HLC has avoided confronting the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) failures, and this pattern has contributed to the deterioration of Haskell’s facilities, safety hazards, deferred maintenance including the federally protected Haskell wetlands.
Secretary Burgum and Assistant Secretary Kirkland’s reorganization governance is arbitrary, controlling and does not provide accountability mechanisms and why Indian leaders criticized the reorganization plan. Indian leaders were excluded from mandated consultation. Our Indian people and Congress thought we left behind the lack of accountability with the Cobell decision (Cobell v. Salazar 2009). Secretary Burgum’s reorganization plan does not address the root problem. The DOI is trying to present its internal reorganization as a “solution” to HLC’s noncompliance letter and the truth is:
- A reorganization is administrative, not structural
- Does not create a statutory charter
- Does not establish a governing board
- Does not protect the land base
- Does not define Haskell’s mission in law
- Does not fix trust responsibility failures
Secretary Burgum and Assistant Secretary Kirkland are acting as if its internal BIA/BIE reorganization can substitute for the structural reforms Congress itself said were necessary as cited in the proposed Haskell Indian Nations University Improvement Act. Congress itself documented the federal trust treaty education chronic mismanagement at Haskell including:
- Mismanagement of trust assets
- Failure to maintain campus infrastructure
- Lack of a governing board
- Unstable leadership
- Absence of statutory million clarity
- Neglect of cultural and environmental resources (including the Haskell Wetlands)
- Repeated accreditation crises caused by federal administrative dysfunction
The HINU Improvement findings were not speculative and were based on:
- HLC Reports
- Federal audits
- Testimony from Indian student beneficiaries and staff
- Documented failures by BIE leadership
- Longstanding federal trust responsibility breaches
The entire point of the HINU Improvement Act is that Interior cannot fix itself—because Interior is the problem. The DOI has failed as trustee in management of Haskell for decades. The DOI cannot meet HLC standards under the current structure. The DOI is responsible for the HLC accreditation crisis. The HLC standards require governance mission clarity, and institutional autonomy—none of which DOI can provide through internal reshuffling. Congress must intervene.
Congressional oversight is now essential to ensure that both DOI and HLC meet their obligations to Indian beneficiaries and hundreds of Indian nations. The implications of Secretary Burgum and Assistant Secretary Kirkland’s are unavoidable. It is the same pattern the General Accounting Office (GAO) and Office of Inspector General (OIG) has warned about for years. When the trustee cuts its own workforce, especially without consultation, it reduces its ability to:
- Administer programs
- Distribute funds
- Maintain schools
- Uphold treaty obligations
The Department of Interior is oblivious to the HLC impending loss of accreditation crisis at Haskell. The Secretary of Interior Burgum and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kirkland govern with impunity and know Indian rights are not enforced. In the preponderance of evidence, i.e., the federal GAO and OIG reports foretold HLC warning withdrawing loss of accreditation.
First Nations Journal recognizes that education is the key to genuine Indian Self-Determination as enacted by Congress in the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 (P.L. 93-638). Indian rights must not just be simply recognized but enforced. Absence of enforcement of Indian rights, and Indians pay the price. First Nations Journal looks forward to Congress to intervene and Act in the crisis HLC loss of accreditation. Turning the blind eye to the Haskell crisis as Representative Mann (R-KAN) opined is not acceptable and in violation of fiduciary trust responsibility to Indian beneficiaries.
First Nations Journal has documented a pattern that is no longer possible to ignore: the Department of the Interior, as fiduciary trustee, continues to operate at Haskell Indian Nations University without meeting even the basic standards of trust responsibility. The failures are not abstract. They are not bureaucratic accidents; they are choices—and they carry consequences that fall squarely on our Native students, our Native families, and our Native futures.
Secretary Burgum’s fiduciary trustee duty is non-delegable. Under trust law, the fiduciary trustee—Secretary Burgum –is responsible for every substantiative decision affecting Indian trust assets. That includes Haskell land, Haskell governance and Haskell accreditation. The law is clear:
- The trustee must act with loyalty
- Must avoid conflict-of-interest
- Must prevent even the appearance of impropriety
- Must ensure competent, qualified oversight
Yet, at Haskell, we see the opposite:
- Unvetted appointments
- Unqualified decision makers
- A revolving door of temporary leadership
- A federal silence that grows louder with every unanswered question
Indians pay the price for the DOI’s mismanagement in lost opportunities, diminished institutional credibility and Indians pay in the erosion of a university that was promised to us by treaty, statute, and trust obligation.
First Nations Journal writes because silence is complicity. We document because
Accountability requires a record. We press the Secretary because the law requires action, not excuses. FNJ will continue to press the Secretary for the truth because the price of federal failure is paid by our Indian people—and we refuse to let that continue unchallenged.
FIRST NATIONS JOURNAL
M’gwitch, 🪶
Steve Cadue
Kickapoo Nation Kansas
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