First Nations Journal has written to press Congress to uphold genuine federal trust responsibility treaty Indian education at Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) as cited in the Findings and Purpose of the proposed Haskell Indian Nations University Improvement Act (S.2140). Recently, Senator Jerry Moran (R-KAN) and Representative Tracey Mann (R-KAN) sent a letter to Haskell faculty and staff for feedback on their proposed legislation giving more autonomy to Haskell. First Nations Journal writes the request for feedback should include present and former Haskell students and Haskell Board of Regents members. The lawmakers request for feedback must also include Indian nation tribal leaders as mandated by federal consultation law.
The lawmakers have advised Haskell civil servants to follow federal agency policy when sharing feedback with the Congress. First Nations Journal published recently that Haskell students and faculty must receive administration approval when voicing dissent. This administrative approval to voice dissent is a breach of trust responsibility, violation of academic freedom and constitutional rights. Haskell students and faculty should not be required to surrender their constitutional and Indian treaty rights at the gate for Indian education or federal employment at Haskell. FNJ has highlighted the chilling effect of DOI/BIA/BIE speech restrictions.
The mismanagement and challenges at Haskell are not campus isolated but a symptom of federal trust breach duties in sovereign nation Indian affairs management. The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) sanction “Accredited on Notice” warning of loss of accreditation crisis issued to Haskell is an opportunity to develop a model to fulfill trust responsibilities to Indian beneficiaries.
While it is commendable the lawmakers appeal to Haskell employees for consultation Haskell exists because of treaty and trust obligations to tribal nations it is the tribal nations who must be consulted before any structural changes are established at Haskell. FNJ has consistently presented the same pattern as a structural failure to meet mandatory trust and consultation obligations. The Department of the Interior Secretary Order No. 3335 reaffirms the Federal Trust Responsibility to Federally Recognized Indian Tribes and Individual Indian beneficiaries.
The Haskell management challenges are not Indian beneficiaries and FNJ has documented these challenges as federal trustee mismanagement. It is the Department of the Interior (DOI) who is responsible for the Higher Learning Commission loss of accreditation crisis at Haskell. Indians pay the price. The federal mismanagement includes:
- BIE’s failure to maintain accreditation standards
- DOI’s failure to provide stable leadership
- Chronic underfunding
- Violation of statutory duties
FNJ’s narrative has published that the federal trustee has created the crisis and now proposes structural changes without acknowledging its own role.
The federal government is destroying the value of education at Haskell, can it de-stabilize the University of Kansas. Haskell is the miner’s canary experiencing toxic fumes and toxicity doesn’t discriminate. Why should industry and science invest in KU and the Lawrence community when Lawrence was silent in the education culture value of Haskell. The socio-economic multiplier impact of Haskell is significant, and the impending closure of Haskell will be felt for generations. Lawrence was built on the abolitionist’s quest for freedom and quality of life.
Haskell Indian Nations University is one of Lawrence’s most important—yet consistently overlooked—economic engines. A formal economic analysis commissioned by Haskell found that the university generates $23.l million in annual economic impact for the Lawrence-area community. This figure reflects direct institutional spending, student spending, local contracting, and the circulation of federal dollars into the regional economy.
City economic development officials have long acknowledged that Lawrence’s higher-education institutions-Haskell and KU together—are foundational to the city’s economic stability. FNJ writes that students bring dollars into the community.
Although the 2016 EMSI study quantified the $23.1 million impact of Haskell, it did not publish a standalone multiplier. However, using the study’s structure and standard regional-economics methodology, we can articulate the multiplier effect.
- Direct impact: Haskell’s federal operating funds, payroll and campus procurement.
- Indirect impact: Dollars spent by Haskell on goods and services that support local
- Vendors, contractors, and service providers.
- Induced impact: Spending by Haskell employees, students, and local businesses
- Income depends on Haskell’s presence.
Based on the EMSI methodology used in the study, the implied multiplier is approximately:
- Every $1 of Haskell-related spending generates more than $1.50 in total economic
- Activity in the Lawrence region. This is an inference based on the EMSI model used in
- the cited study, which typically yields multipliers in the 1.5—1.8 range for higher-
- education institutions of Haskell size.
This means that federal dollars flowing into Haskell do not stop at the campus boundary—they reverberate through the Lawrence economy supporting jobs, small businesses, housing, transportation, and local tax revenues.
Haskell is not just a federal obligation—it is a regional economic asset. Federal mismanagement at Haskell doesn’t only harm Indian beneficiaries, it suppresses economic growth in Lawrence.
Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) along with ten other senators recently sent a letter to President Trump requesting the president to reverse his decision to cut Native student education nationwide. The letter states, “the President’s cuts to Native students undermines the federal government’s trust and treaty obligation to provide Native students education”.
Senator Murkowski (R-AK) is chairperson of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (SCIA), which has jurisdiction and oversight over several key areas including trust responsibility and education. The committee is responsible for reporting its recommendations and legislation directly to the Senate. Haskell is the flagship of Indian education and city officials should invite Senator Murkowski to Lawrence, Haskell and KU to learn firsthand of these special places of education.
First Nation Journal writes that a properly governed, fully supported Haskell would generate even larger multiplier effects, especially in new initiatives. In documented federal agency studies of Indian education reports, Indian education needs expansion. FNJ writes that Haskell should expand significantly in the future to meet a critical need in fulfilling federal trust Indian Self-determination education to Indian Nations.
First Nations Journal look forward to Congress in stabilizing and fully supporting Haskell and Indian people in genuine Indian Self-Determination as enacted by Congress.
FIRST NATIONS JOURNAL
M’gwitch, 🪶
Steve Cadue
Kickapoo Nation Kansas
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