Haskell Indian Nations University stands today as the most perilous crossroads in its 140 -year history. Founded in 1884 as a federal institution created to serve Tribal Nations, Haskell has survived eras of assimilation policy, chronic federal neglect, and repeated cycles of federal trust mismanagement. Yet never—not even during the boarding school era—has Haskell faced a federally induced crisis as severe as the current Higher Learning Commission (HLC) sanction for loss of accreditation. The HLC will decide in December 2026 whether to withdraw accreditation entirely, and every indicator points toward that outcome. The Department of the Interior’s (DOI) FY2027 budget—widely recognized across Indian County as a death knell budget—contains no financial commitment capable of meeting HLC sustainability standards. No university in the United States can meet accreditation requirements without stable funding, and Haskell is no exception. The DOI federal trustee’s refusal to provide the resources necessary for institutional viability has made closure not as a possibility but an inevitably unless Congress intervenes. First Nations Journal will continue to document this breach of trust as the silence from federal leadership grows louder.
HLC-Action-Letter-Haskell-Indian-Nations-University-7.8.25.pdf
The Washington Post now reports that Congress has “lost its grip” on funding the federal government, unable to carry out even the most basic appropriations duties. First Nations Journal has been sounding this alarm and, if Congress cannot manage regular order for programs Americans cherish, it is no wonder that Indian Country—chronically ignored—faces catastrophic neglect. Haskell Indian Nations University is living proof. HLC’s sanction of loss of accreditation is real, not conjecture, not rumor, not a distant threat. It is the final stage before closure. And while Congress stumbles through missed deadlines and budget paralysis, Haskell will close.
Congress has lost its grip on funding the government – The Washington Post
The Department of the Interior has set up Haskell to fail the HLC sustainability standards as cited in the HLC “Accredited on Notice “sanction. Secretary Burgum’s FY 2027 budget does not “reform” Indian education—it eliminates it. Cutting one-third of the Bureau of Indian Education budget is not an administrative choice; it is a fiscal erasure of the federal trust responsibility. In the current partisan stalemate, Congress may be unable—or unwilling—to restore these cuts. That reality is a death knell for Haskell. HLC’s core standard is Sustainability, meaning the institution must demonstrate financial stability. With the federal trustee proposing to zero out the very budget that sustains Indian education, HLC has no defensible path to maintain Haskell’s accreditation. The sanction is real. The risk of closure is real. And time has run out for incremental responses. SCIA must act now, with urgency equal to the crisis, because without immediate congressional intervention, Haskell Indian Nations University will not survive.
The Haskell Indian Nations University Improvement Act is the only option to reform structural deficiencies at Haskell and meet the HLC standards. Congress must advance the HINU Improvement Act to stave off HLC withdrawal of accreditation at Haskell.
The recent ICT analysis, America 250: A step-by-step guide to Indigenous erasure, lays out the missing truths that never appear in America’s history books. Those truths are not abstract; they are not historical footnotes. They are alive today, and the clearest example is unfolding in Lawrence, Kansas at Haskell Indian Nations University. Haskell is the flagship of Indian Education. For 140 years, Haskell has been the national center of federal Indian education, the one institution that binds together citizens of all 575 federally recognized tribes.
- Haskell is not a tribal college
- Haskell is not a state school.
- Hasell is federal Indian trust property, held by the United States for the benefit of tribal
- Nations and their citizens.
Haskell is the flagship of Indian education—the “miner’s canary”, as Felix Cohen warned.
- When Haskell is healthy, federal trust responsibility is healthy.
- When Haskell is attacked, all Indian Country is at risk.
AMERICA 250: A step-by-step guide to Indigenous erasure – ICT
The HLC sanction of Haskell is the 21lst-Century Mechanism of Erasure. The HLC sanction placing Haskell: Accredited on Notice” is not rumor, not conjecture, not FNJ opinion.
The HLC sanction is documented federal failure, acknowledged by HLC and not denied by the Department of the Interior. This sanction is the modern tool of erasure—the 21lst-century equivalent of the old federal policies that sought to eliminate Native nations by eliminating Native education. Loss of accreditation is not a bureaucratic event. It is existential. It is the federal government’s clearest pathway to dismantling the trust responsibility without ever saying the words. If Haskell fails, the federal government gains the precedent to say, “Indian Education no longer requires federal trusteeship”.
And once that door opens, all Indian roads lead to the same destination—the dismantling of the entire federal trust responsibility.
Haskell is the most common thread connecting all tribal nations. To eliminate Haskell is to eliminate the evidence of federal obligation. To eliminate Haskell is to eliminate the legal and moral anchor that ties the United States to its treaty promises. It is the frontline of Indigenous erasure in the America 250 era.
In America 250, America can celebrate the long-time coming of eradication of Indian Self-Determination “Kill the Indian in Him, Save the Man”, (RH Pratt).
The chronic underfunding of Indian Affairs is not an accident. It is the direct result of Congress’s limited knowledge and lack of priority. The HLC sanction letter gives Congress the knowledge it has been missing. SCIA gives Congress the mechanisms to act. FNJ asserts the HLC sanction must remain front and center until Congress acknowledges it, understands it, and responds with corrective action. The future of Haskell Indian Nations University—and the credibility of the federal trust responsibility—depends on Congress’s willingness to confront the truth documented by the HLC.
First Nations Journal presses a Congress Call to Action to save Haskell from closure.
FIRST NATIONS JOURNAL
M’gwitch, 🪶
Steve Cadue
Kickapoo
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