On November 3, 2026, America has chosen to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the rule of law. Congress must honor the Constitution and keep America’s promise to all people without fear or favor. We can look forward to America’s 500th anniversary with every expectation of freedom and pursuit of happiness.
The 2026 Midterm Elections are a pivotal moment for federal Indian education and upholding the Constitution. Less than one month remains before the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) renders its accreditation decision regarding Haskell Indian Nations University. The stakes could not be higher. What is at risk is not merely the future of a university in Lawrence, Kansas, but the credibility of the federal government’s trust responsibility to Native nations and Native students.
Public-Disclosure-Notice-Haskell-Indian-Nations-University.pdf
For decades, federal agencies, oversight commissions, tribal leaders, and educators have documented the chronic underfunding of federal Indian education. The crisis now confronting Haskell did not emerge overnight. The HLC’ findings of non-compliance are not the result of a single administration, a single Congress, or a single university president. They are the cumulative result of generations of deferred investment, deferred maintenance, and deferred accountability.
Secretary of the Interior Burgum’s FY2027 austere budget presented to Congress signals disdain for Haskell’s academic mission and regards Indian education as without contemporary significance; therefore, not requiring meaningful consultation. Secretary Burgum describes Indian colleges as poor outcomes.
Today, Haskell faces a reality that would be unthinkable at most federal institutions. The university confronts an uncertain FY2027 operating budget while simultaneously attempting to address serious compliance concerns involving institutional sustainability. The HLC has specifically identified sustainability as a core challenge. Sustainability, however, cannot be achieved through administrative restricting alone or with Hope. Sustainability requires financial capacity and commitment. Financial capacity requires congressional appropriations.
The debate now before Congress should not be whether Haskell deserves additional funding. The debate should be how quickly the federal government can fulfill obligations it has postponed for decades. The federal trust responsibility for Indian education is not discretionary. It is rooted in treaties, statutes, and longstanding federal commitments. Yet repeated reports from the U S Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the U S Commission on Civil Rights have documented systemic shortcomings in the federal government’s fulfillment of its trust responsibilities to tribal nations and Native students. Haskell’s present circumstances reflect these large national failures.
Senator Jerry Moran’s Haskell Indian Nations University Improvement Act proposes approximately $23 million annually for Haskell operations. The legislation represents an important acknowledgement of the university’s challenges and demonstrates meaningful congressional leadership. Yet even supporters of the proposal recognize that such funding would primarily stabilize operations. It is, in many respects, a survival mode budget causing severe dysfunction at Haskell as described in Congressional hearings.
Survival is not recovery. Recovery requires confronting the substantial backlog of deferred maintenance that has accumulated over many years. Aging infrastructure, deteriorating facilities, technology modernization needs, campus safety requirements, and accreditation-related investments all require resources that far exceed current operational funding levels.
For that reason, First Nations Journal believes the national conversation must move beyond annual operating appropriations and toward a comprehensive Haskell Recovery Plan.
Such a framework might include: Immediate Stabilization (FY2027)
- Annual operating support $23 million to $30 million
- Accreditation compliance initiatives
- Faculty and staff recruitment and retention
- Student support services
- Technology modernization and administrative systems
Estimated Total: $30 million to $40 million; Medium-Term Recovery (3-5 Years)
- Deferred maintenance assessments
- Major facility rehabilitation
- Campus infrastructure modernization
- Energy and utility system upgrades
- Classroom and laboratory improvements
Estimated Total: $50 million to $75 million; Long-Term Transformation (5-10 Years)
- New academic and student facilities
- Expanded research and workforce development programs
- National Native-serving education initiatives
- Strategic enrollment growth
- Long-term endowment and sustainability planning
Estimated Total $75 million to $100 million (+). These figures are not presented as official budget requests. Rather, they provide a conceptual framework for understanding the scale of investment necessary to restore Haskell’s long-term visibility. To date, neither the Bureau of Indian Education nor the Department of the Interior has publicly advanced a comprehensive financial blueprint addressing both operational sustainability and deferred maintenance at Haskell. The absence of such planning leaves Congress, tribal nations, and the public without a clear roadmap for recovery. That must change.
The December 2026 HLC decision should be viewed as a national alarm bell. Accreditation concerns cannot be solved by administrative changes alone. They cannot be solved through public relations campaigns. Most importantly, they cannot be solved without financial commitments commensurate with the federal government’s trust responsibility.
The 2026 Midterm Elections provide Americans an opportunity to elect leaders willing to confront these realities. Tribal nations, Native alumni, students, educators and policymakers should demand more than promises of reform. They should demand investment, accountability and long-tern commitment to federal Indian higher education.
The choice before the nation is straightforward. Congress can continue the historical pattern of underfunding and crisis management, or it can seize the moment to transform Haskell Indian Nations University into the institution envisioned by generations of Native leaders and students.
This is not simply a debate about funding levels. It is a test of whether the United States intends to honor its trust responsibility to Native people in the twenty-first century. The time for administrative change has passed. The time for transformation has arrived.
First Nations Journal makes the clarion call for Congress to Action.
FIRST NATIONS JOURNAL
M’gwitch 🪶
Steve Cadue
Kickapoo
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