Senior Feared He Wouldn't Graduate After Massive Cuts to His School. So, He Protested Until He Lost His Voice (Exclusive)

Yahoo

22-05-2025

Tyler Moore was one of many seniors who wondered if they'd be able to graduate when a quarter of the staff at Haskell Indian Nations University was laid off because of federal cuts earlier this year
The student leader, who was able to graduate earlier this month, helped organize protests in Lawrence, Kan. and the state capital after the layoffs
Moore, who plans on becoming a professor of Native history, says the university recently celebrated its 140th anniversary — and "will absolutely be here for another 140 years"In mid-February, senior Tyler Moore visited his photography professor, Robert Hicks Jr., in his office. The space, located at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., was usually covered with papers and cameras.
But that day, Hicks was packing his belongings into boxes. Moore had heard a rumor that school employees were being laid off as the result of an executive order from the Trump administration. The 22-year-old — who had been elected as the Haskell Brave, a top leadership position in the student body — wanted to offer his support.
'I'm here for you if you need anything,' Moore remembers telling his professor. He left to speak to another student, but when he returned, Hicks was gone.
'His entire studio room is empty,' Moore, who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, tells PEOPLE. 'I'm like, this does not feel right. This is just terrible.'
In May, Moore graduated with a degree in Indigenous and American Indian Studies, but for days after the mass layoff — part of the Trump administration's plans to cut federal funding and the federal workforce — he worried that his four years of study wouldn't end with a diploma.
'I didn't know if we were going to continue onward,' says Moore, who, at the time, had just hours of credits left before he was set to earn his bachelor's degree.
The exit of 30-some employees — which prompted a group of tribal nations and students to file a lawsuit in federal court — also left other seniors reeling. Some students even left the school entirely, according to people familiar with the situation. The president of the university and the Bureau of Indian Affairs did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment.
By early April, the school was allowed to reinstate employees as part of a judge's order in response to federal workforce cuts, though some did not return, according to The Hechinger Report. But the school was in chaos for two weeks after the initial firings as students navigated new instructors, or no instructors at all, and struggled to catch up with their course work.
It was a moment that too closely echoed Haskell's past struggles with the U.S. government. Just one of two federally run colleges for Native people, Haskell has some of the worst outcomes in the country. It's the same location where the U.S. installed a boarding school to assimilate Native children more than 140 years ago and where at least 103 people are buried, The New York Times reported.
The school has navigated underfunding and broken promises from the U.S. ever since. But it also provides a sense of community for the indigenous students who attend.
Angel Ahtone Elizarraras, student government president at the university, tells PEOPLE she chose to attend Haskell because she knew she "wouldn't feel like an outsider" there. She says the university is a space where she can pray and speak in her language without judgment.
For Moore, Haskell provides a 'sense of unity.' He says when the school comes under attack, it 'attacks that sense of cultural identity as well.'
The senior, who is Cherokee on his mother's side, had learned of his people's resiliency and history of resistance from his grandfather. So, during that time of uncertainty, when students looked to the Haskell Brave and other leaders like Elizarraras for guidance, they responded.
A week after the initial cuts happened, Moore helped organize protests at the state capitol, Topeka, and in downtown Lawrence.
At the protest in Topeka, Moore arrived with about 25 fellow students. 'We did round dances as well on the state capitol grounds, healing round dances,' he says. At the end of the protests, in which students shouted 'Hands off Haskell!' their voices were gone.
'I am so proud of my Haskell community throughout all this,' says Moore, whose own grandfather got "fired up" and is proud of what the students accomplished. 'They just showed up and showed out every single time.'
When he graduated on Friday, May 9, Moore was also saying goodbye to his title of Haskell Brave. He plans on getting his master's degree in indigenous studies at Kansas University, and dreams of becoming a professor and teaching Native history to other Native scholars.
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Meanwhile, he's celebrating that his school is continuing on. After recently marking Haskell's 140th anniversary, Moore says he's encouraged by the students willing to speak out and protest.
'We will absolutely be here for another 140 years,' he says. 'We're going to outlast any piece of executive paper that they throw at us."
Read the original article on People