Latest news with #SIPI
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tribal colleges win reprieve from federal staff cuts
The Science and Technology building on the campus of Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico, one of the tribal schools that lost federal funding. (Photographer Dennis Dye/courtesy USGS) After weeks of uncertainty, two tribal colleges have been told they can hire back all employees who were laid off as part of the Trump administration's deep cuts across the federal workforce in February, part of a judge's order restoring some federal employees whose positions were terminated. Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, widely known as SIPI, in New Mexico lost about 70 employees in mid-February amid widespread staffing cuts to federal agencies. While most of the nation's 37 tribal colleges and universities are chartered by American Indian tribes, Haskell and SIPI are not associated with individual tribes and are run by the federal government. This story about tribal colleges was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. About 55 employees were laid off and 15 accepted offers to resign, according to a lawsuit filed last month by tribes and students. The colleges were forced to cancel or reconfigure a wide range of services, from sports and food service to financial aid and classes. In some cases, instructors were hired by other universities as adjuncts and then sent back to the tribal colleges to keep teaching. It was not clear this week when and if the workers would return, whether the employees who resigned would also be offered their jobs back, or if the government would allow colleges to fill vacancies. Both colleges said some employees had turned down the offers. The Bureau of Indian Education, which runs the colleges, declined to answer questions except to confirm the laid-off workers would be offered jobs with back pay to comply with a judge's order that the government reverse course on thousands of layoffs of probationary employees. But the agency also noted the jobs would be available 'as the White House pursues its appeals process,' indicating possible turmoil if an appeals court reinstates the layoffs. Both colleges said the bureau also has refused to answer most of their questions. SIPI leaders were told last week that the positions were being restored, said Adam Begaye, chairman of the SIPI Board of Regents. The 270-student college lost 21 employees, he said, four of whom decided to take early retirement. All but one of the remaining 17 agreed to return, Begaye said. The chaos has been difficult for those employees, he said, and the college is providing counseling. 'We want to make sure they have an easy adjustment, no matter what they've endured,' Begaye said. The chairman of Haskell's Board of Regents, Dalton Henry, said he was unsure how many of the 50 lost employees were returning. Like SIPI, Haskell was forced after the layoffs to shift job responsibilities and increase the workload for instructors and others. Haskell was reviewed by accreditors in December, and Henry said he was worried how the turmoil would affect the process. Colleges and universities must be accredited to offer federal and state financial aid and participate in most other publicly funded programs. Henry declined to discuss his thoughts on the chaos, saying there was nothing the college could do about it. 'Whatever guidance is provided, that's what we have to adhere to,' he said. 'It's a concern. But at this point, it's the federal government's decision.' The Bureau of Indian Affairs declined to make the presidents of the two colleges available for interviews. Tribal colleges and universities were established to comply with treaties and the federal trust responsibility, legally binding agreements in which the United States promised to fund Indigenous education and other needs. But college leaders argue the country has violated those contracts by consistently failing to fund the schools adequately. In the federal lawsuit claiming the Haskell and SIPI cuts were illegal, students and tribes argued the Bureau of Indian Education has long understaffed the colleges. The agency's 'well-documented and persistent inadequacies in operating its schools range from fiscal mismanagement to failure to provide adequate education to inhospitable buildings,' plaintiffs claimed. Sen. Jerry Moran and Rep. Tracey Mann, both Kansas Republicans, said before Trump took office that they plan to introduce a bill shifting Haskell from federal control to a congressional charter, which would protect the university from cuts across federal agencies such as the Bureau of Indian Education. '[F]or the last few years the university has been neglected and mismanaged by the Bureau of Indian Education,' Moran said in a written statement in December. 'The bureau has failed to protect students, respond to my congressional inquiries or meet the basic infrastructure needs of the school.' The February cuts brought rare public visibility to tribal colleges, most of which are in remote locations. Trump's executive orders spurred outrage from Indigenous communities and a flurry of national news attention. 'We're using this chaos as a blessing in disguise to make sure our family and friends in the community know what SIPI provides,' said Begaye, the SIPI board president. The uncertainty surrounding the colleges' funding has left a lasting mark, said Ahniwake Rose, president and CEO of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, which advocates for tribal colleges. But she added she was proud of how the schools have weathered the cuts. 'Indian country is always one of the most resourceful and creative populations,' she said. 'We've always made do with less. I think you saw resilience and creativity from Haskell and SIPI.' Contact editor Christina A. Samuels at 212-678-3635 or samuels@
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Haskell, SIPI employees reinstated but ‘doesn't change the fact of what happened'
Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, Kalle Benallie and Kevin AbourezkICTWASHINGTON — All Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute and Haskell Indian Nations University employees who were part of the federal layoffs on Valentine's Day have been offered their jobs back, ICT learned. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs case filed by the Native American Rights Fund, 81 Bureau of Indian Education employees were laid off mid-February as part of a federal government-wide layoff of probationary employees ordered by the Trump administration and carried out by the Office of Personnel additional 15 were 'induced to resign through the resignation option,' according to the complaint. The reinstatement decision does not affect those who resigned, a BIE spokesperson confirmed to ICT. 'I am initially really happy that we have so many people back with us, but it doesn't change the fact of what happened,' said Kaiya Brown, a freshman at SIPI and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the BIE. Brown is Navajo. Over the last several weeks staff have been returning to Haskell and SIPI – the only two tribal colleges under the BIE. 'The Department of the Interior remains committed to its mission of managing the nation's resources and serving the American people while ensuring fiscal responsibility,' a BIE spokesperson told ICT. 'In compliance with court orders, the Department of the Interior is reinstating probationary employees. All impacted employees will receive back pay, and the Department will ensure continued compensation as the White House pursues its appeals process.'Two court orders are from two federal judges ordering reinstatement of federal workers laid off on March 13. U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that the Trump administration must reinstate the probationary employees from six federal agencies — the departments of Interior, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Treasury, and Defense. The second order came from U.S. District Judge James Bredar in Maryland in a lawsuit filed by 19 states and the District of Columbia against several federal agencies. Jacqueline De León, an attorney at the Native American Rights Fund, told ICT that NARF will ensure that the government meets it treaty obligations to tribal nations. 'The BIE and the [Bureau of Indian Affairs] continue to have treaty obligations to Native people, and the obligations to provide those treaty obligations do not change from administration to administration,' she said. 'We are here to fight.' Here is a breakdown of the BIE layoffs, according to the complaint: 22 employees from BIE offices, including five employees in BIE headquarters and 17 in BIE regional offices 37 employees from Haskell Indian Nations University – more than a quarter of the university's staff 14 of the 37 Haskell employees worked with students, including 7 instructors 18 employees at SIPI were laid off 11 of the 18 SIPI positions worked with students, including 9 instructors At least 2 of the instructors were professors who taught core curriculum classes Other positions let go at the two tribal colleges included tutors, a vice president of operations, a grants director, coaches, administrators, housing and custodial workers, academic advisors and others. The massive federal layoffs in tribal programs across federal agencies drew immediate attention from tribal nations, national Native organizations, congressional members, and Native peoples across the country. With the outcry, employees from both schools came back over the last several Indian Polytechnic InstituteAt SIPI, Brown said the re-hirings have instilled hope at the institute, which is a tight-knit community where everyone knows one another. They're like a family, she who is getting a double-major in early childhood education and liberal arts, said some of her and other students' favorite instructors and staff members were laid off. She said some of the remaining staff took on the responsibilities of three or four positions to help students get through the trimester, causing a strain on their personal lives. Brown said a week before the layoffs she experienced issues with midterms, grades not being administered through testing or put in the gradebook, power outages, and water issues that are just now being the re-hirings have brought a sense of relief to students and staff, it's still concerning to Brown how easily it happened. 'It's also leaving us with: What do we do now? What's the plan of action?' she said. 'I just want to ensure that we're able to protect this and preserve it and make sure that these layoffs don't ever happen again.' Sherry Allison, who was the president of SIPI for 11 years until 2019, said that every position in an educational institution is essential, from tutors to residential dorm assistants, for students' academic and personal success. Allison said it's not fair or efficient to eliminate positions that may be in specialty areas and have other faculty fill in positions they weren't hired to do. 'First of all, just because these colleges are tribal colleges does not mean that they should be operating with anything less. They should be equal to whatever state colleges are receiving as well,' she said. 'I cannot imagine any educational institution without instructors, qualified instructors, in the classroom teaching students.' Allison added it's very short-sighted of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency to fire staff and faculty and rehire them over a month later because now they will have to provide backpay.'We have treaties and education is covered under these treaties,' Allison said. 'Our students deserve it and they deserve the best and also the staff of each college also deserves to be treated respectfully for the work that they do for our students.'Keisha Edmonds, another current SIPI student and former tutor, said she had been affected by the firings. Her chemistry teacher was fired, and hasn't come back, a pregnant teacher was fired and one of her former coworkers was fired a month before his probation. She said the rehiring of teachers should be permanent so their jobs are guaranteed. 'Here at SIPI we really do rely on our teachers and staff here to help us be successful,' Edmonds, Navajo and Rosebud Sioux, told ICT on April 1. 'The way that I saw it is that this was kind of like a scare tactic from our president, having to fire everybody and then bring everybody back.' She said SIPI is similar to a private education because of the small class sizes, and she hopes they can continue to hire qualified teachers. Edmonds is receiving a computer-aided design certification this spring and an associates Indian Nations UniversityAt Haskell, President Frank Arpan said in a March 12 letter to students and employees that all faculty fired in the layoffs had been fully reinstated and that the university planned to hire more student workers to help with custodial needs. However, Arpan didn't clarify whether the reinstated employees had been rehired as contract employees or as full-fledged BIE he said, all 'coaches, dining, and housing personnel lost in the probationary terminations' had been rehired, including the university's women's basketball coach, Adam Strom, who had continued coaching despite not getting declined comment on the recent rehiring announcement, referring ICT to a BIE a March 26 letter to students and employees, Arpan offered a few updates regarding his office's efforts to repair the damage caused by the federal layoffs: All custodial staff who had been laid off have been rehired Several administrative assistants and athletic personnel "will be returning" Additional student workers have been hired to assist with custodial work Haskell Foundation President Bo Schneider also failed to respond to an ICT request for comment. As of April 2, a foundation-led fundraising campaign for emergency support for Haskell had raised $284,559.60 toward its $350,000 on March 28, Haskell students hosted a 'prayer fire' on campus to raise funds and express support for Julia White Bull, an academic advisor who lost her job in the layoffs and who has yet to be rehired. According to the description for the prayer fire event, White Bull's son was hospitalized and in critical condition, and his family is now facing untold medical expenses. The Haskell Foundation launched a fundraiser, and as of Friday it had raised $5,000 toward a $20,000 goal.'One of our Haskell family employees affected by the DOGE layoffs needs your help,' the event page stated. 'Please stop by the fire pit by Curtis Hall to sign a card and join us in prayer.' Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute $5 or $10 today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter.
Voice of America
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Native American news roundup March 9 – 14, 2025
Tribes and students sue feds over staff cuts at BIE schools Three Tribal Nations, along with five Native students, are suing the U.S. Interior Department and the Office of Indian Affairs over mass firings at the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and its federally operated schools — Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in New Mexico. The layoffs stem from President Donald Trump's February 11 executive order calling for broad cuts to federal staffing. Haskell lost more than a quarter of its staff, leaving courses without instructors, delaying financial aid and forcing students to clean dorms and restrooms. At SIPI, staff cuts led to 13-hour power outages, undrinkable tap water, and canceled midterm exams due to a shortage of faculty. The lawsuit by the Native American Rights Fund representing the Pueblo of Isleta, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes argues that the layoffs violate federal law, which requires the government to consult with tribes on educational decisions impacting Native students. 'Despite having a treaty obligation to provide educational opportunities to tribal students, the federal government has long failed to offer adequate services,' said Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes Lieutenant Governor Hershel Gorham. 'Just when the [BIE] was taking steps to fix the situation, these cuts undermined all those efforts.' Read more: Arizona tribes fear Trump's English-only order could undermine tribal language revitalization The Arizona Republic newspaper this week reports that Native Americans in that state worry that President Donald Trump's executive order declaring English as the U.S. official language could undermine efforts to revive and preserve Indigenous languages. The March 5 order emphasizes that English has been the nation's language since its founding and that having one official language will 'reinforce shared national values' and 'create a more cohesive and efficient society.' The order revokes a previous executive order that aimed to provide services for people with limited English proficiency, but it does not require any changes to services currently offered in other languages. It clarifies that agencies do not need to stop providing documents or services in languages other than English. "It is taking a stance without really any teeth behind it," said Pima County recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, a citizen of the Tohono O'odham Nation. "So, it's essentially saying this is optional for people, which is not how our government operates or should operate." Federal laws, including the Native American Languages Act, support language instruction and protection, ensuring that Native peoples can continue to practice their languages without fear of punishment. Read more: Tribal groups accuse CSULB of stalling on Puvungna protection Native American tribes are calling out California State University, Long Beach for failing to honor a 2021 settlement agreement to protect Puvungna, a sacred 22-acre site on campus. Despite promising to establish a conservation easement, the university has withdrawn its Request for Proposals without explanation and has provided no updates on its plans. Tribal leaders, including Joyce Stanfield Perry of the Juaneño Band, say this delay echoes a long history of broken promises to Indigenous communities. Adding to their frustration, debris and soil dumped on the site in 2019 remain unremoved. Puvungna, once part of 500 acres of Indigenous territory, is sacred to the Tongva, Acjachemen and other Indigenous tribes of Southern California. Tribes successfully stopped the university from building a mini mall on the land in 1993. The legal battle began in 2019 when the university dumped 4,900 cubic meters of construction debris on the site. Tribal groups sued, and in a 2021 settlement, the university agreed to 'make a good faith effort' within two years to clean up the site and permanently maintain it. The university issued a Request for Proposal to find stewards for Puvungna. The Friends of Puvungna, an Indigenous-led nonprofit, submitted the sole proposal in collaboration with the Trust for Public Land. The university rejected that proposal, citing concerns over conflict of interest and a lack of demonstrated experience in land stewardship. Read more: Conservation groups, feds, tribes and ranchers clash over latest Yellowstone bison trapping Wildlife advocates are sounding the alarm over Yellowstone National Park's latest roundup of wild bison, which has seen more than 300 animals captured and sent to slaughter this month. Groups like Roam Free Nation argue that the practice is cruel and unnecessary, calling for greater protections and expanded roaming territory for America's first national mammal. Montana ranchers oppose expanding bison populations, arguing that the animals could spread brucellosis, a disease that can cause cattle to abort. Although no documented cases of transmission from bison to cattle exist, ranchers fear that even the chance of an outbreak could trigger costly quarantines and financial losses. But many Native American tribes have treaty rights to hunt bison on their traditional lands, even outside reservations and advocate for expanding bison habitat, reducing government-led culling, and increasing tribal management of herds. Some tribes also push for co-management agreements with federal and state agencies to ensure bison populations are sustainably restored while respecting Indigenous cultural and spiritual connections to the animal. Craig L. Falcon, a citizen of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana, has been hunting buffalo in Yellowstone for three decades. 'Our people really depend on it,' he told VOA. 'Like myself, my freezer is pretty bare right now, and there are older people, older relatives of mine, including disabled Army vets, that need that meat, and I hunt for them.' Read more:
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
BIE staff cuts result in lawsuit from tribal nations, Native students
Kalle BenallieICTThree tribal nations and five Native students are suing the United States Department of Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs in response to staff cuts at the Bureau of Indian Education and in the schools they fund and operate. In February, the bureau terminated a significant number of employees in the Bureau of Indian Education that helped operate schools in lieu of President Donald Trump's executive orders to reduce federal staffing. Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas, lost more than a quarter of its staff and nearly one-quarter of the staff at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, due to the federal layoffs that occurred on Valentine's Day. The cuts have led to disruptions in education, safety, student programs, student centers, financial aid and a clean Native American Rights Fund in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is guiding the case for the nations and students which include: the Pueblo of Isleta, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes and students: Ella Bowen, Kaiya Brown, Danielle Ledesma, Victor Organista, and Aiyanna Tanyan. 'They keep saying that these cuts won't impact individuals and services, but they do – they affect us a lot. Besides the classes that lost instructors, the entire school only has three custodial staff now. The school's restrooms have overflowing trashcans and no toilet paper. Students are cleaning up the restrooms themselves just to make them usable,' said Ella Bowen, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, in a press release. Bowen is a freshman at Haskell. SIPI student Kaiya Jade Brown, Navajo, who is named in the lawsuit, said it's been demoralizing. 'SIPI already was understaffed and things have gotten much worse. We had a power outage in my dorm for 13 hours because there was no maintenance staff available to restore power. I had to leave my dorm to find somewhere I could submit assignments,' Brown said. 'There also was a campus-wide power outage that cancelled classes.' Tribal nations said the BIE did not consult or notify them. The BIE is responsible for providing educational opportunities for Native Americans and Alaska Natives across the country, part of the U.S. government's trust responsibilities — the legal and moral obligations the U.S. has to protect and uphold treaties, laws and congressional acts dealing with tribes.'The United States government has legal obligations to Tribal Nations that they agreed to in treaties and have been written into federal law. The abrupt and drastic changes that happened since February, without consultation or even pre-notification, are completely illegal,' said NARF Staff Attorney Jacqueline De Leó are 183 bureau-funded elementary and secondary schools on 64 reservations in 23 states that serve about 42,000 Indian students, according to the BIE's website. It says 55 are BIE-operated and 128 are tribally operated. Haskell and SIPI are the only two tribal colleges operated by the BIE. 'Tribal Nations and the federal government should be working together to best serve our Native students. Instead, the administration is randomly, without preparation and in violation of their federal trust responsibility, taking away teachers and staff from already-underserved facilities. Our students deserve better,' said Pueblo of Isleta Governor Eugene instructional staff have been rehired but not all. On Friday, March 7, the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, an organization that serves the 34 tribal colleges and universities across the country, announced on social media that "25 positions recently terminated at Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute have been reinstated" and thanked Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum for restoring this "vital infrastructure for Indian Country." "However, there are nearly 30 positions who serve critical needs at these institutions that still need to be addressed," read the statement. The BIA told the Associated Press it was department policy to not comment on pending litigation. A spokesperson for the Interior Department also declined to Associated Press contributed to this stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tribes, Native students sue feds over education cuts
Mar. 10—A coalition of tribal nations and students is suing the federal government over major cuts to a pair of colleges and a federal agency serving Native American students. The staffing cuts, part of President Donald Trump's effort to reduce the federal workforce, have slashed basic services on the campuses of Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, known as SIPI, in New Mexico. The lawsuit says the feds failed to notify or consult with tribal nations prior to making the cuts. The lawsuit notes that those schools — as well as the federal Bureau of Indian Education — are part of a system that fulfills the federal government's legal obligation to provide education for Native people. Tribal nations secured that right in a series of treaties in exchange for conceding land. "The United States government has legal obligations to Tribal Nations that they agreed to in treaties and have been written into federal law," Jacqueline De León, staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund, the legal group leading the lawsuit, said in a statement announcing the case. "The abrupt and drastic changes that happened since February, without consultation or even pre-notification, are completely illegal." Three tribal nations and five Native students have joined the lawsuit. Asked about the case, federal officials told media outlets they do not comment on pending litigation. According to Haskell student Ella Bowen, cuts to custodial staff have left bathrooms with overflowing trash cans and no toilet paper. SIPI student Kaiya Jade Brown said that school's campus has suffered from power outages because of a lack of maintenance workers. Both schools lost roughly a quarter of their staff last month after Trump and the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency task force ordered major cuts across a slew of federal agencies. While the schools have since been able to hire back some instructional staff, "[i]t is not even close to enough," Native American Rights Fund Deputy Director Matthew Campbell said in the statement. Thirty-four courses at Haskell lost their instructors in February, according to the statement. Some students have reported delays in their financial aid, and SIPI students are dealing with brown, unsafe tap water, with repairs put on hold due to the cuts, the statement said. And the school did not have enough faculty to administer midterm exams. The Pueblo of Isleta; the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation; and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes are suing the feds. "Despite having a treaty obligation to provide educational opportunities to Tribal students, the federal government has long failed to offer adequate services," Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Lieutenant Governor Hershel Gorham said in the statement. "Just when the Bureau of Indian Education was taking steps to fix the situation, these cuts undermined all those efforts. These institutions are precious to our communities, we won't sit by and watch them fail." Stateline reporter Alex Brown can be reached at [email protected]. YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
