OPINION: 'Another broken promise': Tribes, students sue over cuts to Indigenous schools

It is yet another promise being broken by the federal government.

In February, the Trump administration’s immediate termination of all temporary federal employees cut the faculty and staff at Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas by a quarter, leaving the school in chaos. The action was taken at Haskell without the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) first consulting with the tribes, a move required under federal law.

Similar action was taken at the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) in New Mexico with the same results. Both schools accept tribal students from all states, including Idaho and Washington.

Also endangered, but not discussed here, are program involving Indian Health Services, forest and fisheries, police agencies and wildfire crews. Legally, the federal government is required to pay for all these programs.

On March 7, three tribes and a group of five Haskell and SIPI students filed a lawsuit to reinstate the fired school faculty and staff in the U.S. District Court, District of Columbia.

The tribes –– the Pueblo of Isleta, the Prairie Band of the Pottawatomie Nation and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes –– claim the firings at Haskell and SIPI were baseless. There are eight specific counts listed in the suit.

The students joined the action because they said the move impacted their education and educational opportunities. They said they have been harmed because instructors were laid off, student services were reduced or discontinued and custodial services and maintenance across both campuses were degraded, all making educational initiatives more difficult.

Specifically named in the suit are the Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Assistant Secretary Indian Affairs Bryan Mercer and the director of the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) Tony Dearman, the people responsible for Indigenous schools.

An email from Haskell President Francis Arpan said employees could not speak about the action without authorization from the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Stacy Saldanha-Olsen for The Topeka (Kansas) Capitol-Journal reported it took more than a week for the BIA to respond, which read:

“The Bureau reaffirms its unwavering commitment to providing BIE students with a quality and culturally appropriate education in a safe, healthy and supportive environment while prioritizing fiscal responsibility for the American people. We do not have a comment on personnel matters, however Interior will continue to uphold federal responsibilities to tribal communities as we embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation in workforce management.”

However, Interior Secretary Burgun, who pledged tribal consultation, did not reach out to the tribes or the schools prior to the actions.

Indigenous programs are not like other federal government initiatives, nor are they a form of diversity projects. The schools and other programs were agreements with the federal government, stemming from legal obligations when the government entered into treaties with the tribes.

In a story for NPR, Bo Schnieder, Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux tribal member and Haskell Foundation Board of Trustees President, said the actions “added to the list of broken promises.”

Taken without tribal consultation, the actions are a violation of federal law 25 USC sections 2003 and 2011. The lawsuit claims the moves were “arbitrary and capricious and were an abuse of agency discretion.” The lawsuit asks the court to rescind the firings, and the employees be returned to their jobs. They also seek a permanent injunction against further such firings.

Here is an issue with the federal government making such sweeping moves, especially when led by someone obviously unfamiliar with tribal-U.S. government history: Promises were made, and to date, very few if any of the promises made by the government to tribes have been kept. Education and health care are two key concepts the federal government agreed to in 1975 with the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act.

To have those promises destroyed once again points to why Indigenous people rarely trust the U.S. government.

Actions by DOGE are currently under fire from several sources, it is prudent for the government to look at the wholesale cuts into the nation’s bones and reverse some of the moves. They should start with honoring the promises made in treaties and reinstate employees of tribal schools.

Then if cuts really do need to be made, it should be strategic, as with a scalpel rather than with a chain saw.

Tallent was a journalism faculty member at the University of Idaho for 13 years before her retirement in 2019. She is of Cherokee descent and is a member of both the Indigenous Journalists Association and the Society of Professional Journalists. She also writes for FaVS (Faith and Values) News.