On Friday, March 7, 2025, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) announced three Tribal Nations (Pueblo of Isleta, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes) along with five Native students sued the United States Department of Interior and Office of Indian Affairs. The case, brought by NARF in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges the staff reductions at the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and the BIE-run tribal colleges which include Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI).
AT HINU alone, 34 courses lost their instructors (nearly 40 employees, including seven faculty members were fired, according to Indian Country Today) and SIPI had no faculty to administer mid-term exams. Students at both SIPI and HINU were faced with unsafe conditions, including a 13-hour power outage at SIPI and tap water reported to being brown, with repairs been postponed indefinitely.
The good news? Both TCUs were able to rehire some of the released staff.
The American Indian Higher Education Consortium, an organization that serves the 34 tribal colleges and universities across the country, stated on its Facebook page Friday afternoon 25 positions recently terminated at HINU and SIPI were reinstated” and thanked Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum for restoring them to provide vital education for Native students in Indian Country.
The bad news? News reports state that neither TCU could rehire all dismissed staff, and they unable to operate at full capacity. The re-hired staff is not enough to ensure the students get the education they paid for—and deserve. AIHEC also urged the Bureau of Indian Education to continue to address the cuts to funding and support and to “maintain its commitment to providing quality education for Native students.”
According to NARF, the BIE funds and operates a federal education system in partial fulfillment of its trust responsibility with Tribal Nations, established through treaty rights. Key to upholding those rights is Tribal consultation, which is mandated by law.
“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,” NARF Staff Attorney Jacqueline De León said on its blog.
Follow this issue on our blog or on the Native American Rights Fund website.
American Indian College Fund: Blog
NARF: Website
News stories about the issue:
CBS
New York Times
Washington Post
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