Jourdan Bennett-Begaye, Kalle Benallie and Kevin Abourezk
ICT
WASHINGTON — 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 Management.
An 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 weeks.
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
At 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 said.
Brown, 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 addressed.
Although 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 degree.
Haskell Indian Nations University
At 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 employees.
Furthermore, 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 paid.
Arpan declined comment on the recent rehiring announcement, referring ICT to a BIE spokesperson.
In 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 goal.
And 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.”
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