Was a Haskell Indian Nations University employee ordered to leave campus?

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Statistically domestic violence calls are one of the most dangerous calls police can receive. Therefore we must ask the following questions: Was a new Haskell Indian Nations University residential employee given orders by his boss Thomas Spottedhorse to escort an off campus student to her apartment because she feared her boyfriend might cause her harm while she tried to collect some of her belongings? Can a Haskell Indian Nations University employee who is a federal employee leave their station? In this case the largest dorm on Haskell’s campus to accompany one student to her resident ? Did the employee take her in his own vehicle? Or a federal vehicle? Is either of these two things legal? What if a questionable situation would have happened between the female student and the male employee? What would have happened if violence would have unfolded?
Whose responsibility would that have been? Was the Lawrence Police Department called to help in this situation? How can parents and tribes feel safe about sending their kids to Haskell when residential staff are being pulled from their post and sent off campus? We are thinking maybe some of them don’t with Haskell’s current enrollment sitting very low at around 830 students? Has the Haskell’s president’s office been informed of what happened? Last year the notice below was put out by Thomas Spottedhorse was it followed in this situation? “Memo” written by Tom Spotted Horse Supervisory College Residence Asst. Dated October 3, 2010. A REMINDER: When ever the Lawrence Police Dept. is called to the campus you need to inform the President’s Office of the situation. Sometimes a student may call the police themselves. If you do not know the reason(s) why the police is on the campus, please inquire as to the circumstances. If the Presidents Office is closed, send an email right away before you shift is over and give an assessment of the event. Remember to “cc” the email sent to the VP of Student Affairs, Mr. Tucker and myself. If it is a critical incident, a Critical Incident Form needs to be completed and signed. This is also for medical emergencies and for responses by the Fire Dept. Anytime a student is transported to the emergency room a Medical Emergency Form needs to be filled out and completed for review. I CANNOT STRESS how important this is. If your office does not have the forms, get one from another building. However, every office should have these forms. Thank you, Tom Spotted Horse, Supervisory College Residence Asst. Link: http://www.cbs8.com/story/15312200/domestic-violence-calls-especially-dangerous-for-cops haskellnews commentary 10/13/2011

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• Haskell Indian Nations University President Chosen (indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com)

Senator Rand Paul rallies to shut down The Bureau of Indian Education and The Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Senator Rand Paul rallies to shut down The Bureau of Indian Education and The Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The new kid on the block, Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, The toast of the Tea Party, has decided the United States government would be better off not supporting The Bureau of Indian Education,The Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Services.

Quite frankly we wish we could oppose him, but seeing the mess that Haskell Indian Nations University is in with it almost non-existence graduation rates and crimes on campus gives us a moment to pause.

“Self-determination and self-governance” does not mean letting the United States Government run your life for you. What has The Buerau of Indian Education done for you at Haskell? Gave you people such as Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn, Larry Echohawk, Venida Chenault to name a few, who have been no help to you at all while letting others who could have really helped you leave like Dr. Warner, Deb Thompson, Sharon Hallum, Dr. Blackbird, Ted Wright and Ted Junea, just to name a few. They let some of your programs go and even with his shaddy back ground they have continued to let George Tiger head up the board of regents and be around the students.

And poor Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute, they just flat out let them lose their accreditation.

The tribes have clearly shown they do a much better job without the governments interference.

The problem goes far beyond just Haskell though. The BIA/BIE and IHS have been run poorly for decades. American Indians are entitled to cut rate care at any IHS facility, just like the cut rate education they are currently receiving at Haskell.

And what The Cobell settlement? American Indians will receive ( if they ever receive it at all ) pennies on the dollars that the government stole from them.

American Indians ( those of you who are not among the elitist few receiving the big bucks from Uncle Sam, like Larry Echohawk) need to raise up join Rand Paul, demand your money, and demand that your tribes take over, everything from Haskell, to IHS. Get rid of The Bureau of Indian Affairs and The Bureau of Indian Education. That would be true “Self-determination and self-governance” Obama failed you.

haskellnews commentary 02/10/2011

Congratulations to The Bureau of Indian Education….they finally got rid of Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn!

Congratulations to The Bureau of Indian Education….they finally got rid of Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn!

Today as The National Congress of American Indians ( NCAI ) President Keel delivered The State of Indian Nations address, they also delivered this bit of news; Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn is no longer with the Bureau of Indian Education ( B.I.E.) she has moved on to the Bureau of Indian Affairs ( B.I.A.) Office of Veteran Affairs in Washington D.C.

We wish Stephanie the best, we really do, because we certainly don’t want her back at the B.I.E.

We want to congratulate whoever made this decision and we now hold high hopes that Venida Chenault will follow in Stephanie’s path, after all, isn’t helping veterans more along the lines of social work…. then trying and failing to run schools?

Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico…. Rejoice !!!!!

haskellnews commentary Jan 27, 2011

The other good news today is did our social worker (Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn) finally found a hole to crawl into?

Haskell Indian Nations University, in Lawrence, Kansas, prepares for convocation next week and welcomes internationally and nationally recognized Lakota elder Lionnel Bordeaux as the keynote speaker. Dr. Bordeaux’s vision for tribal higher education is one of a premier national university.

It will be interesting to watch the faces of the current administration/union/regent posse determined to live in the 1950s? Like his stage mate, George Tiger? Locally and regionally recognized George Tiger, known for his many questionable enterprises through the Creek Nation, including one tribal indictment for criminal charges(www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/ummmm/2009/aug/28/enough-already-with-the-haskell-bor-george-tiger)and (www.thevoicesofcourage.com) won’t understand anything Dr. Bordeaux says, will he? Will union representatives dismiss it outright? Will current administrators, Venida Chenault (VCEM in particular) hug George Tiger and subsequently misrepresent anything Dr. Bordeaux says?

Dr. Bordeaux is an active member of American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), The National Indian Education Association (NIEA), and National Congress of American Indians (NCAI)—all of which have resolutions to remove Haskell Indian Nations University, from The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and turn it over to tribes (which is likely the only way it could resurrect itself from the Echohawk-Skenandore-Moore-Birdwell fiasco these past months).

Hopefully American Indian studies ( A.I.S) will require their students to attend because Dr. Bordeaux actually knows what self-determination means having lived it instead of waiting until he was an adult to decide he was Indian (pretty much the common dominator for Haskell’s Indian studies PROFESSORS)? At least if US Senators would ever listen to tribes, there would be the chance to create the premier Indian University by removing all of the current mistakes and turning the control of Haskell and all of its affairs to a group who actually knows about higher education and cares about students.

The other good news today is did our social worker (Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn) finally found a hole to crawl into?

Maybe, Keith Moore has figured out Skenandore left him a mess? We’re pretty sure he figured out that it takes more than promises or good intentions to get BIE to move? We are actually hopeful that this negotiated move means Moore doesn’t want Haskell to lose its accreditation? The real higher education legacy of Echohawk-Skenandore-Birdwell-Bighorn.

For our regular readers, any time we make a mistake we will apologize and provide the correct information. So far, as LJW knows full well, we can provide backup for all our facts. Our opinions are our own.

haskellnews commentary 1/21/2011

Is enrollment down at Haskell Indian Nations University?

Is enrollment down this semester at Haskell Indian Nations University?

Instead of its normal 900 student enrollment, could it be hovering around 590 students this semester? Maybe, some of the tribes, students and parents heard that they were only graduating nine percent of their students and sent them elsewhere?

Maybe they heard about the guess who is president at Haskell this week? So the students went elsewhere?

Maybe they heard about George Tiger and all of the problems he is having with his own tribe (www.thevoicesofcourage) and decided he should definitely not be President of The Haskell Board of Regents? So, the students went elsewhere?

Maybe they heard about Princess Crazyhair (A.K.A Julia Goodfox) helping to organize and encourage Haskell students to take trips Palestine? So, the students went elsewhere?

Maybe, they heard about the kid being put into a coma, and the recent rapes, and arrests on campus? (Has Haskell ever passed the National Incident Management System ( NIMS) requirements)? So, the students went elsewhere?

Maybe, the good students are tired of the bad students always being readmitted, by JA? So, the students went elsewhere?

Maybe, the students are afraid the some powers to be will make Venita Chenault the next president of Haskell? So, the students went elsewhere?

Maybe, they are just good and tired of everything that is going on at Haskell, including no leadership. So, the students just went elsewhere?

haskellnews commentary Jan 18 ,2011

Haskell moves

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The formal exit of Haskell’s president may not be a positive move, but at least it clears the way for a permanent appointment to that office.

The leadership issue at Haskell Indian Nations University has been clarified but not in a particularly positive way.

In a letter dated Nov. 1, a U.S. Department of the Interior official notified members of the Haskell community that the school’s current president, Linda Sue Warner, had taken another position within the Bureau of Indian Affairs and would not be returning to her job at Haskell. Larry Echo Hawk expressed his appreciation for Warner’s service and indicated that Chris Redman will continue to serve as Haskell’s acting president. In the meantime, the vacant position will be advertised, and the search will begin for a permanent replacement for Warner.

It’s unfortunate that Haskell will lose the able leadership of Warner, but it is positive news, in a way, that federal officials finally have clarified the leadership position at Haskell. Warner had been shipped away from the Lawrence campus for more than a year while filling BIA positions in other states. During that time, Haskell has had three different acting presidents. The lack of stable, capable leadership hampers Haskell’s progress in many ways.

Warner, who came to Haskell in 2007, encountered resistance from some members of the Haskell community, including the Haskell Board of Regents which voted twice to seek her removal as president. It’s hard to know exactly what triggered their disapproval but such a response isn’t unusual when a university leader wants to make significant changes.

After the second “no confidence” vote last May, the president of the Haskell regents said, “It’s time to move on” from Warner’s leadership. It seems the regents now will get their wish.

Recent actions and policies by some at Haskell have placed the university’s continued academic accreditation in jeopardy. Warner tried to improve and broaden the academic offerings of the school but was rebuffed by those who wanted to keep Haskell’s traditional academic environment.

Haskell could be this country’s foremost academic institution for American Indians. However, there will have to be strong, visionary leadership from the president’s office, and the Haskell regents will have to be motivated by what is in the best interests of preparing college-age American Indians for stimulating, productive roles in today’s society. Members of Congress also most provide more than just minimal fiscal support for the school.

It’s regrettable that Warner was removed and that federal officials took so long to clarify Haskell’s leadership situation. Now, however, that has happened, and BIA officials should move as quickly as possible to fill the vacancy at Haskell with a visionary and capable leader who can help move the American Indian school forward.

Education at all levels of this country is facing severe challenges and none is as acute and pressing as the situation at Haskell.

Dr. Linda Sue Warner leaves Haskell Indian Nations University; Accepts new post.

Dr. Linda Sue Warner has accepted a new post within the Bureau of Indian Education and resigned as President of Haskell Indian Nations University, in Lawrence, Kansas. The announcement was made earlier today by Mr. Larry Echohawk, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs and months ago by George Tiger.

In the time that she was on campus, Dr. Warner tried to make vast improvements at Haskell, which were often met with criticism from The Haskell Board of Regents, who twice took a vote of no confidence against her. (We wonder how many times Dr. Warner took a vote of no confidence on them). However, this is a Board of Regents (many of whom themselves hold less then a bachelor’s degree and have been on Haskell’s board for way too many years), who since Dr.Warner’s departure from campus over a year ago, have stood by and let graduation rates drop to less than any other post-secondary institution we can find, the same Board of Regents that expected to get paid the minute they set foot on campus and the same Board that let the crime on Haskell’s campus get out of hand. You can thank Stephanie Birdwell and Larry Echohawk for supporting the Regents.

Improvements at Haskell somehow threatened them, and other members of the Haskell faculty (especially the ones who were called on the carpet for not doing their jobs).

Dr. Warner was way ahead of her time for the Haskell bureaucracy, at least she tried. Today the country will try to right itself as it elects new leaders; it is too late for Haskell and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute.

We tip our hats to Dr. Linda Sue Warner and wish her the best in her new endeavors.

haskellnews commentary Nov 02, 2010

A New Trail of Tears?

President Barack Obama’s political appointment for Assistant Secretary of Interior–Indian Affairs, Mr. Larry Echohawk appears to have embarked on a mission to bring national attention to the “state” of Indian education by journeying his own Trail of Tears.

In the last year, Assistant Secretary Echohawk has cried at Brigham

Young University, wept openly at The Pawnee Nation, shed tears at Haskell Indian Nations University and last week in San Diego at the National Indian Education Association he is reported to have dropped a crocodile tear or two.

It appears that Echohawk has now traveled the entire nation, north south east and west weeping. Is this apology Indian Country has been waiting for from the federal government?

Echohawk does not appear to be able to contain the mortification he has found in Bureau of Indian Education schools when he talks to Indian students and parents. Assistant Secretary Echohawk has now lasted longer than the last half dozen or so political appointments at that level, but surely the stress of such emotional commitment to Indian children must be getting to him.

It’s a good thing Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn and Venida Chenault are social workers and can step up to counsel him.

Of course, we think it would be a better thing if  President Obama could appoint someone who actually did something positive for Indians kids instead of hiring and promoting totally unqualified people and then bawling because they screw up. But that’s because we believed President Obama had an Indian agenda—one that looked at education.

Likely you did too.

haskellnews commentary

Oct 11, 2010

Does Anyone Care about Haskell Indian Nations University’s Leadership Problems?

 

A video came out in The Lawrence Journal World on Sept 29, 2010 (Link: www2.ljworld.com/news/2010/sep/29/haskell-gets-16-million-federal-grant-make-ac) on it two Haskell students said Haskell needs more staff and one of them states that Haskell “staff are hard to find”. Of course they are, without, any true leadership in place, they are like little kids in a candy store.

Haskell doesn’t need more staff, they need staff that can actually find their way to work, correct ? And once they do stay there, work and not hide behind closed office doors, or bring their adult or minor children to work with them, correct ? Or, not put curtains up in their office windows, so the students can’t tell if they are in or not, correct ?

Here’s a policy suggestion no Haskell employee shall date the students? Nor come to work drunk or high? Why can’t those policies be put into place and if they already ? Why are Haskell employees not fired for disobeying them? Or are they ? Or are they caught and still employed by Haskell ? If Haskell has that type of leadership who can the students look up to ?

What about this for a policy ? If an employee leaves their office they will put a note on the door stating where they are at and what time they will return and then actually come back at that time? And if they aren’t then the student is to contact Michael S. Black Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington D.C. and let him know about it. Since there is currently no leadership at Haskell, then the students need to go straight to the top.

One more policy: The Haskell instructor does not show up to teach the class? So a substitute is found? Instead of Haskell students being sent out of the classroom without the one thing they came to Haskell Indian Nations University for… an education, so many Haskell students are leaving without one.

With Dr. Linda Sue Warner, Haskell’s President still on detail ( which has now lasted a year ), Haskell has no real leadership and it’s showing…. the students aren’t graduating, at least 91-93% of them are NOT graduating.

When will Haskell’s leadership problems be resolved? For now The American Indians students who attend Haskell are suffering because it, the numbers don’t lie.

Does anyone care? Larry Echohawk where are your tears and promises of change for Haskell at now ? Maybe it’s time to be moving some of your top people around. You could start with putting Stephanie Birdwell-Bighorn back in the social work department, from which she hails, restructure your Haskell Board of Regents, bring Dr. Warner back to Haskell and try getting rid of some of those Haskell employees who are obviously not doing their jobs……

Note: Many of our readers have ask if Senator Pat Roberts has given up on Haskell ? The answer is no. It is our understanding that Senator Pat Roberts and his Kansas Delegation continue working to resolve Haskell’s problems.

haskellnews commentary

Sept 05, 2010

Haskell Indian Nations University’s Leadership Limbo

The best thing federal officials can do for Haskell Indian Nations University is resolve the school’s lingering leadership question.

Additional federal funds are one way to improve programs at Haskell Indian Nations University, but they don’t address the school’s No. 1 need: a permanent president who can set a strong course for Haskell’s future.

This week, the U.S. Department of Education announced a $1.6 million federal grant to improve academic quality, institutional management and fiscal stability at Haskell. It’s a significant amount of money for the school, whose annual allocation from the federal government is only $14.2 million. According to a representative of the Haskell president’s office, the money will be used to improve advising and student retention services, which is a good goal.

However, despite repeated assurances from the Bureau of Indian Affairs that a decision on the Haskell presidency is forthcoming, the school’s leadership remains in limbo. Linda Warner, who still is the school’s official president, has been fulfilling BIA assignments in other states for more than a year. In the meantime, Haskell has had three acting presidents, but no decision about a permanent president.

The $1.4 million grant is nice, but if federal officials really want to help Haskell, they should quit delaying and return Warner to Lawrence and allow her to oversee and initiate new policies and academic opportunities — or bring in another experienced, courageous, visionary academic leader.