On Friday, March 7, 2025, three Tribal Nations (Pueblo of Isleta, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes) along with Native students (Ella Bowen, Kaiya Brown, Danielle Ledesma, Victor Organista, and Aiyanna Tanyan) sued the United States Department of Interior and Office of Indian Affairs. The case, brought by the Native American Rights Fund (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 schools, Haskell Indian Nations University (Haskell) and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI). Although the schools have been able to rehire some instructional staff, it is not all of the dismissed staff and it is not enough.
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.
On February 11, 2025, President Trump initiated large-scale reductions in federal staffing (EO 14210, 90 FR 9670). In response to Trump’s directives, BIE terminated a significant number of employees which devastated operations at Haskell and SIPI and undermined BIE operated schools across the nation. Prior to these sweeping cuts, BIE failed to consult with Tribal Nations in clear violation of the law.
“We have a say in how BIE operates the education provided our children in fulfillment of our treaty rights. We will fight to protect the education they deserve and fight to protect the staff that serve them,” said Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph Rupnick.
“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 Jiron.
“Despite having a treaty obligation to provide educational opportunities to Tribal students, the federal government has long failed to offer adequate services. 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,” said Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Lieutenant Governor Hershel Gorham.
On the day of the firings, The Indian Leader, Haskell’s student newspaper reported: “For [Haskell] students, the effects are immediately visible. Several courses are now left without their original instructors, putting students’ educational experience in jeopardy. While some faculty members are being asked to take on additional classes to cover the vacancies, this has put an immense strain on the remaining staff. Teachers are now burdened with larger workloads, and the quality of education is at risk as educators juggle responsibilities beyond their capacity”.
Meanwhile, SIPI lost nearly a quarter of its staff. Most classes had no instructors to administer midterm exams that happened the week after the cuts. Power outages that happened after the cuts lasted for hours due to insufficient maintenance staff. The school cut Residential Advisors, leaving students without any support to deal with potentially dangerous situations in their dorms.
“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 Haskell Freshman Ella Bowen (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians).
“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. There also was a campus-wide power outage that cancelled classes. It is really hard to focus on learning and classes when these interruptions keep happening. Meanwhile, the administrators and faculty that are left are having to cover several jobs. It is really demoralizing,” said SIPI student Kaiya Jade Brown (Navajo).
The loss of staff throughout BIE, Haskell, and SIPI violates Tribal rights to prioritize the fields of study in the schools; Native students’ rights to receive adequate post-secondary education; and BIE’s obligation to maintain school health and safety (25 U.S.C. 2003). Additionally, those staff reductions happened without the Tribal Nations notification and consultation required by the law (25 U.S.C. § 2011 and 25 CFR § 32.4 (a) and (q)).
“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 León.
“Although the schools have reportedly been able to hire back some of their instructional staff, it ignores all of the other important staff members who are gone. It is not even close to enough. The students and the Tribes deserve better, and we will fight to make sure they get it,” said NARF Deputy Director Matthew Campbell.
In February 2025, Haskell University lost more than a quarter of its staff. Thirty-four Haskell courses lost their instructors. The welcome back pow-wow was postponed. The Student Success Center was closed. Financial aid was delayed with some students still not receiving aid as of March. All but three custodial staff were laid off, resulting in restrooms with overflowing trash cans and no paper products, as well as unclean cafeterias and dining areas.
In February 2025, SIPI lost almost a quarter of its staff. Power outages went unresolved for many hours due to lack of maintenance staff, sometimes causing classes to be cancelled. While water from taps is brown and unsafe, repairs have been postponed indefinitely due to the cuts. Midterm exams did not have faculty to administer them.
Tribal Nations and Students File Amended Challenges to Federal Changes to Indian Education
Three Tribal Nations (Pueblo of Isleta, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes) along with Native students (Ella Bowen, Kaiya Brown, and Danielle Ledesma) amended challenges against the United States Secretary of Interior, Doug Burgum, the United States Department of the Interior, Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, Wiliam Kirkland, Director, Bureau of Indian Education, Tony Dearman, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the United States Department of Education for unlawfully failing to consult with Tribal Nations on two sets of key agency actions directly impacting the education of Native American students.
Tribal Nations and students had originally sued the Department of Interior and Office of Indian Affairs in March 2025 challenging staff reductions at the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and BIE-run schools. Those mass firings dramatically reduced the Bureau of Indian Education’s workforce in a manner that continues to harm Native students, including students at Haskell Indian Nations University and Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute. That initial complaint challenged those firings in part because the administration failed to consult with Tribal Nations before their implementation.
The amended complaint, filed by the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenges two interagency agreements, one between the Department of the Interior and the Department of Education and the other between the Department of Education and the Department of Labor. Taken together, the agreements restructure how the federal government delivers on its legal obligation to provide for Native students’ education. The administration also failed to consult with Tribal Nations before executing and implementing the interagency agreements.
“The federal government is attempting to radically restructure how it provides education for our children without consulting Tribal Nations despite federal law that gives us a clear say here,” said Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph Rupnick.
“Refusing to consult with Tribal Nations before moving programs and funding out of the Department of Education is yet another breach of the Bureau of Indian Education’s responsibility to our students and our Tribal governments,” said Pueblo of Isleta Governor Eugene Jiron.
“These are real issues affecting real students and schools, with a pattern and practice by the federal government of failing to consult or inadequately consulting Tribal Nations despite their clear legal obligations to do so,” said NARF Staff Attorney Matthew Marinelli. “We intend to hold BIA accountable for its failures in meeting their obligations in supporting the education of Native students.”
The agreements move programs, services, and funding supporting Tribes and Tribal members from the Department of Education to the Departments of Interior and the Department of Labor, even though those agencies lack any expertise in the programs, services, or their management, let alone the resources to execute them effectively.
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