Several more of the Haskell Indian Nations University employees who were cut under federal orders last month will now be reinstated.
The federal government and the “Department of Government Efficiency,” aka DOGE, had forced the university to terminate about three dozen employees on Feb. 14.
But federal judges in California and Maryland ruled separately earlier this month that the probationary employees of federal agencies who were fired as part of the baseless cuts must be reinstated. However, it has remained unclear whether that would actually happen for all Haskell employees.
Haskell recently brought back all faculty members who were terminated, with backpay, as well as coaches, housing and dining personnel.
In a campus update shared Thursday, Haskell President Frank Arpan, Yankton Sioux, announced that custodial personnel will be returning and student workers have been hired to help.
In addition, several administrative assistants and athletic personnel will be returning, Arpan wrote in the update, shared by the Student Government Association.
The status of Haskell’s Student Success Center was still not entirely clear. Arpan’s updates have said academic advising would transition to Haskell faculty, and the center was “in temporary abeyance.”
The latest update said that academic leadership has been working to get every student assigned to an adviser, and that registration for summer and fall semesters will open on Monday.
Dan Wildcat, a Haskell professor and Yuchi member of the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, recently shared that there could still be additional personnel cuts.
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management issued a memo on Feb. 26 demanding that all federal agencies create “Agency RIF and Reorganization Plans” by March 13. The plans must include “A significant reduction in the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions by eliminating positions that are not required,” according to the memo.
Wildcat said he was told that Haskell had submitted a plan, but “no one knows” yet what the impact will be. A person he’d spoken to at another federal agency said they were told to expect a 40% cut in that agency’s remaining staff, Wildcat said.
“So we’re probably going to take another hit,” he said.
Haskell was established under the federal government’s legal treaty and trust obligations to provide education to American Indian and Alaska Native people. Some, including Haskell’s Board of Regents, have argued against the cuts to the university’s employees specifically because the government has a legal duty to uphold those commitments.
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