Lawrence community members are working to assist some Haskell Indian Nations University students who were scrambling to find temporary housing.
Interim President Mackie Moore sent a letter to students on June 30 saying that because of staffing shortages, they’re required to move out of dorms by noon Saturday, July 26. Classes end the day before.
A Haskell student, who asked not to be named in an initial article last week about the situation, and two friends are currently taking summer courses. They were approved to stay in the dorms through the summer and fall semesters.
The student this week said all three secured temporary housing because they contacted Carole Cadue-Blackwood.
Cadue-Blackwood, enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas and affiliated with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe in Kansas, posted on her social media about their need. Soon after, she received an influx of responses.
A 1993 Haskell graduate who works at the Kansas City Indian Center and serves as a Lawrence school board member, Cadue-Blackwood said giving back is a value foundational to her culture. She also has family members who are Haskell alumni and current students.
“Like many in our community, I know how it feels to live with the weight of uncertainty — to feel like the bottom could fall out at any moment,” Cadue-Blackwood said via email. “I didn’t want anyone else to face the impossible decision of choosing between continuing their education or having to drop out because of financial or personal hardships.”
Haskell student Brandon Colbert said he heard from some out-of-town students that they’ll go back home for the monthlong interim. But others like himself don’t have that ability.
Additionally, Colbert was concerned about losing his belongings in the transition.
“It’s stressful,” said Colbert, Muscogee Creek and Seminole. “I don’t have a vehicle, and I was just like, ‘What am I going to do?’ My family back in Oklahoma, they said they didn’t want me back down there because there ain’t nothing for me down there. I’m better off here. I actually started crying, like, I got all my stuff, and I got my laptop, you know, everything.”
Thankfully, Colbert said, an old family friend in Kansas City can host him until he returns to Haskell in the fall.
Colbert said he believes most if not all students taking summer classes planned to stay. How many students is still unclear, but a Bureau of Indian Education spokesperson previously said that “Historically, only a small number of students remain in campus housing between semesters.”
Rep. Brooklynne Mosley, who resides in Lawrence, organized a Google form to recruit hosts. Those able to house a student or two from July 26 to Aug. 20 can fill out the form at this link and Mosley will reach back out.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
More coverage — Haskell Indian Nations University:
August Rudisell / The Lawrence Times
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
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August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
