LAWRENCE – Ongoing controversy and accusations against principle management of Haskell Indian Nations University at Lawrence will be the subject of U.S. Congressional hearings next Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
A joint oversight committee hearing will explore multiple allegations that university management neglected repeated complaints of sexual assault, bullying and harrassment by students and university staff dating back to 2021, and that acting HINU President Tamara Pfeiffer, U.S. Bureau of Indian Education Tony Dearman and Assistat Secretary of Indian Affairs Brian Newland as well as the U.S. Office of the Inspector General ignored specific written complaints.
A January 2023 investigation report by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education focused on HINU and details the broad-based allegations, with names of student plaintiffs and other information redacted for privacy. Part of that report describes a polarized environment on the campus with regard to student and staff factions who either supported or opposed the controversial dismissal of cross country coach Clay Mayes, who was issued a “no-contact” order pertaining to students by the university in November 2021, and who was subsequently fired in May of 2022 after he was the subject of student complaints about his coaching style.
Among other allegations in the investigation report:
- Students say they were forced to sign a “no contact” order and that university management intimidated and threatened everyone if they fail to comply, Even instructing them they were not to discuss matters including within the order with their parents.
- bullying and harassment by Haskell administrators and a select group of student athletes.
- Various instances of nepotism exercised by University management.
- the sexual assault of multiple students by an alleged perpetrator who was not removed from the dorms until later, and then only due to drinking violations.
- The alleged theft of thousands of dollars worth of athletic gear – federal property – from the university.
The Lawrence Journal-World published that that invited witnesses for the hearing will include former Haskell cross country coach Clay Mayes, former student Tierra Thomas and former president Ronald Graham.
The Lawrence newspaper said federal investigative report at the heart of the hearing found that Mayes was the subject of a “frivolous investigation” that inappropriately resulted in his termination based on “unsupported allegations.” Mayes has filed a petition for reinstatement. The newspaper said the same report described the athletic department at the university as being in “disarray.”
Tierra Thomas told the newspaper that after she was sexually assaulted by a student in April of 2022, dozens of her reports to 18 Haskell staffers as well as the university’s Board of Regents had gone unanswered. Haskell’s current president, Frank Arpan, announced new initiatives at the university to monitor and investigate sexual assault after the newspaper ran a story on Thomas’ allegations.,
The congressional investigators have demanded a copy of the unredacted report from the Bureau of Indian Education.
Dane Hicks is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, VA. He is the author of novels "The Skinning Tree" and "A Whisper For Help." As publisher of the Anderson County Review in Garnett, KS., he is a recipient of the Kansas Press Association's Boyd Community Service Award as well as more than 60 awards for excellence in news, editorial and photography.
