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Haskell Indian Nations University

From March 2021 to April 2021
Haskell Indian Nations University (Public college or university)
Lawrence, Kansas, United States

Resources

Additional Information

  • Incident Nature:
    Other
  • Incident Political Orientation:
    Neither
  • Incident Responses:
    Faculty responses (e.g., asking student to leave classroom)
  • Incident Status:
    No litigation
  • No protest Occured
  • Did not involve Speech Codes

Summary

In early March 2021, Haskell Indian Nations University President Ronald Graham issued a “non-negotiable” memo directing faculty and staff to voice their criticisms of the school, their peers and his administration internally through the university’s chain of command. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) responded to Graham’s message with a letter to the Bureau of Indian Education, saying the directive would “unconstitutionally limit the ability of faculty to speak as private citizens on matters of public concern.” In its letter, FIRE also cited a March 21 email by the school’s vice president for academics to faculty and staff saying that school and employees are free to speak to the media, but only if they do not reveal their association to Haskell. On April 1, the Haskell Faculty Senate delivered a unanimous vote of no confidence against Graham.