A wary Board of Regents on Friday endorsed plans to have Haskell Indian Nations University train workers for a planned federal repository for millions of American Indian records.

“I’d say we’re going into this with a sense of cautious optimism,” regent George Tiger said.

Several regents said their caution stemmed from their tribes’ past dealings with the federal government and with the government’s failure to fully fund Haskell programs.

The Department of the Interior plans to open a 50,000-square-foot archive facility next spring in Lenexa. The National Archives and Records Administration will run the facility.

Plans call for the archive facility to serve as a clearinghouse for documents relating to Cobell v. Norton, a $137 billion class-action lawsuit that accuses the Interior Department of systematically pilfering American Indian lands and assets.

Looking for ways to put Indians in charge of Indian records, Interior Department officials recently awarded Haskell a $100,000 grant for planning a records management curriculum.

A $250,000 grant will underwrite the first year’s instruction, starting in fall 2004.

Though supportive of the program, regents said they feared federal support for the classes would not keep pace with demand.

“I want this to work, but I am leery,” regents President Gil Vigil said.