Sen. Moran’s office has yet to receive a response from BIE about allegations from Haskell students

photo by: Journal-World File

A sign at the entrance to Haskell Indian Nations University is shown Friday, Aug. 5, 2016.

The Bureau of Indian Education has yet to respond to a series of questions from U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran concerning allegations that employees at Haskell Indian Nations University intimidated student-athletes into signing legal documents, which the agency first received three weeks ago.

Moran’s press secretary, Angela Lingg, confirmed the lack of response to the Journal-World on Thursday. Moran made his inquiry Jan. 13 and asked for a response by Jan. 20. Lingg told the Journal-World that the BIE did respond by that date, saying an official response was being finalized and would be sent the following week, but that response never came.

“The Bureau of Indian Education has failed to provide answers to my inquiries,” Moran, who serves on the Senate’s Indian Affairs Committee, said in a statement provided to the Journal-World Thursday. “The continued lack of urgency in addressing these concerns and those lodged from the Haskell campus is unacceptable.”

As the Journal-World reported last year, student-athletes with Haskell’s cross country team alleged that they were made to sign no-contact agreements stemming from a federal investigation of their former coach and they felt that administrators had intimated them into doing so. The BIE oversees Haskell’s operations.

Moran, in his inquiry last month, said he wanted answers for how the BIE handled those allegations, including whether it has investigated them or has made any personnel changes on Haskell’s campus in response.