photo by: Journal-World file

A sign at the entrance to Haskell Indian Nations University is shown in this file photo from Friday, Aug. 5, 2016.

The U.S. Department of the Interior missed the deadline to respond to a letter from U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran’s office urging a “systemic overhaul” of the federal office that oversees Haskell Indian Nations University, the Journal-World has learned.

As the Journal-World has reported, Moran, R-Kansas, sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in late April highlighting an urgent need for change in two Interior offices — the Bureau of Indian Education, which directly oversees Haskell, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In the letter, Moran called on Haaland to respond to a series of questions no later than Wednesday. A staffer with Moran’s office confirmed to the Journal-World Thursday that Haaland missed the deadline and has not sent a written response to the letter.

The letter itself was a response to the public release of a report on an investigation that took place at Haskell starting in July 2022. As the Journal-World has reported, the 80-page report’s findings include that a separate investigation of former cross country coach Clay Mayes was “frivolous at best,” that the university improperly handled sexual assault allegations, and that the university’s athletic department is “in disarray.”