photo by: Gary Rohman / FIRE

Haskell Indian Nations University student Jared Nally

Former Haskell Indian Nations University student journalist Jared Nally has settled his lawsuit against leaders of the university — which will result in policy reform at Haskell that free-speech advocates are hailing as a victory.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit that focuses on protecting free speech on college campuses, backed Nally in his lawsuit and called the settlement a constitutional win.

“HINU agreed to sweeping policy reforms that will protect the First Amendment rights of students … and safeguard the editorial independence of the award-winning student newspaper, The Indian Leader,” FIRE spokesperson Katie Kortepeter said Tuesday.

Nally’s dispute with Haskell began in October 2020 when then-President Ronald Graham forbade Nally, former editor-in-chief of The Indian Leader, from engaging in routine newsgathering activities. Graham eventually rescinded the directive, but it was not until Jan. 13, 2021, that Nally received an undated letter from Graham, taking back his directive and admitting that the university “took an incorrect approach” in issuing it.

Nally, a senior at the time, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Kansas a couple of months later, in March 2021, against the university and its president, as well as the Bureau of Indian Education and its director.

He told the Journal-World at the time that Graham’s directive “forbade regular acts of journalism and restricted free speech expression, and the purpose of the lawsuit is to reaffirm that Haskell students have that.”

In the lawsuit, Nally also requested that the university answer for the 90 days — from October 2020 to January 2021 — in which he said he was silenced by the administration, that it restore $10,000 of funding that Nally said the newspaper was shorted, that it approve the newspaper’s registration as a student organization and that it revise a campus speech policy that Nally said was unconstitutional.

In the consent decree entered by the parties, Haskell leaders agreed not to promulgate any similar directive to that issued by Graham related to protected First Amendment activity nor engage in any kind of retaliation.

“I hope this case not only protects the next generation of student journalists at Haskell, but empowers individuals at other institutions to realize they have rights and options when it comes to using their voice,” Nally said Tuesday.

The defendants also agreed to provide monthly account statements to an individual appointed by the Indian Leader Association, and the association agreed to provide a plan of operations every two years that requires the signatures of the university president, the chief of finance and the Student Senate president. Haskell also agreed to provide the association, upon request, with enrollment numbers and the amount collected in student activity fees annually.

Nally had argued that Haskell’s campus speech policy — called CIRCLE for Communication, Integrity, Respect, Collaboration, Leadership and Excellence — was unconstitutionally broad and vague, noting, for example, that mandating “respect” was not compatible with allowing free speech. Haskell had previously amended the student code, but in the recent settlement, it also agreed not to reinstate the CIRCLE policy or any similar policy that seeks to restrict student expression.

In the lawsuit, Nally requested monetary damages from Graham personally, and the court had granted Graham’s motion to dismiss that claim. However, because the U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a relevant case regarding First Amendment retaliation claims, the settlement announced this week did not contain an agreement on that issue.

FIRE’s vice president of litigation, Darpana Sheth, expressed hope that the Supreme Court would “do the right thing and affirm that federal officials must pay when they violate First Amendment rights.”

“Graham is a prime example of a federal official who abused his power and should not be shielded from the consequences,” Sheth said.

Graham was fired from Haskell in May 2021 following an internal investigation and criticism that he was stifling free speech rights of students and faculty. His dismissal came after he was the subject of a unanimous vote of no-confidence by Haskell’s Faculty Senate the month before.

Tamarah Pfeiffer, a leader in the Bureau of Indian Education, assumed the role of acting president after Graham’s departure. When asked for comment, the president’s office referred the Journal-World to the Bureau of Indian Education, which the newspaper has reached out to.

As for Nally, he is now living in Kansas City, Missouri, after having graduated last fall with a degree in Indigenous and American Indian Studies. He told the Journal-World Tuesday that he is currently applying to graduate schools.

“Right now, I’m continuing my momentum as a writer by working as a guest editor for an issue of KANSAS! Magazine,” he said in an email. “My time with The Indian Leader, with NAJA (Native American Journalists Association), FIRE, and other allied journalists has shown me the importance of journalism, and the challenges journalists must overcome to serve their communities. I think this movement has solidified that wherever I go, and whatever I do, I will continue to write and support local journalism.”

Though Haskell is behind him now, the settlement has given him hope that he has made a difference at his alma mater.

“I’m optimistic that the new Haskell administration understands the importance of student rights and has come together, in this settlement, to restore them to our campus,” he said.