photo by: YouTube screenshot

Bryan Newland, the assistant secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, addresses a bipartisan congressional panel Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C.

Members of Congress are still at apparent loggerheads with the U.S. Department of the Interior as they try to obtain information related to their investigation of alleged misconduct at Haskell Indian Nations University and the Bureau of Indian Education, and they are calling on Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to step in.

Two congressional committees — the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the House Committee on Natural Resources — sent a letter Tuesday to Haaland requesting precise records after a review of documents provided to Congress indicated “potential deletion of critical details and improper redactions.”

On July 2, the committees sent a joint letter to BIE Director Tony Dearman, whose bureau oversees Haskell and whose boss is Haaland, seeking documents and information related to what has become know as the AIB Report. That report, which is an investigation of harassment, bullying, sexual assault and other alleged misconduct at Haskell, was submitted to the BIE human resources officer on Nov. 7, 2022, but it is dated Jan. 13, 2023, prompting concerns about the report having been strategically edited and redacted.

In response to the joint letter, The Department of the Interior invited congressional committee staff to review less redacted copies of the AIB Report in August. Before that, they had only been able to see a heavily redacted version, limiting what their investigation could achieve.

“That review (of the less redacted copy) made it clear that the information contained in the documents is material to the investigation,” Tuesday’s letter to Haaland stated.

Committee staff observed significant differences between the draft and finalized AIB Report, “including potential deletion of critical details and improper redactions,” the letter said.

The letter went on to request, no later than Oct. 1, four specific items: a copy of the Nov. 7, 2022, report and the Jan. 13, 2023, report as reviewed by committee staff in August, with no redactions except those necessary to conceal students’ personally identifiable information; a copy of every exhibit related to the AIB Report with no redactions; and a written explanation of all edits, amendments, deletions and other modifications made between the November and January dates.

As the Journal-World reported, a congressional panel on July 23 questioned numerous people with knowledge of the situation at Haskell, including Haskell cross country coach Clay Mayes and former president Ronald Graham, as well as Bryan Newland, the assistant secretary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and others.

The bipartisan panel, citing allegations in the AIB Report, said it was attempting to get to the bottom of what various panel members described as a “toxic,” potentially corrupt and unsafe environment for students at Haskell.

After panel members put federal officials in the hot seat to answer questions ranging from why Haskell has had six presidents in eight years to why student complaints about sexual assault have repeatedly fallen on deaf ears, they vowed to exercise continued congressional oversight over the situation at Haskell until significant improvement is seen.