photo by: Contributed

Mackie Moore

Updated at 4:18 p.m. Thursday, June 5

The dean of business at Haskell Indian Nations University has been recommended to serve as the university’s acting president, the Journal-World has learned.

According to a source familiar with the situation, Mackie Moore, of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, was recommended by faculty during an emergency meeting Tuesday of the university’s faculty.

“Director Tony Dearman has asked for a recommendation from faculty on a new acting president,” a May 27 email from Haskell instructor Amy Hume to faculty said ahead of the closed meeting.

Dearman is the director of the Bureau of Indian Education, the division of the U.S. Department of the Interior that oversees Haskell.

Moore is also listed on the university’s website as the interim chief financial officer for Haskell. He declined to comment to the Journal-World on the faculty recommendation, saying the BIE had not made a decision.

The need for an acting president arose after President Frank Arpan, who was hired as president two years ago after yearslong turnover in the leadership position, abruptly announced his resignation on May 23. In an email to students and staff, Arpan said, without elaborating, that he would be leaving the school on June 18 to “pursue other opportunities.”

The recommendation for Moore to lead the embattled university had not been acted on, at least publicly, as of Thursday.

Haskell’s campus has been in turmoil in recent months as a large percentage of its employees were laid off in February as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to slash the federal workforce. Many of those employees have since been reinstated, but uncertainty continues to plague the university. Earlier this week, ProPublica reported that the Trump administration has proposed cutting funding for tribal colleges and universities by nearly 90%, a move that would likely shut down Haskell and other institutions.