photo by: Journal-World

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

A Bureau of Indian Education employee sexually harassed student-athletes on the women’s basketball team at Haskell Indian Nations University, according to an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General in the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The OIG investigation found that the employee made crude jokes and comments of a sexual nature to students and engaged in unwelcome physical contact with at least one student; it also found that the employee’s behavior deterred some student-athletes from going to the athletic training room to receive treatment.

We concluded that the employee’s behavior violated DOI policy against sexual harassment and Haskell’s standard operating procedures concerning “Sexual Violence and Abuse, Sex Discrimination and Sexual Harassment.”

“Moreover,” a summary of the report noted, “the conduct in question implicates State of Kansas regulations applicable to athletic trainers.”

The OIG also found that the employee’s supervisor and other staff were aware of the harassing conduct but failed to report the behavior as required by both DOI and Haskell.

Though the report date is listed as May 5, a notification concerning regarding it apparently did not go out until Monday, more than a month later, and only a summary of the report is so far publicly available. The name of the BIE employee is not listed; nor is the person’s current employment status.

The investigative report has been issued to the director of the BIE, which is the federal agency overseeing Haskell, and to the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, which is the licensing and regulatory agency for health care providers in Kansas, including athletic trainers.

The Journal-World has reached out to the BIE and Board of Healing Hearts for additional information.

The Haskell women’s basketball team, the Fighting Indians, won a Continental Athletic Conference tournament title last spring and a berth in the NAIA Tournament. Its coach, Adam Strom, committed to coaching the team despite having been laid off in February when dozens of Haskell employees were fired as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash the federal workforce. Strom was eventually reinstated as a Haskell employee, and Haskell currently lists him as both its women’s basketball coach and as an assistant athletic director.