photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The campus of Haskell Indian Nations University is pictured Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025.

A group of Haskell Indian Nations University students have requested a meeting with President Donald Trump to urge that the Feb. 14 layoffs at the university be rescinded.

“Order the School Year to be completed as planned,” dozens of cross country and track and field student-athletes asked in a written statement. “We humbly request you review the Future of Haskell.”

The students asked Trump, whose executive order resulted in thousands of federal employees losing their jobs, to meet with them at the White House or at Haskell.

“As a result of Administration decisions made on February 14, one in three instructors and staff were terminated at Haskell Indian Nations University,” the students wrote. “In practical terms, that means, some 520 students, out of 900 are without their instructors — in the middle of the semester. Please help us avoid disruption!”

Meanwhile, Haskell’s president, Frank Arpan, sent a message to campus Monday stating that Haskell faculty who were terminated in the probationary layoffs would be returning to the classroom to finish the semester under an “adjunct contract.” The layoffs left 34 courses requiring an instructor, he said.

Arpan also said that Haskell faculty would be taking on adviser roles for students as Haskell’s Student Success Center was in “temporary abeyance.” As faculty take on more duties, Haskell staff will also have additional daily tasks assigned to ease the burden on faculty, Arpan said.

Because janitorial staff was reduced in the layoffs, Arpan said Haskell was working on a contract for cleaning services in the housing units and larger common areas. He also said that administrative assistants would be shared to help campus offices that had lost their administrative employees.