Budget deficits cause closure at Si Tanka University in South Dakota and layoffs at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque.

Si Tanka University ended the semester mid-term on Monday, March 28, because of lack of funding to pay the bills.

The school named for the Minneconjou leader usually referred to as Bigfoot, has campuses in both Eagle Butte and Huron. While the Eagle Butte campus is made up primarily of a Native American student body and is located on the Cheyenne River Sioux reservation, the Huron campus is off-reservation. The addition of its campus in 2001 caused the Native American populace to drop overall to less than 50 percent between the two campuses.

Because of this decrease in the number of Native students for the university as a whole, federal funding was withheld from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which normally awards some $4,390 per student if a school has a population of half or more that are Native American.

Campuses Must Separate

Based on the belief that the difference in the Native populace determines federal funding and at the urging of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Cheyenne River Sioux tribal council met and extended a loan of up to $400, 000 to cover expenses at the Eagle Butte campus alone. The council resolved to distinguish the two campuses as “Si Tanka University-tribal charter” for the Eagle Butte and ‘Si Tanka University-state charter” for the Huron campus. As a tribally chartered school, the campus in Eagle Butte is in a better position to be eligible to receive federal funds, whereas the Huron campus would be restricted from receiving this type of funding.

According to Sioux Falls newspaper, the ArgusLeader.com, Si Tanka is also facing foreclosure litigation after it defaulted on $6.6 million in loans it secured to buy Huron University in 2001, as well as a $2 million federal tax lien. The Internal Revenue Service put a hold on the $400,000 that the tribe had allocated to Si Tanka

No Money to Get Paid

Faculty at the Huron campus have not been paid since Feb 15, nor have any student financial aid refunds been issued.

According to the Rapid City Journal’s website, Si Tanka athletic director, Steve Fryberger anticipated that over 90 percent of the faculty will be gone by the end of the March.

Fryberger is also quoted as saying, “We are still told and expected to show up and continue to work when we're not getting paid, our benefits aren't getting paid, the dorms are going to run out of food and the city is going to turn the water off.”

SIPI Budget Deficit

Twenty-nine staff members at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque were notified on Monday, March 28, that they were being laid off or that their positions were cut because of a budget deficit, the Albuquerque Journal reported. Four of the 29 staff members notified were offered reassignment elsewhere in the school.

SIPI is a two- year college that serves nearly 800 Native students and operates under the direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which began an investigation into SIPI’s administrative policies and staff. Many of the staff notified felt like they were ill-prepared to receive the notices and felt that a lack of respect was being shown to them by administrators, according to the Journal.

IAIA Mindful of Budget Issues and Keeps a Close Account

Funding for IAIA differs from the other tribal colleges because IAIA was established as a federally chartered college. The majority of the other tribal colleges are chartered by their tribes and funded under the Tribal Controlled Community Colleges Act of 1978.

IAIA President, Della Warrior, issued this statement: “The IAIA is saddened to learn of the financial problems facing our sister institutions, Si Tanka University and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute. The IAIA has had financial challenges in the past and we survived by staying focused, working together and relying on the Creator.”

 

 

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