[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 88 (Wednesday, June 23, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1216]]
  DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2005

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 16, 2004

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4568) making 
     appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related 
     agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and 
     for other purposes.

  Mr. MOORE. Mr. Chairman, as the House considers our fiscal year 2005 
appropriations measure for the Department of the Interior, I rise to 
draw the House's attention to Haskell Indian Nations University, which 
is located in Lawrence, Kansas, within my congressional district.
  Funded through the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
Haskell was authorized by Congress, in partial fulfillment of treaty 
and trust obligations, to provide higher education to federally 
recognized tribal members. Haskell seeks to achieve this goal through 
the provision of tuition-free education, culturally sensitive 
curricula, innovative services and a commitment to academic excellence. 
Haskell has a program participation agreement with the U.S. Department 
of Education for eligible students to receive Pell Grants and other 
federal aid, such as direct student loans. This land grant institution 
is an intertribal university serving approximately 1,000 students 
representing 160 tribes from 30 states.
  Unfortunately, however, federal support for Haskell has not kept pace 
with its obligations. Since 1993, Haskell's overall funding allocation 
has risen by only 27 percent, while the institution has made the 
transition from a junior college to a 4-year university, with its first 
baccalaureate degrees granted in 1997.
  This table depicts Haskell's funding history over the past 10 years:

                             EXPENDITURES (TOTAL OBLIGATIONS) AT END OF FISCAL YEAR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Fiscal year                     Allocation         Total          Personnel         Program
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1993........................................       $7,167,553    $7,180,049.45    $5,943,985.00    $1,236,064.45
1994........................................        7,306,000     6,955,104.47     6,011,310.13       943,794.34
1995........................................        7,511,380     7,537,328.30     5,866,751.23     1,670,577.07
1996........................................        7,506,000     7,509,996.36     6,125,067.59     1,384,928.77
1997........................................        7,924,500     7,889,782.31     6,276,850.36     1,612,931.95
1998........................................        8,107,000     8,183,821.97     6,305,264.51     1,878,557.46
1999........................................        8,267,000     8,195,109.40     6,877,615.69     1,317,493.71
2000........................................        8,611,000     8,718,986.20     7,472,113.79     1,246,872.41
2001........................................        8,776,649     8,756,727.25     7,748,714.10     1,008,013.15
2002........................................        9,050,100     8,797,514.95     7,679,254.41     1,118,260.54
2003........................................        9,141,100     9,017,657.02     7,887,447.54     1,130,209.48
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Mr. Chairman, while Congress traditionally has not provided line item 
allocations of funds for institutions administered by the Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, I hope that a review of these statistics will bring to 
the attention of the Department of the Interior and the Office of 
Management and Budget the need to significantly enhance Haskells 
funding levels in the upcoming fiscal year.
  Haskell has a unique and compelling history. Twenty-two American 
Indian children entered the doors of a new school in Lawrence, Kansas, 
in 1884 to begin an educational program that focused on agricultural 
education in grades one through five. Today, Haskell continues to serve 
the educational needs of American Indian and Alaska Native people from 
across the United States. For more than 117 years, American Indians and 
Alaska Natives have been sending their children to Haskell, and Haskell 
has responded by offering innovative curricula oriented toward American 
Indian/Alaska Native cultures.
  The doors to Haskell officially opened under the name of the United 
States Indian Industrial Training School. Enrollment quickly increased 
from its original 22 to over 400 students within one semester's time. 
The early trades for boys included tailoring, wagon making, 
blacksmithing, harness making, painting, shoe making, and farming. 
Girls studied cooking, sewing and homemaking. Most of the students' 
food was produced on the Haskell farm, and students were expected to 
participate in various industrial duties.
  Ten years passed before the school expanded its academic training 
beyond the elementary grades. A ``normal school'' was added because 
teachers were needed in the students' home communities. The commercial 
department, the predecessor of the business department, opened in 1895 
with five typewriters. It is believed that the first touch-typing class 
in Kansas was taught at Haskell.
  By 1927, high school classes were accredited by the state of Kansas, 
and Haskell began offering post high school courses in a variety of 
areas. Part of Haskell's attraction was not only its post high school 
curriculum but also its success in athletics. Haskell football teams in 
the early 1900's to the 1930's are legendary. And even after the 1930s, 
when the emphasis on football began to decrease, athletics remained a 
high priority to Haskell students and alumni. Today, Haskell continues 
to pay tribute to great athletes by serving as the home of the American 
Indian Athletic Hall of Fame.

  Industrial training became an important part of the curriculum in the 
early 1930s, and by 1935 Haskell began to evolve into a post high 
school, vocational-technical institution. Gradually, the secondary 
program was phased out, and the last high school class graduated in 
1965.
  In 1970, Haskell began offering a junior college curriculum and 
became Haskell Indian Junior College. In 1992 the National Haskell 
Board of Regents recommended a new name to reflect its vision for 
Haskell as a national center for Indian education, research, and 
cultural preservation. In 1993, the Assistant Secretary for Indian 
Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior approved the change, and 
Haskell became ``Haskell Indian Nations University.''
  Mr. Chairman, today, Haskell has an average enrollment of over 1,000 
students each semester. Students represent federally recognized tribes 
from across the United States and are as culturally diverse as 
imaginable. Students select programs that will prepare them to enter 
baccalaureate programs in elementary teacher education, American Indian 
studies, business administration, and environmental science; to 
transfer to another baccalaureate degree-granting institution; or to 
enter directly into employment. Haskell continues to integrate American 
Indian/Alaska Native culture into all its curricula. This focus of the 
curriculum, besides its intertribal constituency and federal support 
through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, makes Haskell unique and provides 
exciting challenges which the Federal Government must assist them 
further in meeting in the years ahead.

                          ____________________