Culturally Sensitive Lands

Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU), formerly known as Haskell Institute, was a residential school before it became a university.  If this is new or unfamiliar information we encourage you to visit the Cultural Center at HINU, read a brief history here, and read information regarding Kansas's history of Indigenous Boarding Schools.The proposed development near the historic Haskell Farm (now the Historic Baker Wetlands) and its proximity to the Wakarusa River, where Indigenous children attempted to escape severe abuse, has raised concerns among the Haskell Board of Regents, staff, and the community who demand implementation of ground penetrating radar. This demands are based on oral history and has been proven true by the fact that the Department of Interior (DOI) recently published a report verifying that there is at least one unmarked burial in the Haskell Wetland Complex. According to Professor Chuck Haines, it is estimated that over 700 children died while at Haskell Institute (Haines, 2002, p. 4). While forcibly attending Haskell Institute and enduring traumatic hardship, many children would seek connectedness to Mother Earth through the flooding in the Wakarusa Valley that the government could never control (Haines, 2002, p. 6). Children would flee to the Haskell Farm in the wetlands to play, meet their families, and pray to Mother Earth (Haines, 2002, p. 5-6). Some children would never return from the wetlands and would be laid to rest in the Wakarusa Valley.  Unfortunately, this was never addressed or even considered by any of the developers or their contractors. 

DISREGARD BY DEVELOPERS