Letter from President- AIHEC Press Release

Good morning,

I wanted to take a moment this morning to share a press release from AIHEC about the current slurry of executive orders. AIHEC is doing its best to stay on top of this rapidly evolving situation.

“There is a bipartisan history, across multiple Administrations, of various Executive Orders being issued, and revoked, and then new Executive Orders issued on the importance of Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) and the importance of educational opportunities for American Indian and Alaska Native students, more generally. While these Executive Orders have differed in their various iterations across different Administrations, they have always acknowledged TCUs as extensions of the federally recognized Tribal Nations that charter them and reaffirmed that the education of American Indians and Alaska Natives (a political designation) is part of a larger national mandate, one that all National leaders and policymakers have a responsibility to recognize and fulfill. The Executive Order of January 20, 2025, (Initial Recission of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions) unfortunately swept up the most recent Executive Order on TCUs and American Indian and Alaska Native students (Executive Order 14049 of October 11, 2021, White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Native Americans and Strengthening Tribal Colleges and Universities) (“Initiative”), in the revocation of 84 other Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda. While the revocation dissolves the Initiative and eliminates the position of the Executive Director of the Initiative, the greater concern is that this Executive Order was included among a revocation of other Executive Orders with “equity” in the title. To be clear, the conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion is entirely separate and distinct from the matter of Tribal Sovereignty and the Nation-to-Nation relationship between Tribal Nations and the Federal government enshrined in our Nation’s Constitution, and in the Trust and Treaty obligations enumerated in treaties, federal laws, and in Supreme Court decisions. Therefore, we call on the Trump Administration to issue a new Executive Order on Tribal Colleges and Universities, which once again reaffirms the importance of TCUs as extensions of the federally recognized Tribal Nations that charter them."

Should anyone have any questions about NICC please feel free to contact me. Should you be experiencing any increased stress and would like to speak with someone, please feel free to reach out to Morningstar Counseling & Consultation. Low to no cost for NICC Students. Current Availability for Tele-health / Online Services.

Phone: 402-327-9711 or email contact@morningstar-counseling.com

This phone number is a non-emergency number, if this is an emergency please call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.

Please take care of yourselves and others during this time.

Wibthahoⁿ – Pidamayedo – Thank you.

Respectfully,

Michael "Mike O." Oltrogge, Ph.D.
President
Nebraska Indian Community College

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Additional Resources from our Chartering Sovereign Nations:

Council Press Release - Omaha Tribe of Nebraska RE: Tribal IDs