Bully Pulpits

For the past few weeks, students at the Institute of American Indian Arts say they have felt a change in atmosphere on campus following the college administration’s response to a student-run zine, Young Warrior, and its critique of the college’s leadership.

As a result, two students who criticized administrators through Young Warrior and social media posts tell SFR they are facing possible suspension from campus housing. Additional students and former staff members also report a variety of concerns on campus.

This controversy began with the March 21 edition of Young Warrior, in which Senior Editor David John Baer McNicholas, a junior at the college, published a letter from an anonymous student that voiced concerns over the recent resignation of Karen Redeye, who had worked as a student advisor. The letter alleged the college’s Director of the Student Success Center Lorissa Garcia had bullied Redeye into resigning.

SFR called and emailed both Garcia and Dean of Students Nena Martinez Anaya (who was also mentioned in the anonymous student letter) for comment, but had received no response from either as of press time.

Redeye makes the same allegation in an email McNicholas shared with SFR, addressed to IAIA staff and students eight days after the zine published. “I resigned from IAIA due to repeated lack of support from my superiors, maltreatment and bullying from my direct supervisors,” the email reads. “It elevated to the point of affecting me physically and my workspace did not provide me emotional safety…I loved my job but it became a hostile workplace and I could not continue on with my position.”

SFR emailed Redeye but did not receive a response by press time.

The morning of the March 21 Young Warrior issue’s release, McNicholas and the rest of the Associated Student Government members received an email from IAIA Provost Felipe Colón (Laguna Pueblo), which stated “several students, including members of ASG, had been involved in bullying, defamation and possibly legally actionable slander and liable [sic] against members of the IAIA staff and in violation of the IAIA Student Handbook Anti-Bullying Policy.”

SFR also reached out to Colón for comment, but received a message he is out of office until April 22.

“Part of the reason why we started Young Warrior is that people need to feel like they have a voice where they can be heard, because they have this complaint system that makes student complaints disappear and highlights administrative complaints against students,” McNicholas tells SFR. “We needed something to show them we’re not just going to be silent and fearful of them.”

Throughout the week following the publication, McNicholas also received notice from Colón that three complaints had been filed against him in relation to the Young Warrior publication for violating the college’s anti-bullying policy, including one from Garcia that alleges he “published derogatory and unfounded misinformation and rumors about her, her actions and her role in the resignation of Ms. Karen Redeye,” according to an email from Colón.

“I’m more vulnerable than either of these two people, so how could I be the one bullying them?” McNicholas says of the complaints. “They’re bullying me with this policy.”

When asked for comment on the ongoing situation, IAIA Director of Communications Jason Ordaz provided a statement to SFR that says the college believes in “fostering an environment where all voices can be heard.”

“While we fully support the rights of our students, staff, and faculty to express their opinions and ideas, we also emphasize the importance of responsible communication. IAIA does not condone slander or libel that defames individuals,” Ordaz wrote. “Anyone who disseminates information that is not based on facts and has the intent to harm members of our community will not be tolerated. IAIA is dedicated to maintaining a respectful and inclusive community. To this end, we are actively engaging with all parties involved to address the concerns raised, ensuring that our values of respect, integrity, and academic freedom are upheld.”

On March 29, Colón emailed McNicholas saying he had found all three complaints against McNicholas valid, and issued several sanctions against him. The sanctions included: submitting a retraction to be printed in the next Young Warrior issue and on the ASG Instagram account; providing a written apology to both Garcia and Martinez Anaya; and issuing a public apology for the publication that included “a statement admitting to your role in spreading harmful gossip in print and via social media, and to your violation of the IAIA Anti-Bullying Policy.”

The two sanctions affecting McNicholas’ academic standing the most include a requirement to enter “both Institute and Disciplinary probation status” for the remainder of the semester and for the 2024-2025 academic year. Doing so would restrict McNicholas from representing IAIA in any public performance, competition or committee, or from holding any student government office, or any position in a recognized student organization. He would also enter a “residential suspension” status and not be allowed to live on campus until the spring semester in 2025.

If these requirements are not met, McNicholas could be further suspended or expelled from IAIA, according to the letter. Another student who does not wish to be identified by name faces these sanctions as well, due to an Instagram post protesting Redeye’s resignation.

McNicholas appealed the decision on March 29. Colón responded on April 4 that the appeal would not be heard, but then on April 10 informed McNicholas the college would attempt to form a new committee to review the appeal request, and that until said committee “reaches its final determinations, your sanctions will be postponed, including the housing suspension.”

In the meantime, McNicholas says he chose to move out of the dorms in case his appeal is rejected, stating he chose to do so ahead of time so he could receive a refund for his boarding costs.

“I went into damage control mode, basically, and was like, ‘OK, what’s coming? They’re going to kick you out of the dorms,’” he explains. “I moved out voluntarily and moved into my vehicle, and I’m living in my vehicle right now. You can think of all the ways that affects me—physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually.”

McNicholas is not the only student who reports problematic encounters with IAIA administration.

Another student alleges inappropriate responses by campus officials in reaction to a March 30 incident in which a male student and friend of her roommate entered her dorm room at 5 am, exposed himself, urinated on her chair and floor and then fell asleep on her roommate’s bed. SFR has reviewed a police report for the situation and is not publishing the student’s name at her request. According to the police report, the victim said staff removed the perpetrator from the room and provided her with cleaning supplies to clean the urine stains. The student’s mother ultimately summoned the police. When asked by police if she wanted to press charges for indecent exposure, the student declined.

“I’ve had a lot of experience that has been really negative with the police, so I was hoping that my administrators would take care of it, that they would understand that I don’t want to cause harm to my community members in that way,” she tells SFR. “I just want to be safe on campus.”

However, the victim says her attempts at filing a Title IX complaint—a report of gender-based discrimination—against the student who entered her room fizzled after Title IX Coordinator Laurie Logan Brayshaw told her the incident was “only a housing violation,” and took issue with her describing the crime as an act of sexual violence. Currently, IAIA policy defines sexual harassment as “unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe and pervasive and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a complainant equal access to the IAIA’s education program or activity.”

SFR reached out to Brayshaw for comment, but did not receive a response.

“I had the Title IX coordinator tell me it wasn’t a violation of Title IX…she says because [the alleged intruder] did not have sexual intent, it doesn’t qualify, but someone exposed themself to me, and I was alone in my room. That feels like pretty straightforward sexual harassment,” she says. “It felt like a threat, like she was threatening that I would be made a bully if I described this as anything other than a housing violation.”

A few former IAIA staff members also allege the bullying within IAIA administration.

Former Assistant to the Dean of Students Jackie Chitto (Isleta and Laguna pueblos) worked at IAIA for 14 years before being fired in November 2021, in a work environment she describes as increasingly hostile.

“I was stressing out my husband, and he was like, ‘Why don’t you just quit?’ I didn’t want to quit. I really liked my job for 14 years…I still miss my job,” Chitto says. “It affected me—I’m having trouble going back to work now because of that.”

Former Student Life employee Nocona Burgess (Comanche), who resigned from his position in 2019, says, “There’s this underlying tone of intimidation and just people fearing for their jobs. It’s just bullying tactics, there’s no transparency…I hope this can lead to, ‘Hey, wait a second, something seriously needs to change.’”

In the midst of these conflicts on campus, students have continued to voice their grievances via Young Warrior. The April 4 edition highlights student voices and concerns about their education at IAIA, including art, poetry and comics that criticize housing and facility conditions and articles detailing past controversies at IAIA from both 1994 and 2019.

“We are disappointed in people who try to silence us, and processes that don’t serve us…Students have the right to critique power without fear of retribution,” reads a letter in the zine credited to Young Warrior staff. “We want a better IAIA for all young warriors, past, present and future.”