Federal investigators review complaints over personnel practices at Haskell University

Federal investigators are in Lawrence this week looking into complaints of improper personnel practices, nepotism and intimidation on the Haskell Indian Nations University campus.

Whatever investigators from the Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General find, federal officials said the information will be made public when either the probe is done, or any court action that may come from it is complete.

The federal office had special agents interviewing members of the Haskell University community on Wednesday and Thursday. Haskell officials were not available Thursday to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Part of the complaint that led to the scrutiny of university practices accuses Haskell President Venida Chenault of engaging in nepotism by supervising her son, Joshua Arce, while he served as acting dean of students. Arce, whose current permanent position is chief information officer, was temporarily in the dean’s chair for about eight months this year.

Arce is also named in an unrelated lawsuit filed by a university counselor claiming she was demoted from her position after she questioned the way school administrators treated an alleged rape victim.

That suit is connected to yet another lawsuit against the university. A former Haskell student is suing the school, saying she was kicked out after reporting that she was raped by football players in a campus dorm.

This story was originally published November 10, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Federal investigators review complaints over personnel practices at Haskell University."