Mac Saulis stood in the foyer of the First Nations University of Canada, pleading for the troubled institution.
"I don't want to be an Indian in a white place. I want to be an Indian in an Indian place," Prof. Saulis said during a recent forum on the future of Canada's only aboriginal university.
He spoke to a group gathered in a common area, surrounded by the usual bustle of students, moving to and from classes. In the adjacent atrium a majestic glass and metal tepee stands as the centrepiece in the new $30-million Regina facility, built as a model for education provided in an environment of native culture and values.
In February, three university administrators were suspended amid allegations of financial mismanagement. A forensic audit was ordered. The RCMP were called in. A wave of firings followed. Staff who alleged political interference and patronage were either fired or quit in protest.
Labour-practice complaints, union grievances and lawsuits are pending.
The reputation of the school and the degrees it grants are in jeopardy.
Nothing like this has happened at any postsecondary institution in the country, said James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents 48,000 members nationwide.
Many accuse a coterie of aboriginal leaders connected to the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, a political body that governs the university, of causing the problems.
"This is a political coup," Mr. Turk said. "Clearly there's a view that the university is to be under the thumb of the FSIN."
Tomorrow a task force, created by the FSIN, is to issue its report aimed at ending the turmoil at FNUC. But few are optimistic that anything will change. The situation, they say, is "all FNUC'ed up."
In 1976, the FSIN and the University of Regina created what was then called the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College with an eye to feeding the academic, cultural and spiritual needs of native students.
Two years ago, the institution changed its name to the First Nations University of Canada and moved its main Regina campus into the new building designed, fittingly, by Canadian architect Douglas Cardinal, who himself has an aboriginal background.
Students proudly point to its organic curvilinear design and an interior decorated on four levels to respect native symbols. Red for earth, blue for sky, yellow for sun and white for the creator.
It has satellite campuses in Saskatoon and Prince Albert and provides long distance education to students around the country. Prof. Saulis, who teaches social work at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ont., is among several who co-ordinate long-distance learning for FNUC. The school serves about 2,100 full- and part-time students.
On Feb. 17, Morley Watson, vice-chief of the FSIN, entered the Regina campus building along with a group of aboriginal leaders and auditors. Mr. Watson is also chairman of the university's 32-member board of governors.
Mr. Watson seized computer hard drives, which included confidential student records, research by academics and e-mails sent through the university's computer system.
He also came with suspension letters for three senior administrators.
He replaced them with appointees, including his sister-in-law. The president and other senior administrators said they weren't consulted about the changes.
Mr. Watson ordered a financial audit. Later, the suspensions were linked to alleged financial wrongdoing. The board would eventually release the KPMG audit of the university's finances, which found financial irregularities.
In an interview, Mr. Watson said he had received information alleging "inappropriate and illegal spending habits" of administrators. Based on those allegations he set up the audit.
The university has a $23-million operating budget of which Ottawa contributes about a third and the province kicks in $2-million.
Wes Stevenson, FNUC's vice-president of administration, was fired.
His political bosses said he mismanaged money. He said he did nothing wrong and he wants to talk to the police, who have not laid charges. RCMP in Regina would not comment, saying an investigation was ongoing.
"They needed me out of the picture. I was too powerful," Mr. Stevenson said in an interview. He is now the vice-president of academics at Fort Peck Community College in Montana.
Mr. Watson said the steps were taken to address mismanagement and ensure accountability.
"Rather than political interference, I look at the action that was taken as a political responsibility of the duly elected officials," he said.
But people were raising questions.
FNUC president Eber Hampton eventually quit. Before that, he suggested board members were overstepping their mandate. He questioned FSIN appointments, including that of Mr. Watson's sister-in-law. He lamented costs of the probe.
"The loss in reputation and missed opportunities has been far higher," Mr. Hampton wrote in a confidential letter to the board, obtained by The Globe and Mail. "The costs of defending against various claims will increase the total."
Charles Pratt, an instructor with the school's business and public administration department, stepped into Mr. Hampton's shoes on an interim basis.
He said the board had to act. "And for whatever reason, it got politicized," he said.
Many disagree and point to the fact that a purge didn't end.
Mr. Pratt described it as "minor restructuring,"
In July, he abruptly eliminated the position of dean of the Saskatoon campus and fired another dean in Regina.
A wrongful-dismissal lawsuit has been filed.
Mr. Pratt also issued disciplinary letters to two faculty members who had raised concerns about what was happening, accusing them of undermining the institution.
They complained to their union and Mr. Pratt later apologized.
In August, Denise Henning, who had been recruited from the United States 15 months earlier to become vice-president of academics, quit, citing 11 concerns.
"What once was a great institution will soon be no longer . . .," Ms. Henning wrote in her resignation letter.
The battle revolved around power, money and who sided with the FSIN, she said in an interview.
"I was on the university's side," she said.
Another FSIN-governed institution is also operating under a cloud.
Last January, Joan Greyeyes, who was head of Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies, a Saskatoon-based education and training facility for adult aboriginals, was suspended with pay by Mr. Watson. She was fired four months later.
At the time, Mr. Watson said he couldn't comment because "the legal people" were looking into the situation.
"I was asking too many hard questions about certain things and not cozying up to the right people," said Ms. Greyeyes, who previously had not spoken publicly.
Almost a year before being let go, she was embroiled in an RCMP investigation and lawsuit into missing funds belonging to an Alberta band school board.
"But I was completely upfront about all of this," she said, "The board knew everything. I told them I had nothing to do with it."
She has never been charged in connection with the investigation.
One of SIIT's board members, who did not want to be named, said Ms. Greyeyes was targeted because some of her political masters wanted to get rid of her.
Ms. Greyeyes is now battling her former employer in court. She said she has rejected a severance settlement that included a publication ban.
She said she is speaking out now because she worries aboriginal educational institutions are in danger of imploding and takes issue with the actions of some political leaders.
"They don't get it that money alone won't solve our problems," she said. "Education is our buffalo. It's the only way we are going to survive."
Getting answers has been frustrating for Saskatchewan's native press.
The FSIN set up a task force in July to address some of the concerns at FNUC. (No similar task force has been appointed at SIIT.)
An interim report questioned the large size of the board and recommended governance reform.
It was "particularly uneasy" with a number of people who were hired outside the formal recruitment channel and expressed concerns about academic freedom.
The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada has been watching the situation.
It isn't an official accreditation body, but belonging to it is key to maintaining a reputation as a credible postsecondary institution.
Mr. Watson said that while the report will provide guidance, the future of FNUC is much like that of the native people themselves.
"We have survived through many difficult times and worked diligently at all levels to cement our rightful place within Canadian society."