- Details
- By Levi Rickert
A week after Bridge Michigan published an article reporting that the state was withholding a $1.1 million study on Native American boarding schools, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights — which oversaw the research — said it plans to release a redacted version of the report in the coming days. The department had shelved the completed study for several months.
Initially, department officials said the report was too flawed and failed to meet expectations.
Kauffman and Associates, the Native American-owned, Washington state-based firm contracted to conduct the research and produce the report, disputes the state’s assessment. CEO Kevin Keefe told Native News Online that officials from the Michigan attorney general’s office instructed the firm to reduce the report from more than 350 pages in its preliminary form to about 50 pages.
The Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) reports that eight Indian boarding schools operated in Michigan. The two largest were the Holy Childhood of Jesus School, which operated in Harbor Springs from 1829 to 1983, and the Michigan Indian Industrial Boarding School, which operated in Mount Pleasant from 1893 to 1934.
The research conducted by Kauffman and Associates involved interviews with dozens of survivors or descendants of Indian boarding schools that operated in Michigan.
Because the Holy Child boarding school did not close until 1983, it is likely that survivors of Michigan Indian boarding schools attended the Harbor Springs school, as the other schools had long since closed.
The Michigan Department of Civil Rights Members of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission expressed frustration during an October meeting over what they viewed as plans not to release the report or its findings.
“I just want to say I’m very, very disappointed in the turns that have taken with this boarding school study,” said Regina Gasco, a commission member. “What about all these survivors that came and testified? We talked to these people, and we assured them that now is the time we’re listening.”
"KAI stands with the tribes of Michigan and with the many survivors and descendants who trusted us with their stories. Native voices must be allowed to narrate this history, free from censorship by state agencies, to fully document and acknowledge the harm caused by boarding schools in Michigan. A complete history, not an abbreviated version of it, must be told," Keefe said to Native News Online.
In December 2025, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the launch of a statewide criminal investigation into Indian boarding schools and related institutions that once operated in Michigan.
Requests by Native News Online to the state of Michigan have gone unanswered.
Disclosure: Indian Country Media, LLC, the parent company of Native News Online, conducted interviews with Native boarding school survivors and descendants as part of this initiative. The company received $4,236 in compensation, including reimbursement for travel expenses.
Native News Online did not participate in writing the report, and its staff has not seen the report submitted to the state of Michigan by Kauffman and Associates.
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