Southwest
Oklahoma's oldest Native American college faces uncertain future due to financial woes
- Founded in 1880, Bacone College evolved into an Indigenous-led institution, fostering an intertribal community and offering degrees.
- Currently, the college is grappling with financial woes after struggles with mismanagement, leadership instability and lawsuits.
- In response to financial difficulties, Bacone has suspended classes, facing the risk of permanent closure.
The hallways of Bacone College are cold and dark. In the main hall, there are no lectures to be heard, only the steady hum of the space heater keeping the administrative offices warm.
Students aren’t attending classes here this semester, but work still needs to be done. In the college’s historic buildings, there are leaks to plug, mold to purge and priceless works of Native American art to save from ruin. Not to mention devising a plan to keep the college from shuttering for good. It’s a daunting task for the nine remaining employees.
But on this rainy December morning, the college’s president is running a DoorDash order. “If we have the money, we can pay,” Interim President Nicky Michael said regarding salaries. Even she has to find a way to make ends meet.
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Founded in 1880 as a Baptist missionary college focused on assimilation, Bacone College transformed into an Indigenous-led institution that provided an intertribal community, as well as a degree. With the permission of the Muscogee Nation Tribal Council, Bacone’s founders used a treaty right to establish the college at the confluence of three rivers, where tribal nations had been meeting for generations.
A statue of a Chickasaw warrior sits on display at Bacone College on Jan. 8, 2024, in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The Native American school is nearing the brink of closure as years of poor financial decisions, inconsistent leadership and disrepair threaten what was once a haven for Indigenous academics. (AP Photo/Nick Oxford)
Throughout the 20th century, the center of this was Bacone’s Native American art program, which produced some of the most important Indigenous artists of their time, including Woody Crumbo, Fred Beaver, Joan Hill and Ruthe Blalock Jones.
They and their contemporaries pushed the boundaries of what was considered “Native American art.” During a period of intense hostility against tribal sovereignty by the U.S., Bacone became defined by the exchange of ideas its Native faculty and students created and represented a new opportunity for Indigenous education and academic thought.
“Bacone was the only place in the world where that could happen for Native people,” said Robin Mayes, a Cherokee and Muscogee man who attended Bacone in the ’70s and taught silversmithing there in the ’90s. “It’s a tragedy to think that it’s going to be discontinued.”
For decades, the college has been plagued by poor financial choices and inconsistent leadership, triggering flashpoints between administration, students and staff over the mission and cultural direction of the college.
Some have accused recent administrations of embezzlement, fraud and intimidation, resulting in multiple lawsuits. Students expressed frustration with a lack of resources and cultural competency among some school leaders. The college also has had trouble maintaining its accreditation.
Last year, a lawsuit crippled Bacone’s finances. Ultimately, Michael made the decision to suspend classes for the spring semester. She hopes the deferment is temporary, but if the college can’t muster up millions of dollars, Oklahoma’s oldest continually operating college likely will close its doors.
“It has endured for over 140 years through terrible decisions,” said Gerald Cournoyer, an instructor who was hired in 2019 to restart the college’s art program.
“Providing oversight for Bacone has been a struggle because of the leadership or lack thereof,” said Cournoyer, who also is a renowned Lakota artist. Some presidents focused time and money on athletic programs, others on Bacone’s Baptist missionary roots. “When you put absolutely no money, nothing, not $20, not $10, into your fundraising efforts, this is what you get.”
During the time Patti Jo King was the director of the Center for American Indians at Bacone from 2012 to 2018, leadership wanted to build a state-of-the-art museum to replace the 80-year-old building housing many priceless pieces of Native art.
“We didn’t even have the money to keep it open seven days a week,” said King, now a retired Cherokee professor, writer and academic.
Even when she first arrived on campus, King said Bacone’s financial debts already had caught up to it. The student dorms didn’t have hot water, staff were severely underpaid and graduation rates among the college’s remaining students were low.
Still, she and other faculty endeavored to make it a place where Native students could find community, but Bacone’s old problems never went away. Like Cournoyer, after years of working toward rebuilding, she left in frustration.
Today, the old museum is empty. Its artifacts were moved to another location so they wouldn’t be exposed to extreme temperatures.
The remaining staff act as caretakers of the historic stone buildings that predate Oklahoma, themselves important pieces of the past. In the museum, Ataloa Lodge, the fireplace is made of stones sent to the college from Indigenous communities across the country: one from the birthplace of Sequoyah, one from the grave of Sitting Bull, another from the field where Custer died. Five hundred in all, each stone a memory.
Michael, the interim president, and others have been cleaning up buildings in hopes they might soon host graduation banquets and student gatherings. Other staff chase off looters. Rare paintings still hang across campus, including pieces by members of the Kiowa Six, who became internationally famous a century ago, and Johnnie Diacon, a Muscogee painter and alumnus whose work can be seen in the background of several episodes of the television show Reservation Dogs.
A few years ago, experts from a museum in Tulsa warned that many of the paintings are contaminated with mold, which will spread to other nearby works of art. Leslie Hannah, a Cherokee educator who sits on the college’s board of trustees, said he’s concerned, but the cost of restoring them falls far down the list, behind broken gas lines, flooded basements and a mountain of debt.
Bacone’s current financial crisis stems partially from a lawsuit brought by Midgley-Huber Energy Concepts, a Utah-based heating and air company that sued the college over more than $1 million in unpaid construction and service fees. Twice last year, the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office put Bacone’s property up for sale to settle the debt. Both times the auction was called off, most recently in December.
MHEC owner Chris Oberle told KOSU last month that he intended to purchase the historic property. Attorneys for MHEC have not returned repeated requests for comment from the Associated Press.
Alumni have called the validity of any sale of the property into question, pointing to the treaty right that established the campus and its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Attorneys for the college declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.
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Michael said she doesn’t know what stalled the auction, but she is grateful for more time to try to save Bacone.
Across the country, there are only a few dozen tribal colleges, according to the American Indian College Fund, a nonprofit that supports Native American access to higher education. Tribal colleges must be sponsored by a federally recognized tribe and have a majority Native student enrollment. But unlike most of those colleges, Bacone was built on its identity as an intertribal school, a quality that former staff and alumni say made it special.
Now a private institution, Bacone no longer receives state or federal assistance. Its finances have long relied heavily on student tuition, and now it has no students. Michael said judging from the finances, it’s a miracle the college managed to keep its doors open this long.
“Now I’m looking back on this thinking this was set up for failure,” she said.
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Southwest
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal sponsors former basketball player’s attempt to be tallest police officer in Texas
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Basketball Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal had 3,026 assists in his NBA career, but one of his biggest assists came long after his retirement.
O’Neal, 53, is helping former professional basketball player Jordan Wilmore complete his lifelong dream of becoming the tallest police officer in Texas. O’Neal and Wilmore have more in common than being former basketball players; they are both over seven feet tall.
O’Neal, who stands at seven-foot one, is actually shorter than Wilmore, who is seven-foot three.
Shaquille O’Neal and Jordan Wilmore pose with members of Kemah police department in Kemah, Texas, on Dec. 28, 2025. (EyeCandyMedia)
Wilmore was hoping to become a police officer in Kemah, Texas, but recently failed the state peace officer exam. Wilmore scored a 69, falling one point shy of the requisite 70 needed to pass, but plans to take it again.
“At first I was down, but I thought, you know, I’m still young. You fail, you get right back up. Can’t be too quick to quit,” Wilmore said, according to KHOU.
Police Chief Raymond Garivey praised Wilmore’s determination.
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Shaquille O’Neal holds badge with aspiring police Jordan Wilmore in the background in Kemah, Texas, on Dec. 28, 2025. (EyeCandyMedia)
“In my 34-year career, I’ve seen others fail, but I also see others give up. Once they’re done, they’re done. That’s not the case here. He wants to serve,” Garivey said, according to KHOU.
O’Neal heard about Wilmore’s attempt to become a police officer and reached out, agreeing to sponsor his next attempt at the police academy. The 15-time All-Star will also have a custom-made car ready for Wilmore, to fit his large frame, when he passes the exam.
“I’m really thankful for him helping me out and being there, and being a mentor for helping me through this,” Wilmore said.
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Shaquille O’Neal with aspiring police Jordan Wilmore in Kemah, Texas, on Dec. 28, 2025. (EyeCandyMedia)
O’Neal is a certified peace officer himself and knows the process.
“It actually took me five to seven years to graduate from the LA Sheriff’s Academy. I wanted to just let him know he’s got my full support. I’m going to be on you, brother, make sure you get it done,” O’Neal said, according to KHOU.
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Southwest
Texas woman tries to flee to Mexico across Rio Grande with infant after human smuggling bust, authorities say
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A Texas woman found with five illegal immigrants in her vehicle attempted to flee from authorities near the border by swimming across the Rio Grande into Mexico with an infant, officials said.
Brenda Castro, a U.S. citizen, was a passenger in a Ford Explorer being driven by her husband, also an American citizen, on Dec. 19 in the border city of Laredo when he refused to stop for Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers, the agency said.
Dashcam footage released by DPS shows the SUV traveling at a high speed along residential and rural roads.
Authorities said a high-speed chase ensued when Castro bailed out of the vehicle with an infant and tried to swim across the river, which borders Mexico.
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Brenda Castro jumped into the Rio Grande with an infant in an attempt to flee to Mexico during a high-speed chase with authorities while smuggling illegal immigrants, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. (Getty Images; Texas Department of Public Safety)
Castro’s husband swam across and made it to Mexico, a DPS spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
State and local law authorities at the scene directed Castro to come back to the U.S. side of the border, and she was arrested.
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Bodycam footage shows Brenda Castro and an infant in the Rio Grande on the U.S.-Mexico border. (Texas Department of Public Safety)
While in the river, authorities were heard telling Castro in Spanish to get back to dry land with the child. A law enforcement officer was then seen taking the child out of the water.
“I can’t believe you tried to run back with the baby. You both could have drowned,” a law enforcement officer told Castro while escorting her into a vehicle upon her arrest.
The child was placed under the care of authorities.
Authorities said they found five illegal immigrants in Castro’s vehicle and turned them over to the U.S. Border Patrol.
The Rio Grande is seen from Laredo, Texas, U.S., September 19, 2020. Picture taken Sept. 19, 2020. (REUTERS/Veronica G. Cardenas)
Castro is charged with human smuggling and endangering a child.
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Southwest
Ex-police officer given prison time in case prosecuted under Soros DA sees conviction overturned a year later
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Texas’ 7th Court of Appeals has acquitted former Austin Police Department Officer Christopher Taylor, who had previously been convicted in connection with an on-the-job shooting and sentenced to two years in prison.
“This case comes down to a single, unavoidable question: When an elevator door opens to reveal a man holding a knife who turns toward officers and advances, may an officer reasonably believe deadly force is necessary to prevent an imminent murder? The jury concluded no. The record and the governing law compel the opposite,” the opinion declared.
“Following a plea of not guilty, Appellant, Christopher Taylor, was found guilty by a jury of deadly conduct by discharging a firearm,” the court noted. “We reverse and acquit.”
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Left: Christopher Taylor; Right: Travis County, Texas, District Attorney Jose Garza. (IMAGN/Getty Images)
Taylor was sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of deadly conduct, after originally being charged with murder in the shooting death of 46-year-old Mauris DeSilva in 2019.
DeSilva was in the midst of a mental health episode, walking around an apartment complex, threatening to harm himself and holding a knife to his throat, when he failed to drop the knife after being instructed by officers to do so.
Taylor and another officer opened fire during the incident, while another officer shot a taser, according to the background section included in the appeals court decision.
“In 2019, Appellant, then an Austin Police Department officer, and three fellow officers responded to a 911 call at a downtown Austin condo building. A resident, Mauris DeSilva, had been seen roaming the halls with a knife to his throat and threatening suicide,” the document explains.
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Austin police officer Christopher Taylor listens during his sentencing hearing at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center on Tuesday Dec. 3, 2024. (Jay Janner/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
“Bodycam footage showed that when the elevator doors opened, DeSilva was facing a hallway mirror with the knife at his throat. He turned and approached the officers. They had not designated a single officer to issue commands, and all four shouted orders, including ‘show me your hands’ and ‘drop the knife’,” the document says.
“DeSilva lowered the knife to his side but continued forward. Almost simultaneously, the taser officer fired, and the two officers with drawn weapons fired as well. Appellant fired five shots, and the other officer fired twice. DeSilva died at the scene,” the document notes.
“Appellant was indicted for deadly conduct with a firearm and pleaded not guilty, asserting self-defense and defense of others,” the document noted, adding that a jury found Taylor guilty and a court sentenced him to “two years’ imprisonment.”
Fox News Digital previously spoke to members of the law enforcement community in Austin who said that Taylor’s prosecution represented a malicious targeting of police officers by Travis County’s progressive district attorney, José Garza.
In response to Taylor’s conviction being overturned this week, Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said the appeals court decision “once again shows that District Attorney Jose Garza manipulated the criminal justice system by repeatedly trying cases against Detective Taylor, until the jury pool was so tainted that an impartial decision could not be made.”
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“Thankfully, the 7th Court of Appeals saw through this and did their part by reversing and acquitting Detective Taylor,” the union leader said. “They showed that Travis County and District Attorney Garza cannot create their own version of justice deviating from and manipulating state law, while also ignoring police practices.”
The union leader called on Garza “to immediately drop all remaining charges against Austin Police Officers related to his political attacks.”
“The men and woman of the Austin Police Department must be allowed to do the job they signed up for, protecting the citizens of Austin and the State of Texas, without fear of these countless political prosecutions,” Bullock said, adding, “With this ruling, the madness must end, and common sense must prevail.”
Taylor’s trial attorney, Doug O’Connell, hailed the decision to overturn the conviction.
Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza poses in front of the Austin skyline in a portrait from the county website. (Travis County DA Website)
“We are deeply grateful for the 7th Court of Appeals’ decision to overturn the conviction of Detective Chris Taylor and enter a judgment of acquittal in his case. Detective Taylor should never have faced prosecution for defending himself and his fellow officers against a man who threatened them with a knife. The use of force in this incident was both legal and authorized under the circumstances,” he said in part of the lengthy statement.
Garza has long faced criticism from law enforcement for an alleged “war on cops” after the Soros-backed district attorney campaigned on indicting police officers and “reimagining” policing in Austin. Soros contributed $652,000 to the Texas Justice & Public Safety PAC in the months leading up to the 2020 Travis County DA election, according to campaign finance records. That same PAC spent almost $1 million on digital and mail advertisements to help Garza’s campaign.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Travis County District Attorney’s Office for comment on Taylor’s conviction being overturned but did not immediately hear back.
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