T he Trump administration’s plan to cut funding for the Institute of American Indian Arts would violate the federal government’s trust and treaty responsibilities to Native people, the institute’s president said this week.

Robert Martin said the cuts would nearly “zero out” revenue for the institute, which has served for 63 years as a pillar of Native higher education and an international hub for contemporary Indigenous art.

“Our ancestors faced similar kinds of challenges, probably even more difficult than something like being zeroed out,” Martin said in an interview Wednesday evening at the school’s Rancho Viejo campus. “And they continued to persevere and not give up,” he added. “That’s the same thing that has to happen here.”

Federal officials on Monday confirmed President Donald T

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