A Classroom Under Siege: Public Land Rollbacks Threaten Education and Heritage

PRESCOTT, Ariz. – July 24, 2026 – For a small college in Arizona, the red-rock canyons and vast mesas of the Colorado Plateau are more than a backdrop; they are the classroom. For over 50 years, Prescott College has built its identity on experiential learning, sending students into the wild to study ecology, conservation, and justice. But now, the college finds its most vital educational assets under direct threat.

In a forceful public condemnation, the institution has spoken out against the recent rollback of protections for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monuments. The move, enacted via executive order on July 13, 2026, shrinks the monuments by a combined total of nearly three million acres, reopening vast swaths of culturally and ecologically significant land to potential mining and drilling. For Prescott College, this is not a distant policy debate; it’s an existential threat to its educational model and a betrayal of the communities who hold these lands sacred.

An Education Erased by Executive Order

The impact of the executive orders is staggering. Bears Ears National Monument, a landscape rich with ancient cliff dwellings and sacred sites, has been reduced by approximately 91%. Grand Staircase-Escalante, a geological wonderland full of fossils, has been cut by nearly 90%. For the faculty at Prescott College, the decision is a profound loss.

"As a Prescott College faculty and community member, I am heartbroken by the attacks on Bears Ears and Escalante National Monuments, and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition," said Cecil Goodman, Ph.D., the college’s Director of Adventure Education. Goodman emphasizes that these are not just protected lands but "sacred, living landscapes central to our longstanding commitment to experiential education rooted in place, relationship, and reciprocity."

This commitment is the core of the college’s identity. Instead of learning about environmental policy from a textbook alone, students engage with it directly on the ground. They study Indigenous knowledge not as a historical artifact, but in partnership with the communities that have stewarded these lands for generations. Mike Riley, Ph.D., another Adventure Education faculty member, calls these areas part of the college's "Southwest classroom," stressing that continued access is of the "utmost importance for our College, and our current and future students."

The rollback jeopardizes this entire framework. The very landscapes that serve as laboratories for studying biodiversity, archaeology, and sustainable land use are now vulnerable to the exact extractive industries that conservation policies were designed to hold at bay. It raises a critical question for the future of place-based learning: What happens when the classroom itself can be dismantled by the stroke of a pen?

An Assault on Sacred Ground and Sovereignty

Beyond the impact on education, the college’s statement highlights a deeper issue: the profound disrespect shown to the Tribal Nations who have stewarded these lands since time immemorial. The creation of Bears Ears National Monument in 2016 was a landmark achievement, established after years of advocacy by the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition (BEITC), a historic consortium of the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Zuni, and Ute Indian tribes.

Crucially, the monument’s designation included the formation of the Bears Ears Commission, a body of elected Tribal leaders designed to co-manage the monument with federal agencies. This model was hailed as a groundbreaking step forward for integrating Indigenous knowledge into federal land management. The recent executive order not only slashed the monument's boundaries but also terminated the commission, a move Tribal leaders and advocates see as a direct assault on their sovereignty and years of collaborative work.

According to reports, Tribal leaders received "zero consultation" before the decision was announced. This action unravels a delicate but vital system built to honor the deep, ancestral connection Indigenous peoples have to a landscape that holds over 100,000 archaeological and cultural sites. It’s a landscape where history is not confined to museums but is etched into canyon walls and woven into the spiritual fabric of living cultures. By siding with the BEITC, Prescott College is framing this not just as an environmental issue, but as a matter of environmental and social justice.

A Pattern of Policy Whiplash

This is not the first time these monuments have been at the center of a political tug-of-war. The Trump administration previously shrank the monuments in 2017, a decision that was met with legal challenges and ultimately reversed by the Biden administration in 2021. Following the restoration, federal agencies and the Bears Ears Commission worked for years to finalize new management plans, which were just completed in January 2025.

The latest reversal creates a state of policy whiplash that destabilizes communities, conservation efforts, and the local tourism economies that depend on protected lands. Conservation groups have been unanimous in their condemnation. The Nature Conservancy expressed deep disappointment, stating, "Now is the time for more, not less, protection of public lands." The Outdoor Alliance, which represents outdoor recreationists, criticized the move as a "dangerous attack on Tribal Nations, communities, and economies across the west."

This recurring battle highlights the fragility of conservation protections under the Antiquities Act, which gives presidents the authority to create monuments but is legally ambiguous on their power to reduce or abolish them. Opponents of the rollbacks fear this sets a dangerous precedent, potentially jeopardizing other public lands across the nation and undermining a century of conservation law.

From Condemnation to Civic Engagement

Rather than simply issuing a statement, Prescott College is leveraging the moment to foster a system of civic response. The college has published a list of actionable steps, urging its community and the public to support advocacy groups, learn directly from Inter-Tribal organizations, participate in public comment periods, and contact elected officials. This call to action is not an afterthought; it is embedded in the college's DNA.

Through institutions like its Frantz Fanon Community Strategy Center, the college has a history of engaging in popular education, advocacy, and community organizing. It actively encourages students to become not just scholars, but also participants in the systems that shape society. By providing a clear blueprint for engagement, the college is attempting to build a more resilient community response to environmental and political challenges.

In doing so, Prescott College is demonstrating that the role of an educational institution can extend beyond its own campus. By standing for the integrity of its own "living classroom," it is also championing the protection of a shared cultural and natural heritage, urging that the stewardship of our collective future requires active, informed, and sustained participation from us all.