CSU apologizes for keeping 700,000 Native remains
California State University officials apologized Tuesday to Native tribes for decades of failing to comply with laws that require campuses to repatriate human remains and artifacts.
CSU’s regrets and vows to do better — including announcing a new position to oversee systemwide compliance — came during an emotional hearing in Sacramento intended to hold the university accountable for disregarding the law over three decades. A state audit revealed in June that 21 of CSU’s 23 campuses possess nearly 700,000 sacred artifacts. Only 6% of artifacts have been returned.
“Without question, we have fallen short. The CSU must do better,” said Sylvia Alva, who until April was a CSU executive whose role included dealing with two key laws: the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, which requires campuses and museums to return Native remains and artifacts to federally recognized tribes, and California’s 2001 version of the law that includes all tribes.
Sonoma State, with more than 185,000 artifacts, has more than any other campus but has repatriated less than 1% of its collection.
“I’m very embarrassed. My sincere apologies that we were not able to do it sooner,” said Ming-Tung “Mike” Lee, who became campus president in May. He said the campus has hired a compliance coordinator and a full-time tribal liaison and will bring on more staff. “We have the expertise to do this right,” he said.
State Auditor Grant Parks’ review found that CSU campuses have failed to enact policies, spend the money and hire the staff needed to repatriate the artifacts they hold — and that the systemwide chancellor’s office has done little to help.
The audit included several recommendations. On Tuesday, Parks offered the Select Committee on Native American Affairs another:
“I believe CSU has over $700 million in reserve for emergencies,” he said. “One idea is to use some of that to comply” with the complex laws, which include timelines, proper consultation with tribes and posting notices in the Federal Register.
The audit echoed similar findings last year at the University of California.
“The lack of funding cannot continue to be a barrier,” said Johnny Hernandez, vice chair of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in Highland (San Bernardino County), one of several tribal representatives who addressed the committee.
Leo Sisco, chair of the Tachi Yokut Tribe in the San Joaquin Valley, evoked images of ancestors “tagged up in boxes” on anthropology department shelves and “touched inappropriately.”
He referred to an infamous incident at San Jose State, which holds 5,500 Native items. In 2021, anthropology Professor Elizabeth Weiss returned to campus from remote work and promptly posted a photo of herself on social media cradling a Native person’s skull. “So happy to be back with some old friends,” wrote Weiss, who claims repatriation promotes “superstition over science.”
In June, Weiss agreed to work off-campus this year and resign next May.
The chair of the Redding Rancheria, Jack Potter Jr., told of repatriating the remains of an older woman and five small children from a campus he didn’t identify.
“Her demise was horrible,” Potter said, his voice breaking. “She had a hole in the side of her head, as I assume she was getting ready to prepare food.” He said he could hear the woman singing to him on the road home.
“Each item has a spirit, and those spirits need to reconnect,” he said. “The genocide is alive and real — still happening — until they come home.”
CSU’s Alva is now interim president of Cal State Fullerton, which holds more than 8,000 Native artifacts.
“We are holding ourselves accountable,” she told the committee, and said CSU had placed the president of Cal State San Bernardino, Tomás Morales, in charge of ensuring compliance with the laws and establishing a systemwide oversight committee by December. Campuses with at least 100 sets of remains will create their own committee and hire a full-time coordinator by June.
Alva said each campus must also complete a review of holdings by December 2024.
CSU’s new chancellor, Mildred García, arrives Oct. 1, and was not at the hearing. But in a letter to the Native American Heritage Commission, she said CSU has “not only a legal duty, but a moral obligation” to repatriate Native remains. “I respect and am humbled by the gravity of the situation.”
Tuesday’s hearing was cochaired by Assembly Members David Alvarez, D-San Diego, and James Ramos, D-Highland (San Bernardino County), who is Native American and last year requested the audit.
Ramos has authored many bills addressing Native rights, including AB389, which is making its way through the Legislature. The bill would prohibit CSU from using any Native remains and artifacts in teaching or research.
Unlike CSU, UC governs itself and could not be required to do the same. But Ramos sent a warning out to California Community Colleges Tuesday that he’ll focus on their campuses next. The community college chancellor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
“Our ancestors are not some trophies to be highlighted in a classroom,” Ramos said at the hearing. “Now is the time that California’s First People and the issue of repatriation starts to move to the No. 1 priority of the California State system.
“It’s time that we bring our ancestors home.”