The university, one of four UC campuses cited by auditors, has returned less than 1% of its artifacts and likely needs $165,000 annually to complete the task.
Four schools in the University of California system, including UC Riverside, have repeatedly failed to return sacred Native American artifacts to tribes in a timely manner, according to a new state audit.
The 1990 federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and California Assembly Bill 2836, enacted in 2018, established requirements for the return of human remains and cultural items from governmental and museum collections.Mark Macarro, tribal chairman of the Pechanga Band of Indians in Riverside County, said he is incensed by the audit’s findings with regard to UC Riverside.
“Once entities return remains, some tribes may choose to rebury them because those tribes believe that the spirits of their ancestors cannot rest until they are properly buried,” the audit states. UC Riverside’s former repatriation coordinator, who was not identified, had experience building and maintaining positive relationships with tribes as a tribal council member, but did not meet other requirements for the position, auditors determined.
The UC system provides training and conducts bimonthly meetings with repatriation coordinators to provide advice and allow campuses to learn from one another, said the audit.
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