To: UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley: Return Stolen Human Remains & Cultural Items to Indigenous Communities
UC’S INVENTORY OF STOLEN HUMAN REMAINS, CULTURAL, SACRED, & FUNERARY OBJECTS
As of April 2026, the University of California is in possession of 346,821 Native American human remains and cultural items. Of those, 186,558 (54%), are at UC Berkeley in the Anthropology Department and Hearst Museum. The University claims to “affirm Indigenous sovereignty” but something doesn’t add up. With an abundance of financial resources from thousands of affluent donors, Cal is more than capable of prioritizing these efforts. However, the school’s biggest donors rarely, if ever, explicitly fund programs that advance repatriation efforts. It is the school’s responsibility to assign the funds required for meaningful progress to repatriation.
To facilitate compliance with NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA, UC Berkeley maintains a NAGPRA Advisory Committee and staffs a repatriation team. However, two out of the six Advisory Committee positions are vacant and besides Cal’s one individual Repatriation Coordinator, Alexandra Lucas, the collection manager and liaison roles have yet to be filled. The Indigenous and descendant communities of California deserve more than the bare minimum from UC.
To facilitate compliance with NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA, UC Berkeley maintains a NAGPRA Advisory Committee and staffs a repatriation team. However, two out of the six Advisory Committee positions are vacant and besides Cal’s one individual Repatriation Coordinator, Alexandra Lucas, the collection manager and liaison roles have yet to be filled. The Indigenous and descendant communities of California deserve more than the bare minimum from UC.
OUR DEMANDS
1. Accountability: Meet with the Repatriation Committee in Fall ’26 to establish a plan of action.
2. Transparency: Quarterly progress summaries for descendant communities and students.
3. Action: Earmark 5% of all private donations made in 2027 for repatriation efforts.
4. Action: Amend UC Berkeley’s NAGPRA policy to require a minimum repatriation staff headcount of 30 employees until the entire collection is resolved.
5. Action: Facilitate a wide scale, paid survey seeking the opinions of CA Indigenous and descendant communities with regard to desires for the repatriation of unclaimed and/or unaffiliated items held by UC.
6. Action: Pay all Indigenous and descendant communities for damages.
Why is this important?
The University acquired these items “in violation of Indigenous Communities’ spiritual and cultural beliefs” and “without [their] free, prior and informed consent.” The practice of archaeology in the United States is deeply colonial and extractive. It is dismissive of Indigenous perspectives and counteracts self-determination. While property and anti-grave robbing laws protect non-Indigenous communities by sentencing violators to criminal charges, the same protections have not been extended to Indigenous communities.
WHAT IS REPATRIATION? WHAT IS NAGPRA?
Repatriation is the “act or process of restoring or returning someone or something to the country of origin, allegiance, or citizenship.” NAGPRA – the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act - was passed into law in 1990 and “provides a vehicle for federally recognized tribes to repatriate human remains.” UC is required by law to repatriate human remains and cultural items for all federally recognized tribes, in addition to the 44 tribes in California recognized by the state’s Native American Heritage Commission. However, federal and state recognition in and of itself is problematic and serves to gatekeep communities from resources and deny their sovereignty. With the absence of meaningful repercussions and accountability when institutions delay the process, UC will continue to say they care while withholding the resources required to make meaningful progress on repatriation.