State audit says UC slow to repatriate Native American ancestors; UC pledges to finish remains by 2028

A state audit released in April 2025 found the University of California (UC) “lacks the accountability and the urgency necessary” to promptly return Native American human remains and cultural items, and the UC told a joint legislative hearing it will speed efforts to repatriate ancestors it controls and set firm campus and system timelines.

State Auditor Grant Parks opened the July hearing for the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and the Assembly Select Committee on Native American Affairs by summarizing the audit’s central finding: after multiple audits and oversight hearings dating back to 2020, UC campuses still hold thousands of Native American remains and hundreds of thousands of cultural items that may be subject to NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA. “The University of California unfortunately lacks the accountability and the urgency necessary to promptly return the remains and cultural items in their possession,” Parks said.

Why it matters

Tribal leaders, legislators and auditors at the hearing said the issue is both legal and moral: remains were collected without tribal consent and, under federal NAGPRA and California’s CalNAGPRA, should be returned. The audit found uneven campus practices, incomplete inventories, underused tribal assistance funds and a lack of systemwide performance metrics — all of which, auditors said, make timely repatriation unlikely without structural change. Tribal leaders told the committee they have waited decades for remains and objects that are central to ceremony, family history and spiritual obligations.

What the audit found

- The audit found that UC campuses continue to discover previously undocumented collections and that UC Office of the President (UCOP) has not set enforceable systemwide goals, timelines or performance metrics to ensure campuses complete repatriation in a timely way. Grant Parks said campuses’ existing repatriation plans often lack full, dated timelines and that UCOP’s oversight has relied mainly on issuing guidance rather than holding campuses to measurable benchmarks.

- Auditors reported that campuses underspent budgeted funds intended for repatriation activities and tribal assistance, and that UCOP’s review of campus NAGPRA budgets was largely undocumented. The auditors recommended UCOP require clearer timelines, metrics and proactive searches for undiscovered remains and cultural items.

UC’s response and commitments

Catherine Newman, provost for the University of California Office of the President, apologized for the historical wrongs and summarized the UC’s recent work and new commitments. Newman said UC campuses repatriated more than 2,800 ancestors and nearly 80,000 funerary belongings in the past year and that, since UC’s systemwide NAGPRA policy in 2022, “there has been actually a steep acceleration of repatriation activity.” She added that UC has repatriated 53% of ancestors and 54% of funerary belongings in its holdings and that, together with published Federal Register notices and cultural affiliations, “80.3% of all Native American remains held by the University have either been repatriated or have been published in a Federal Register notice, and are available for repatriation as the law requires.”

New systemwide commitments Newman described at the hearing include:

- An explicit system goal to complete repatriation of human remains that UCOP has authority to return “by 2028,” with staff reporting quarterly to the Office of the President (Newman said quarterly updates commenced on July 31, 2025).

- A full review of high‑risk campus areas for undiscovered ancestors and cultural items by June 30, 2026, and a systemwide recall of loans of Native American ancestors and potential cultural items by January 2026.

- Additional dedicated funding of “over $8,800,000” to be used across campuses in the next three years for staffing, tribal assistance (travel, lodging, compensation for tribal participants), reburial logistics and collections management improvements.

- A proposed $400,000 investment over three years to develop a certificate program, in partnership with tribes, to train more repatriation specialists and expand the qualified workforce.

Campus updates

UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons and repatriation coordinators from UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara described campus actions, including hiring dedicated NAGPRA staff and increasing consultations with tribes. Lyons said Berkeley created a team of nine full‑time staff dedicated to repatriation and has budgeted roughly $2 million a year for tribal outreach and memorial/reburial costs; Berkeley reported repatriating more than 2,700 ancestors and over 29,000 funerary belongings in the prior 12 months. UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara described new repatriation offices, in‑person reviews of campus holdings and schedules for proactive searches.

Tribal reaction and outstanding issues

Tribal leaders who testified called the UC commitments a step forward but said the audit shows the system remains far from adequate. Several tribal speakers pressed for faster returns of both human remains and accompanying funeral items, which they say are spiritually inseparable from the ancestors. Chairman Leo Sisco (Tachi Yokut) said tribal knowledge should be treated as sufficient evidence of affiliation and criticized continued procedural barriers. Chairman Jack Potter and other tribal leaders described long histories of delay and urged that repatriation of associated artifacts proceed alongside returns of remains.

Legislative next steps and auditor recommendations

At the hearing lawmakers and the auditor discussed legislative options to enforce timelines, funding and reporting. Auditor Parks suggested the legislature could define or earmark state funding through the annual budget process to ensure UC commits resources for NAGPRA work and to tie funding to measurable performance goals. Committee chairs said they will continue oversight, request quarterly updates and consider whether statutory changes are needed to ensure systemwide accountability.

Limitations and outstanding data questions

Audit staff and committee members noted areas where public reporting and audit evidence differ, particularly the scope for “potential cultural items” identified by campuses and the hundreds of thousands of artifacts that still require consultation to determine whether they are subject to repatriation. UC officials said the 2028 goal applies to human remains (the highest priority identified by tribes) and that cultural items will take longer because each lot often requires separate consultation to determine affiliation. The audit’s projections about completion timelines at the current pace were highlighted in testimony; committee members asked UC to reconcile any differences between the auditor’s data and UC public reporting.

What's next

UC officials committed to quarterly system reporting to UCOP and to the Legislature, additional staffing and the June 2026 inventory of high‑risk campus areas. Legislators and tribal leaders in the hearing said they will use the auditor’s recommendations to press for enforceable timelines, clearer public reporting of progress (including counts of potential cultural items and consultations completed), and consideration of whether statutory changes or budget earmarks are needed to ensure timely repatriation.

Ending

At the hearing’s close, committee chairs said oversight will continue and that the Legislature expects to hold UC accountable to the new timelines and funding commitments so that remains and associated items are returned for proper reburial and tribal ceremonies. "If you unearth someone's family members or ancestors, whether it be intentionally or unintentionally, you do not keep them, you return them," Chair Harbadian said during opening remarks, summarizing the hearing's moral and legal frame."