State audit faults UC repatriation pace; UC vows to return human remains by 2028

At a joint oversight hearing of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and the Assembly Select Committee on Native American Affairs, California State Auditor Grant Parks told lawmakers that the University of California “lacks the accountability and the urgency necessary to promptly return the remains and cultural items in their possession.” The auditor’s April 2025 report found thousands of Native American human remains and hundreds of thousands of cultural items across UC campuses and warned that, at current rates, some campuses could require decades to complete repatriation; the audit projected UC Berkeley could need until 2089 to return 75% of its holdings at the pace measured in the report.

The audit’s findings were the centerpiece of the June oversight hearing, where UC provost Catherine Newman and chancellors and campus repatriation coordinators described steps the university is taking in response. Newman opened by apologizing “for the University's role in the original acquisition of Native American and Native Hawaiian ancestors and their belongings” and said the UC will accelerate repatriation, add staff, and increase funding and oversight. She pledged a systemwide timeline that prioritizes returning human remains and said the UC “expect[s] to make substantial progress in the next 3 years with the explicit and timeline goal of completing this work by 2028.”

What the auditor said

Grant Parks described the third audit his office has conducted of UC’s NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA compliance. Federal and state law, along with UC policy, require campuses to inventory remains and cultural items, consult with tribes and expedite returns. Parks told the committees that UC campuses continue to discover previously undocumented collections and that UCOP has not established performance metrics, clear systemwide goals or firm timelines that would allow lawmakers and the public to hold campuses accountable. He said campuses heeded little consequence for noncompliance and undercut timely…