CA lawmakers question CSU administrators over handling of Native American artifacts, remains
By Mike TeSelle
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SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — A special joint session of the Legislature took place Tuesday morning, with several California State University administrators on the hot seat.
Lawmakers spoke with administrators about how their campuses handled Native American artifacts and human remains.
The joint legislative committee is being led by James Ramos, the only California Native American elected to the legislature.
The hearing comes after a state audit that was critical of CSU leadership following the CSU system’s failure to return more than 698,000 Native American remains and artifacts as required by law.
The audit also found that the CSU system has only returned 6% of the remains it possesses at its various CSU campuses.
Sacramento State, which has the third largest collection of remains at just over 150,000, has only returned 5% of the artifacts in its possession.
After taking part in the hearing, new Sac State President Luke Wood promised change would be made in a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
“These are human beings that we’re talking about and lives that have passed on from this life to the next,” Wood said. “What I heard very strongly from our native community is the deep level of pain that emanated from that and still emanates from it to this day.”
Speaking specifically to Sacramento State’s collection, Wood said that the remains were taken from burial grounds in Sacramento County by researchers in the 1940s, 1960s and 1960s. He apologized and said the collections were unacceptable and disheartening and promised to increase resources to return the items to tribal partners.
“We still have a long way to go, not just to return the remains, the funerary objects and cultural items but to create an environment where we can actually engage in healing,” Wood said.
The audit found that it was largely the CSU Chancellor’s office that bore responsibility for not having a policy or guidance in place for how its campuses should be dealing with Native American remains and complying with both federal and state law.
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