The University of California Office of the President invites comments on proposed revisions to the Interim Presidential Policy on Native American Cultural Affiliation and Repatriation. The policy pertains to the treatment and repatriation of Native American and Native Hawaiian human remains and cultural items under the University's possession or control, and details how the University will comply with the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ("NAGPRA"), its accompanying regulations, and the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ("CalNAGPRA").

Tuesday, March 9th, 2021 - 2:59pm


Dear Colleagues,

The University of California Office of the President invites comments on proposed revisions to the Interim Presidential Policy on Native American Cultural Affiliation and Repatriation. The policy pertains to the treatment and repatriation of Native American and Native Hawaiian human remains and cultural items under the University's possession or control, and details how the University will comply with the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ("NAGPRA"), its accompanying regulations, and the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act ("CalNAGPRA"). 

Policy Revision History

The effort to revise the Native American Cultural Affiliation and Repatriation policy began in 2018 in response to AB 2836, a California bill that required revision to the University’s policy. After two years of consultation, review, and revision, President Napolitano issued the Policy as interim on July 24, 2020, to allow tribes additional time for review due to the COVID-19 pandemic. UC intended to issue a final revised policy by December 31, 2020, having extended the comment period through November 15, 2020.  However, on September 29, 2020, California enacted AB 275 that made substantial changes to the CalNAGPRA (AB 275 went into effect on January 1, 2021).

The prevailing concern communicated by the responding tribes and the California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC) during the extended comment period was that the interim policy did not reflect the new requirements outlined in AB 275. Respondents urged UC not to implement a final Policy by December 31, 2020, rather delay issuance and allocate additional time to ensure the Policy incorporated the requirements of AB 275.

Catalog of Substantive Revisions

The policy required substantial revision to incorporate the requirements of AB 275, as follows:

  1. Definitions (§ II) were added and revised where needed to align with CalNAGPRA. As required by CalNAGPRA, deference to tribal traditional knowledge, oral histories, documentation, and testimonies is now indicated when determining state cultural affiliation, identifying cultural items under CalNAGPRA, and making decisions related to the CalNAGPRA repatriation process (§§ V.C.1 and V.J.1).
  2. In consultation with California Native American tribes, Campuses must prepare preliminary inventories/summaries by January 1, 2022 for submission to the NAHC (§§ V.B.1.k, V.C.1, and V.C.5).
  3. CalNAGPRA dispute procedures available to California Indian tribes were added (§ V.I).
  4. AB 275 procedures for submissions of claims under CalNAGPRA were incorporated (§ V.D.3).
  5. The flowcharts and narrative previously described in Appendices A, A-1, and B of the policy were removed. These documents acted as visual aids in understanding the consultation, claims, repatriation, and appeals processes described in the Policy rather than as a means of separately conveying policy requirements. However, as stated in the proposed revisions to the policy (§§ III.C, V.B.1.i, V.B.2, V.D.1, V.D.3, V.I, V.J.3, and VI.1), UC will maintain these flowcharts on UCOP’s NAGPRA website. This will allow UC to make ongoing updates to the flowcharts, as the processes are implemented based on feedback from tribes, committee members, and UC repatriation staff.

Please visit http://ucal.us/nagpra for the complete revision history.

Review and Comment

The draft revised policy and redline versions are attached for your review. If you have any questions or if you wish to comment, please email Jennifer.Lofthus@ucsb.edu, no later than May 23, 2021.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Lofthus
Policy Coordinator

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