- Cultural items and human remains from Native American ancestors were found on the University of North Dakota campus.
- The university’s president apologized for the treatment of the remains.
- The school is working with tribal leaders to return them.
A North Dakota university that found sacred objects from Indigenous communities on campus and partial skeletal remains from dozens of people is working with Native American tribal leaders to return the findings.
Faculty and staff members at the University of North Dakota made the discovery while searching for a missing ceremonial pipe, which has not been located.
Some items and remains were found in a partially secure storage room, where items taken from archaeological digs and were stored.
“None of the ancestors have been found in a closet,” despite previous media reports, said university spokesman David Dodds.
University president Andrew Armacost said in a news release Wednesday that the remains and objects should’ve been returned years ago; the university’s goal now is to return the remains and objects home.
The week of Aug. 8, tribal representatives blessed some of the spaces where ancestors and sacred items were found, Dodds said.
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Legal requirements when sacred objects and remains are found
The university immediately reached out to people from six tribal nations when it found the items and remains, Armacost said, a measure required under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act – NAGPRA – which was approved in 1990.
Under the act, agencies that receive federal funds and knowingly discover Native American human remains or sacred objects must notify the appropriate Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
Shannon O’Loughlin is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, as well as CEO and attorney for the Association on American Indian Affairs. The nonprofit has worked on repatriation and protection of sacred places since 1922, she said.
The act, she said, is one of the first-ever civil and human rights laws where congress ruled the treatment of Native American bodies and sacred items was discriminatory compared to those from other cultures.
“(The act), of course, was needed to rectify centuries of history where colonizers have been freely digging up our ancestors and taking our cultural items,” O’Loughlin told USA TODAY.
These items usually end up sold domestically and internationally, or in museums or auction houses, she said.
Any museums, academic institutions or public libraries that have Native American items and receive federal funding must comply with the act, she said.
“If there are Native American bodies involved, then they must consult Native American tribes that are likely to be affiliated, finalize an inventory, submit that inventory to the national NAGPRA program, and expeditiously repatriate or return those ancestors and their associated funerary objects,” O’Loughlin said.
She finds it “extremely concerning” that a university has treated Native American ancestors and their remains “so horribly,” especially seeing as they have Native American students.
During the 2021-2022 academic year, the University of North Dakota reported that its student body was made up of 75.3% white or non-hispanic Americans, 4.54% Hispanic Americans, 2.64% Black or non-Hispanic Americans, 2.21% Asians and 1.29% American Indian or Alaskan Native students.
Armacost said the University of North Dakota has a responsibility to return ancestors’ remains and sacred objects to their tribal lands.
He admitted the university “fell short” of doing so and said the school has counseling services for Native American students, faculty and staff in light of the discovery.
The school has also launched a webpage Wednesday to document its repatriation process.
“Repatriation will take time and hard work, perhaps several years,” he said. “The remaining collection at UND is significant, with dozens of ancestors and several hundred containers of objects taken from Indigenous land and communities, requiring painstaking labor for identification and placement.”
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North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission Executive Director Nathan Davis said the treatment of the remains and sacred items was “insensitive and inexcusable,” but he commends the university for how they’ve led efforts to rectify it, including President Armacost and Native American faculty and staff.
“While there is no way we can ever forget what has happened to our ancestors, we can honor them by making sure they return home to rest,” Davis said. “We have a unique opportunity to honor them by changing the way that repatriation is done, as we all know that this work sadly isn’t over.”
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O’Loughlin, from the Association on American Indian Affairs, said the goal is for repatriation to happen, or for ancestors and cultural items to be returned to their tribes.
“It looks like that’s what’s happening at the University of North Dakota,” she said.
Individuals who have sacred items and remains can contact her organization or similar ones, she said. There may not be a law similar to NAGPRA that applies to individuals, but people can always reach out to the association or tribe the items are affiliated with, she said.
“Individuals have been taken from their home, their resting place,” she said. “Those nations seek their return … Our culture, our items, our religious practices, even our children and how we educated our children was outlawed by U.S. federal law and policy, so it’s as if a foreign government came in and took all of our things and our identity, and so we’re seeking repatriation.”
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757 – and loves all things horror, witches, Christmas, and food. Follow her on Twitter at @Saleen_Martin or email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.