University committee to review holdings of 1,400 Native American remains

The ethical and scientific concerns surrounding the storage of ancient Native American remains held at the University of Michigan will get a deeper look, the vice president for research announced Thursday.

At the U-M Board of Regents meeting in Flint, Vice President of Research Stephen Forrest said an interdisciplinary committee has been formed in response to anticipated changes in federal laws governing the repatriation of Native American remains and artifacts.

The U-M Museum of Anthropology has about 1,400 remains in storage that are 800 to 3,000 years old. The 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, known as NAGPRA, requires museums to inventory holdings of human remains and identify their affiliations. Native groups can then claim the return of remains deemed to be culturally affiliated with them.

The continued storage of the remains has been a major sticking point between Native American groups and U-M, but the move to form a committee isn’t a response to pressure, Forrest said.

The U.S. Department of the Interior recently asked for input from the community about what to do with culturally unidentifiable remains. Ongoing discussions at the federal level indicate the act will change, but Forrest said he wasn't sure how or when. He said U-M wants to be prepared for these changes.

"It's figuring out how to do this in the absence of pressure," Forrest said after the meeting. "We can understand what our principles are, our ways of going forward that balances all of the competing interests - the community in general, research and the Native American community."

In November 2007, the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan wrote U-M President Mary Sue Coleman, requesting the return of 405 people excavated in the 1930s and 1960s from sites in Lapeer, Macomb and Saginaw counties.

U-M responded that the remains at issue were culturally unaffiliated, and they could not, by law, return them.

This year, student organizers moved the Ann Arbor Pow Wow, a two-day event of traditional dance contests, exhibitions and other cultural elements, from Crisler Arena to Saline.

Though the U-M Museum of Anthropology states on its Web site that the federal laws are being followed, native groups disagree. In a blog entry, the student activist group Native Graduate Caucus writes the U-M Museum of Archaeology didn't consult tribes with due diligence before categorizing the remains as required by NAGPRA.

The new committee will include faculty from math, medicine, Native American studies, philosophy, museums and public policy, among other disciplines.

"The laws provide us for some room and some ambiguity as to how to treat things," Forrest said. "We're really trying to find the right balance between the legal framework and the needs of community and the needs of our researchers and so on. We want to have a deeper look and a deeper appreciation for all of the various ethical as well as scientific concerns that exist."

Juliana Keeping covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter