Lincoln (Neb.) - Sept. 1, 1998 - On behalf of the University, I welcome all participants on this very serious and significant occasion.
I personally want to acknowledge the presence of tribal leaders, spiritual leaders, and elders, who have come to our campus. Thank you for joining us. We have a diversity of tribes represented and I hope that you will help us to be sensitive to matters of protocol and custom during this meeting. Please feel free to offer your guidance in these matters.
The fact that all of you, Regent Hassebrook, and I are gathered here today demonstrates that we share a strong desire to develop an honorable and cooperative working relationship, and a commitment to repatriation of Native American remains.
I want to apologize personally and on behalf of the university for the insensitive and grievous treatment of the physical remains of Native Americans done in past decades in the name of science. The anger and hurt that you feel as a result of this are certainly understandable.
Early in its history, the University of Nebraska and other academic institutions began excavating, collecting, receiving and housing Native American remains and burial goods. For decades, researchers at this university and others were party to a destruction of Native American cemeteries and burial grounds. Once the remains were brought to the university, they were not always treated respectfully. Many have been destroyed, damaged, or lost. Furthermore, we have not been active enough in reaching out to tribal leaders to facilitate repatriation. With deep sadness, on behalf of the university, I offer humble apologies to the tribal nations and to the Native American peoples for these violations of human decency.
While many of us were not at the university during the time when certain events took place, that fact does not diminish our feelings of sorrow and shame about the mistreatment of Native American remains on our campus. We have come to realize our need for increased vigilance and understanding. It has been a painful but an educational process.
My concern about past practices at the university extends to the distressing accounts of events of the past year which, in my view, have caused a serious loss of public trust and confidence in the university. Two major investigations are currently in progress on campus, addressing allegations of wrongdoing. The General Counsel of the University of Nebraska hired Mr. Robert Grimit, Lincoln attorney and past President of the Nebraska Bar Association, to conduct an investigation which began last May. In addition, the Nebraska State Patrol is conducting an independent investigation. We welcome the scrutiny of these inquiries and will continue to cooperate fully with them.
If either of these investigations discloses evidence of illegal or unprofessional conduct, their findings will be made available to appropriate legal and disciplinary authorities for their review. As these important investigations are still in progress on campus, I am sure you will understand that in my position as Chancellor, it will not be possible at this time for me to engage in discussions of specific allegations or the details of the investigations.
I pledge to you that we will make every effort to ensure a full public disclosure of what has happened with regard to Native American remains on this campus, both before and after the passage of NAGPRA.
In the meantime, while the investigations progress to their conclusion, we want to proceed with consultation with individual tribes concerning our inventory, and we want to work together to achieve the repatriation of all Native American remains currently being held at the university, in a systematic, accurate, and respectful manner in compliance with federal law. I emphasize that it is our policy to work towards repatriation of affiliated and unaffiliated Native American remains, even though there currently are no federal regulations for repatriation of the unaffiliated. NAGPRA makes it clear how Native Americans whose tribal identity is known are to be repatriated. We pledge full cooperation in consulting under NAGPRA to work toward reducing the number of remains in our inventory whose affiliation was listed as unknown at the time of the 1995 inventory reported to the National Park Service. It is our fervent hope that a process can be developed for repatriation of the unaffiliated that is consistent with federal laws. I seek your recommendations as to how to accomplish this and to expedite repatriation of all the remains.
Among the inventory of human remains in the university repository are those of individuals who are not covered by NAGPRA. There have been questions regarding the university's intentions for those remains. I will ask our faculty to take the lead in developing policies to respond to these questions, mindful of all that we have learned and are learning from our recent experiences.
I intend to account as fully as possible for the
university's past relationship with Native Americans and
their ancestors. I seek to create an open working
relationship with all ethnic communities in Nebraska and
throughout the country on the issue of repatriation. I
expect full cooperation from all members of the academic
community of the University of Nebraska in this long overdue
endeavor so that we can work toward reconciliation and
rebuilding a relationship of trust. To that end, we seek
your ethical guidance, your religious and spiritual
leadership, and your collective wisdom.
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