Source: PressRelease News

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,146055.shtml

BERKELEY, Calif., July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Representatives from five Native American tribes -- sovereign governments under Federal law -- today announced the formation of the Native American NAGPRA Coalition (NANC) to protest the University of California at Berkeley's elimination of the Phoebe Hearst Museum's autonomous NAGPRA unit. This unit is the highly trained, cohesive team that fairly and impartially administered the Federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and a soon-to-be-implemented state law (AB 978) affecting the second largest collection of Native American ancestral remains and sacred objects in the Nation. NANC strenuously rejects the University's decision-making process, which deliberately and completely excluded Native Americans. The Coalition requests that Chancellor Robert Birgeneau immediately stop the Museum reorganization, reopen the review process, and meet with the Coalition to determine how to proceed. The Coalition also encourages other tribes to join the protest.