A year after KU announced it was in possession of Native American human remains in its museum collections, it is unclear what progress the university has made to repatriate remains and sacred items.
KU has hired Thomas Torma as repatriation program manager. Torma will be responsible for returning ancestors’ remains and funerary artifacts to tribes and tribal communities.
Chloe Anderson/Lawrence Times
KU has created a committee to administer the repatriation of Indigenous remains in its possession and is working to reconcile with the university’s Indigenous communities, according to a campus update.
Chloe Anderson/Lawrence Times
KU is seeking to hire a repatriation program manager who will be responsible for overseeing the university’s return of Indigenous ancestral remains and artifacts.
Chloe Anderson/Lawrence Times
The KU Student Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution supporting the needs of the university’s Indigenous communities.
Chloe Anderson/Lawrence Times
The KU Student Senate on Wednesday will consider a resolution in support of the campus’s Indigenous community, including accountability actions and increased funding.
Several students in KU’s Indigenous Studies Program this week hand-delivered an open letter to administrators, stating their frustrations with the university’s handling of Native American human remains in its possession.
KU is taking action to reunite remains of Native American people and funerary objects recently discovered on campus with their rightful tribes, according to administrators. They shared an update Friday outlining the next steps in the process.
Many Native American students, staff and faculty as well as their surrounding community were left in mourning after they learned that unidentified ancestors’ remains were discovered in KU’s museum collections.
The University of Kansas has remains of Native American people in its museum collections, according to a statement from administrators.
