State auditor: UC lacks urgency; at current pace some campuses would take decades to repatriate ancestors

The California State Auditor told the Select Committee on Native American Affairs that the University of California system “lacks the accountability and urgency necessary to promptly return the items in its possession.” Grant Parks said the office’s April 2025 audit found repeated problems: incomplete inventories, routine discovery of previously unaccounted items, limited staffing, inconsistent campus reporting and unsecured loans or losses.

Parks said his team’s analysis projects that, at recent repatriation rates, UC San Diego would not finish until about 2037, UC Riverside until 2041, UC Santa Barbara until 2053 and UC Berkeley — the system’s largest holder of remains — would need to triple its rate even to return 75% of its collection by 2089. The auditor said 12 of 19 audit recommendations remain open and urged the legislature to consider fiscal levers and clearer target dates to compel action.

"If you don't know what you're shooting for, you're never gonna know if you get there," Parks said, pressing the need for measurable time frames and for UCOP to empower staff with access to campus buildings and academic departments to complete searches.

Committee members pressed on consequences and the auditor responded that the legislature could use appropriations and other fiscal tools to create incentives and oversight, but acknowledged legal constraints around earmarks and university autonomy.