NAGPRA Training and Resources 

All units that make up Rutgers University—including all departments, schools, museums, centers, institutes, Libraries, and any other collections—are subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Compliance with NAGPRA requires several ongoing actions at each Chancellor-led unit (CLU) at Rutgers, including the need to:

• work with your designated CLU NAGPRA Representative to compile and maintain an inventory of all NAGPRA-related remains or objects that exist in your unit’s collections or other possessions. Your representative will notify relevant consulting parties and the National Parks Service according to appropriate timetables.
• work with your designated CLU NAGPRA Representative to establish the identity, provenance, and geographical and cultural affiliation of any remains or objects in the inventory and summarize the findings 
• assist your designated CLU NAGPRA Representative as they notify appropriate lineal descendants, religious leaders, native tribes, and/or Native Hawaiian organizations of such possession
• assist your designated CLU NAGPRA Representative as they consult with appropriate tribes and organizations to arrange, whenever possible, for the repatriation and respectful return of NAGPRA-related human remains and/or objects to their rightful custodians and caretakers.

NAGPRA provides for requests by lineal descendants, Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations.

A lineal descendant is an individual tracing their ancestry directly and without interruption using the traditional kinship system of the appropriate Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization or by the common law system to a known Native American individual whose remains, funerary objects, or sacred objects are being requested.

An Indian tribe is any tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community of Indians that is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians. The Bureau of Indian Affairs publishes annually a list of Indian Tribes in the Federal Register. To find contact information and reservation boundary information, use the current Bureau of Indian Affair's Tribal Leaders Directory.

A Native Hawaiian organization includes any organization that:

1. serves and represents the interests of Native Hawaiians;
2. has as a primary and stated purpose the provision of services to Native Hawaiiana; and
3. has expertise in Native Hawaiian Affairs and includes the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

The Department of the Interior has interpreted this definition to include 'ohanas (Native Hawaiian kin groups). A list of Native Hawaiian organizations that meet the above definition can be found at www.doi.gov/hawaiian/NHOL. By Hawaii State law, the Island Burial Councils also maintain lists of appropriate Hawaiian organizations, agencies, and offices to notify regarding the discovery of human remains in the Hawaiian Islands.

Cultural items means a funerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural patrimony according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization.

Human remains means any physical part of the body of a Native American individual. This term does not include human remains to which a museum or Federal agency can prove it has a right of possession.

1. Human remains reasonably believed to be comingled with other materials (such as soil or faunal remains) may be treated as human remains. 
2. Human remains incorporated into a funerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural patrimony are considered part of the cultural items rather than human remains.
3. Human remains incorporated into an object or item that is not a funerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural patrimony are considered human remains.

Funerary object means any object reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near human remains. A funerary object is any object connected, either at the time of death or later, to a death rite or ceremony of a Native American culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. This term does not include any object returned or distributed to living persons according to traditional custom after a death rite or ceremony. Funerary objects are either associated funerary objects or unassociated funerary objects.

Sacred object means a specific ceremonial object needed by a traditional religious leader for present-day adherents to practice traditional Native American religion, according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. While items might be imbued with sacredness in a culture, this term is specifically limited to an object needed for the observance or renewal of a Native American religious ceremony.

Object of cultural patrimony means an object that has ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native American group, including any constituent sub-group (such as a band, clan, lineage, ceremonial society, or other subdivision), according to the Native American traditional knowledge of an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization. An object of cultural patrimony may have been entrusted to a caretaker, along with the authority to confer that responsibility to another caretaker. The object must be reasonably identified as being of such importance central to the group that it:

1. Cannot or could not be alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by any person, including its caretaker, regardless of whether the person is a member of the group, and
2. Must have been considered inalienable by the group at the time the object was separated from the group.

Rutgers–Camden

• Kimberlee Moran, Director of Forensics & Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, Rutgers University–Camden 

Rutgers–Newark

• John “Jack” Kuo Wei Tchen, Director of the Clement A. Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience; Professor, Federated Department of History, Rutgers University–Newark and NJIT

Rutgers–New Brunswick

• Saundra Tomlinson-Clarke, Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs; Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University–New Brunswick

Rutgers Health

• TBD