California IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : UC Changes Policy on Indian Remains

University of California professors say they are trying to strike a balance between science and culture in a new policy to catalogue UC’s huge collection of American Indian remains so they can be returned to the tribes. The UC Board of Regents received an update on the policy Thursday. It is the first to be implemented by a university since the passage last fall of a federal law requiring institutions with American Indian bones and artifacts to find ways to return them to the proper descendants. UC schools must begin inventories of the artifacts this month and complete the cataloguing by January, 1996. UC must also try to find and notify which tribes may have legitimate claims. Should UC and American Indians disagree on whether a claim is valid, the campus has the final say, but appeals may be made to the UC president.