Department of Anthropology
| Submitted | March 17, 2024 |
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Communications
From: Brooke Germain
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Nevada Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Records containing information from UNR's Department of Anthropology's holdings involving human remains or indigenous artifacts.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Brooke Germain
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Nevada Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 17, 2024. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: University Of Nevada Reno
Good afternoon.
The University is not able to respond to your request because you have not requested a public record. A request must be for a readily available identifiable public record. NAC 239.860. Your request is not a request for a specific, identifiable public record. A government entity is not required to respond to a request that does not request specific records. MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 868 A.2d 1067, 1076, 375 N.J. Super. 534, 549 (2005). The requested document must be reasonably identified as a record and not as a general request for data, information or statistics. Id. at 1075.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the University is providing the attached document, which the University recently prepared to summarize Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) inventories housed by the University, pending the evaluation and completion of a revised notice to the National Park Service for inventory completion (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 U.S.C. 3003, and the implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10.8, 10.9, and 10.10), which document may be responsive to your request.
Redactions in the attachment are of information that is confidential under the balancing test set forth in Donrey of Nevada v. Bradshaw, 106 Nev. 630 (Nev.1990). The balancing test weights the right of the requesting party to have access to the public records against the right of the institution to be free from unreasonable interference. Applying the balancing test to the document, the University finds the public's right to know about human and cultural remains kept by the University does not outweigh the University's interest in protecting and preserving the areas where the human and cultural remains were located. Therefore, specific information about where remains were found has been redacted.
The University also refers you to www.unr.edu/nagpra, where documents are posted which may be responsive to your request.
Thank you,
Jodi
Jodi Fraser
Manager, Administration
(775) 784-4031
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