A University of Pennsylvania museum is vowing to return the remains of a black victim of a 1985 Philadelphia police bombing to relatives, amid backlash that they were used in an online college course.
Penn Provost Wendell Pritchett and Penn Museum Director Christopher Woods apologized in a statement Wednesday to relatives of the victims from the black eco-liberation group called MOVE for their “profound emotional distress” and promised to return them some 36 years later.
“We understand the importance of reuniting these remains with the family,” the joint statement read. “This is our goal. And we remain committed to a respectful, consultative resolution.”
A university spokesperson told the Philadelphia Inquirer the remains are “accounted for,” but declined to indicate where they were.
Woods said some of the remains were used in an online forensic anthropology class offered by Princeton University that was taught by a University of Pennsylvania adjunct professor, Dr. Janet Monge, in her course, “REAL BONES: Adventures in Anthropology.”
A University of Pennsylvania museum is vowing to return the remains of a black victim of a 1985 Philadelphia police bombing to relatives, amid backlash that they were used in an online college course.
Penn Provost Wendell Pritchett and Penn Museum Director Christopher Woods apologized in a statement Wednesday to relatives of the victims from the black eco-liberation group called MOVE for their “profound emotional distress” and promised to return them some 36 years later.
“We understand the importance of reuniting these remains with the family,” the joint statement read. “This is our goal. And we remain committed to a respectful, consultative resolution.”
A university spokesperson told the Philadelphia Inquirer the remains are “accounted for,” but declined to indicate where they were.
Woods said some of the remains were used in an online forensic anthropology class offered by Princeton University that was taught by a University of Pennsylvania adjunct professor, Dr. Janet Monge, in her course, “REAL BONES: Adventures in Anthropology.”
