When Harvard Law school was under the gun for not hiring enough women of diverse ethnicity, it hired Elizabeth Warren and widely publicized her American Indian heritage. Now that she’s running for Senate against Scott Brown and no one can establish that she has American Indian ancestors, Harvard claims not to reveal the ethnic background of its professors. Daily Mail has the story:
Elizabeth Warren’s purported Native American heritage had once been touted by her employer, Harvard Law School, as a proof of diversity at the Ivy League institution, but now the law professor’s roots are being called into question. According to the Boston Herald, Warren’s campaign staff failed to produce any documents supporting the claim that the Democratic candidate for the US Senate from Massachusetts indeed had ancestors on her mother’s side from the Cherokee and Delaware tribes. ‘Like most Americans, Elizabeth learned of her heritage through conversations with her grandparents, her parents, and her aunts and uncles,’ Warren’s strategist Kyle Sullivan told the paper.
Back in the 1990s, when Harvard Law came under fire for having weak diversity-hiring record and a faculty dominated by white male professors, the school widely publicized Warren’s alleged Native American roots.
What I wouldn’t give to see the papers she submitted in support of her hire and the notes of her discussions with the hiring committee. I don’t think Harvard just made up that story about her ancestry out of thin air at a time when they were under the gun to expand “diverse” hiring .And there is good evidence that she herself is the source of the false Indian heritage claim.
The whole concept of diversity is nonsensical, but if you claim to believe in it why lie to take advantage of it?
Elizabeth Warren is a case-study in why “diversity” preferences are so destructive to the social fabric of this country. It is however, delicious that she will be hoisted on her own “diversity” petard.
Live by the diversity sword, die by the diversity sword.
A university laboring to metamorphose into a diversity is conniving at its own destruction.
Yes, it is. I hope voters show up at her rallies dressed as Indians to remind everyone of the hypocrite she is.
Once more into the breechcloth!
Did that work with Ward Churchill? Has he been shamed into to ceasing and desisting with his fraudulent claims of Indianhood?
– Chief Clarice and Brave Buzz: heap big hypocrisy on part of Running-Tired-Campaign Warren.
Another Pretendian of the Ward Churchill variety? We can have fun guessing what her “Indian name” is…
Shouldn’t that be “Pretindian”? Of, perhaps, the Wannabe tribe?
The Monbaks and the Hodedos won’t have her.
(think about it for a minute, if you haven’t heard it before).
Fugawi. Their battle cry; “We’re the Fugawi!”…
In fairness, it is likely that all Warren did when hired was “check all boxes that apply” on the EEOC form all of us have to fill out when applying for a job. I suspect she did so inocuously, having heard of Native American ancestors, without intending it to matter with regards to her abilities as a legal scholar. Rather, it was the “colledge” that made an issue about it when it suited them. This is less an indictment of Elizabeth Warren than of Harvard Law School who chose to wave the banner of “Diversity!” like some sort of Terrible Towel.
There are plenty of reasons to dislike Warren as a Senate candidate. This is not one of them!
Oh yes it is , it goes to the question of character . It’s like Turbo Timmy’s taxes Steal and lie untill you get caught and then cry “Finzies “. It is the same w/ all these elites , one set of rules for the little people and another set of rules for these special people .
Indeed, indeed.
In fairness, indeed. This lighthouse of legal scholarship was unaware that those checkboxes were assertions of fact tending to determine eligibility for any ethnicity-based preferences, right ? She didn’t think that the corpus of Federal law requiring the checkboxes was particularly important or relevant ?
Stupid, or a liar ?
Laws ? Rules ? Those are for little people.
Full disclosure: though I have both anecdotal and provable Native American ancestors, I have never in my life checked any box other than white male.
Well said … I think you are right about this. An attorney – much less a scholar – would fully understand that she was making an assertion under the law. An undergraduate registering for a Fall Semester might not grasp the distinction … but Atty Warren certainly would have.
From the Bernstein article at Volokh, cited above:
“Warren says that she could not “recall” ever listing her Native American background when applying for college or a job.
The old AALS Directory of Faculty guides are online (through academic libraries) at Hein Online. The directories starting listing minority faculty in an appendix in 1986. There’s Elizabeth Warren, listed as a professor at Texas. I spot-checked three additional directories from when she was a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, including 1995-96, the year Harvard offered her a position. Elizabeth Warren, Elizabeth Warren, Elizabeth Warren.
So, we know one thing with almost 100% certainty: Elizabeth Warren identified herself as a minority law professor. We know something else with 90%+ certainty: (at least some) folks at Harvard were almost certainly aware that she identified as a minority law professor, though they may not have known which ethnic group she claimed to be belong to, and it may not have played any role in her hiring.
But it gets even more interesting: once Warren joined the Harvard faculty, she dropped off the list of minority law faculty. Now that’s passing strange. When the AALS directory form came around before Warren arrived at Harvard, she was proud enough of her Native American ancestry to ask that she be listed among the minority law professors. (Or, in the unlikely even that she just allowed law school administrators to fill out the forms for her without reviewing them, they were aware that she claimed such ancestry, and she didn’t object when she was listed.) Once she arrived at Harvard, however, she no longer chose to be listed as a minority law professor.”
And-” in the Massachusetts Civil Service system, one can get fired for “racial fraud.” “
Thanks for the pointers, everyone.
So, it has been shown quite clearly that Warren was certainly complicit in openly advertising her “minority” status and that it suited her quite well to do so for much of her career. Still, I find it interesting that Warren dropped her claim when she came to Harvard and that, by co-inky-dink I am sure, Massachusetts has legal sanctions against false ethnic identity. So, I posit that Warren played it smart by dropping the Cherokee gag upon coming to MA, not expecting Harvard Law School to play it up for her when it suited them.
There is no excusing anyone playing fast-and-loose with the facts but I am less impressed with Warren’s history here than with Harvard.
“The whole concept of diversity is nonsensical, but if you claim to believe in it why lie to take advantage of it?”
I am plain vanilla Northern European in heritage, presumably American heritage for centuries now. I think that heritage honor enough; I have no desire to be trendy by claiming some oher more “exotic” brand. But there are costs. It is my profound belief that the establishment doesn’t think of my background with anything but benign contempt. I therefore ask that if my nation thinks, solely because of my ancestors, that I am nothing special and don’t really need a leg up solely because of my heritage, while others plainly see the welcoming and encouraging environment created for them if they have talent, an environment I never benefited from, even with equal talent–what then would be my appropriate action to take if it turned out I really *was* special and sort of could have used some doors being opened, and that I was able to contribute far more than those privileged and encouraged because of their sex or brown/black race? Why do I get treated seemingly as stale garbage for what happened before I was born? Why should I follow those that allow it to happen, or wish it to happen?
If I am treated as the red-headed step-child, what should I do if I ever have options? What would you do? Support the establishment? Tear it down? Shake the sand off one’s sandals and leave? What?
I’d like to add that the reason we are seeing increased platitudes regarding veterans from the left is that they understand not doing so threatens the entire diversity ediface. In my opinion, it took the threat of disrediting that ediface to make respect for veterans happen, would not have happened otherwise, and will last only as long as the threat is there or veterans become either a reliable ally (difficult because veterans are more pro-military in general than those calling Democratic shots) or a group who can be turned in the public’s eye into a poor crazed PTSD-prone demographic in constant need of help.
If you are not one favored by the current Democratic diversity cult, or a union-member, or a university PhD. out there looking to remake man in your own image, you are a fool to support them, because they really have no interest in you except for what you can enable them to do for their real friends.
I am very nitpicking about this, but when people ask me if I’m Italian or people I know tell other people that I am, I always say, no, I’m from around here. Why, don’t I sound like a native speaker of American (or Boston) English? When they say, but your ancestors came from Italy, I say, yes, my grandparents were Italian, but I’m an American.
Like all Americans my heritage is English, and so is my native language. When I studied the history of ancient Rome, I intuitively thought “them , there.” When I studied the history of the English language, I unconsciously thought “us, here.”
“why lie to take advantage of it”
because if they didn’t lie, they wouldn’t know what to say
Warren really put her Blackfoot in it this time. Gives us a good opportunity to Chippewa-y at her credibility.
Warren’s problem is now that she has claimed Indian ancestry – presumably to appeal to Indian voters – she had better damn well have more than a couple of old family fairytales to back it up. Indians get very angry at people falsely claiming to be Indian. This may very well not only cost her the votes she had desperately sought, it may bring out a number of people who will vote against her for the perceived lie.
At what point is it legitimate to claim a minority ancestry? 1/4? 1/32? Is Warren going to use the “one drop” rule? That would truly be ironic. Going back to the Democrat’s KKK roots to support her specious claim.
Ward Churchill’s claim to Indian ancestry was based solely on being on a tribal roll. He never mentioned that listing was completely honorary and dependent on his promise to write a history of the tribe. He was taken off the tribal roll for failing to even start that history. Something he also fails to mention.
I can assure you that she is not going after the Indian vote. The vast majority of Indians in Massachusetts are from India. Native Americans are not even 1/10 of 1% of the state’s population. There are more Armenians that Native Americans.
Of course, warren herself could cleat this up by simply doing a DNA test. Theres even sa TV show that does this. And since she claims the ancestry is maternal, the mitochrondrial DNA should be conclusive.
I can Vouch for her her tribe was the Hekawi’s, they lived near fort courage.
One can only imagine her lectures. Delusional theories of race, law, and group rights.
If only Elizabeth Warren got the underlying message of the Boston Tea Party instead of the dressing up like Indians part…
If Elizabeth Warren is afraid to assert an alleged “Indian ancestry” she formerly claimed, does that mean that she is showing the white feather?
For a couple years I claimed to be a native American because I am.
Then they sort of changed that box to mean American Indian.
This is so much garbage IMHO
What is “so much garbage”?
Diversity–yes, indeed.
The charge that Warren lied about her ethnicity to get positions for which she otherwise would never have been hired? Hardly. Again from bernstein:
“So, we know one thing with almost 100% certainty: Elizabeth Warren identified herself as a minority law professor. We know something else with 90%+ certainty: (at least some) folks at Harvard were almost certainly aware that she identified as a minority law professor, though they may not have known which ethnic group she claimed to be belong to, and it may not have played any role in her hiring.
But it gets even more interesting: once Warren joined the Harvard faculty, she dropped off the list of minority law faculty. Now that’s passing strange. When the AALS directory form came around before Warren arrived at Harvard, she was proud enough of her Native American ancestry to ask that she be listed among the minority law professors. (Or, in the unlikely even that she just allowed law school administrators to fill out the forms for her without reviewing them, they were aware that she claimed such ancestry, and she didn’t object when she was listed.) Once she arrived at Harvard, however, she no longer chose to be listed as a minority law professor.””
When somebody asks me I usually answer I’m Heinz 57. 57 different varieties. In other words I have no idea exactly and could care less but does that mean I could check all their little boxes and get all kinds of favors?
PS: liked the F Troop reference!
I think Ms Warren is in big trouble. In just a few hours I traced her maternal lineage back to her great great grandparents. Great Great- George Washington Bowen (1828-1880) and Bethany Clark(1829-1880) Great (Joseph H. Reed(Ohio) &Charity Louise Gorman(Illinois); John Huston Crawford and Paulina Anne Bowen. Grandparents Harry Gunn Reed and Bethanie Elvina Crawford. Hmmm. Does not appear to be any native americans here. Just saying.
For Diveristy, A Modest Proposal:
Here is my background heritage–I think it means I have not won the same lottery as others in A America have, especially affuent whites from places like New York and Chicago and Boston.
–I come from an area traditionally poor until the 50s/60s. This poverty of the area naturally influenced opportunity for my grandparents, hence my parents, hence myself, as I was born just after the end of this period of change.
–My region historically was often ruled by iron-fisted populist “good-ole’-boy” grandees and squires who often kept the poor down (not that they were often much better off, economicallly).
–There is for me apparently a bias associated with things that irresponsible and evil members of my racial group have done that stigmatizes me in the eyes of others; and makes it more difficult for me to advance in the eyes of the elite. People of my group are often thought slow, ignorant, driven by hatred, with large components of that hate coming from memories of the past that they just can’t get over. Even though I really do not think of myself first and foremost as a member of this group, for others it may be all they see.
–I was the first of my family to graduate from college. I never got any encouragement that I should be there, even though I struggled at times. I wasn’t given the advantages others have.
–I am struggling to start a business and could really use a hand.
Therefore, I come from a background that has seen poor times in living memories; is thought poorly of by others due to the undeniably wrong action by members of my group, and which largely happened before I was born; and that both things have influenced my life (how could they not?), in a negative way, and that by the rules of the diverisity game, I need a hand.
I am of course, a white Southerner, born after integration, with a heritage completely made up of Northern European stock. Please don’t spit on me too often–the dry cleaning bills get expensive….but nevertheless, the point should be clear. A lot of people in America have families that never lived the lives of Groton-educated New England WASPs, people whose family progress has been slow, and whose current circumstances are somewhat dictated by past currents of history. And for the majority, the diversity industry doesn’t care. They’re doing alright, mind–but then diversity right now is not about class or wealt, but bloodlines. How “American”. I believe success based on bloodlines is exactly what the Jacksonian Revolution was all about….
Naturally, I hope Elizabeth Warren enjoyed her leg up. It’s an opportunity I still don’t have. I have to get by *solely* on merit. And because I am from the South and refuse to be a liberal, in a “go-along-to-get-ahead” way, in certain circles I would have to show far more merit than others just to get in the door and be barely tolerated, much less get to run the place.
I am not going to comment on what needed to be done post-Civil Rights era/1970s, as far as “diversity” goes, because I don’t have all the answers. But as far as today, it is a fraud, because if it is really about helping the first generation into elite positions, I should be getting a cut of the action, and I’m not, and that is all there is too it.
And as I wouldn’t accept a cut of the action anyway, the entire concept needs to go away.
I think she is expropriating the suffering of the poor people on the reservations. I’d like to hear what the people at Pine Ridge think of her.
You would have thought that a law professor who teaches at Harvard might have helped in the Indian Litigation. That would have been more productive than getting invited to lunch.