A prominent scholar and University of California, Riverside professor, who claimed to be Native American, has resigned after 13 faculty members accused her of false claims of Native identity that violated academic integrity. In an ironic twist, professor Andrea Smith once criticized white feminists for pretending to be Native Americans. She wrote, “They do this by opting to ‘become Indian.’ In this way, they can escape responsibility and accountability for white racism.”
For the last 15 years, prominent ethnic studies professor Andrea Smith, whose scholarship was partly built on what she had claimed was her Cherokee identity, has been accused of falsely claiming to be Native American, according to a report by the New York Times.
Smith, who had never given a detailed explanation for her Cherokee claims, agreed to retire next year after 13 faculty members filed a complaint regarding the professor’s identity claims. The separation agreement includes a stipulation that avoids an investigation into the complaint.
Smith can continue working at the university, where she will still be allowed to teach classes, until August 2024. The professor will also retain her retirement benefits, and will have the honorary emeritus title, but that status will not be listed in the school’s directory.
University of California, Riverside will also pay up to $5,000 toward her legal costs of resolving the complaint.
Meanwhile, some Native scholars have pointed out that Smith has not acknowledged her deception, and that the university has allowed the professor to avoid taking any accountability for her actions by agreeing to not look into the matter.
“She deflects, angles and wriggles — and here it is again,” Harvard professor Philip Deloria, who was Smith’s colleague while the two were at the University of Michigan, said.
Ironically, Smith had reportedly called out white feminists for hijacking Native identities earlier in her career.
White feminists “often want to disassociate themselves from their whiteness,” she wrote in a 1991 essay. “They do this by opting to ‘become Indian.’ In this way, they can escape responsibility and accountability for white racism.”
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