The University of California, Berkeley, is facing controversy after one of its academics, Elizabeth Hoover, admitted to being mistaken about her racial background, which she appeared to benefit from for years.
Hoover, an Ivy League-educated expert on environmental health and food justice in Native American communities, apologized for being a "white person who has incorrectly identified as Native my whole life." She apologized for causing harm by "uncritically living an identity based on family stories without seeking out a documented connection to these communities."
Hoover acknowledged that having her family claim Native identity did not mean that Native nations claimed them. By claiming an identity as a woman of Mohawk and Mi'kmaq descent without confirming it with communities of origin and not confirming kinship ties back to politically and culturally affiliated Indigenous peoples, she betrayed and hurt her students, collaborators, and friends. She expressed deep regret for the emotional and cultural harm she caused and vowed to work to make amends.
In an attempt to "work to meaningfully make amends," Hoover shared a long list of commitments, such as declaring she will "put away my dance regalia, ribbons skirts, moccasins, and Native jewelry. I've begun to give away some of these things to people who will wear them better." However, she reportedly does not plan to give up the power and prestige she won.
Despite a call for her resignation from more than 360 people, including other Native American scholars and activists, and current and former students from UC Berkeley and Brown, Hoover said she doesn't plan to resign. UC Berkeley said it didn't plan to remove her from her position in December. University officials told this news organization this week that it couldn't comment on personnel matters.
In 2021, Hoover's name made it onto an "Alleged Pretendian Lis." Still, it wasn't until October that she posted a "Statement about Identity," announcing she did not have "any official documentation to verify the way my family has identified."
This week, she updated her identity statement by posting the "Letter of Apology and Accountability," saying she realized the "original statement I put forward in October 2022 in an effort to explain my situation, ultimately caused more harm."
While one member of the Akwesasne Mohawk community, Josh Sargent, from a region where Hoover researched the impact of industrial contamination in the St. Lawrence River, declared she's "a good person and always welcome here,"
Columbia anthropology professor and Mohawk scholar Audra Simpson warned that this scandal hurts the reputation of UC Berkeley's public image with Native American communities.
Simpson argued that this was a matter of misconduct with wide-reaching effects and that, whether intentional or not, Hoover had committed fraud and benefited enormously from doing so.
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