There had been accusations for a minimum of 15 years that Andrea Smith, a distinguished ethnic research professor, had falsely claimed to be Native American. Her scholarship was partly constructed on what she stated was her Cherokee id, however she by no means publicly — and students and former associates say, privately — supplied an in depth clarification for her Cherokee claims.
Now, after a latest grievance by 13 school members, Professor Smith has agreed to retire from the University of California, Riverside, subsequent 12 months in an uncommon separation settlement.
Signed in January, the settlement avoids an investigation into the school grievance, which accused her of false claims of Native id that violated educational integrity. And it permits the college to sidestep authorized battles that usually come from firing tenured professors.
Dr. Smith can maintain her place by way of August 2024 and shall be allowed to show courses till then. She will retain her retirement advantages and may have the honorary emeritus title, although that standing won’t be listed within the college’s listing. Riverside can pay as much as $5,000 towards her authorized prices of resolving the grievance.
“The negotiated separation agreement brings a timely conclusion to Professor Smith’s continued employment with the university,” John D. Warren, a college spokesman, stated in an announcement. “Investigations of a tenured faculty member for alleged misconduct have potential for litigation and appeals, and can unfold over the course of years.”
Professor Smith, who isn’t registered as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, didn’t reply to messages looking for remark. But in 2015, she posted an announcement during which she lamented “violent identity policing.”
“I have always been, and will always be Cherokee,” she wrote. “I have consistently identified myself based on what I knew to be true.”
While some Native students stated the settlement was the primary actual accountability that Dr. Smith confronted for her id claims, in addition they lamented that the professor didn’t acknowledge deception.
And, they stated, the college, in agreeing to not look into the accusations, allowed Dr. Smith to, but once more, evade a reckoning.
“She deflects, angles and wriggles — and here it is again,” stated Philip Deloria, a professor at Harvard who research Native American historical past and was Professor Smith’s colleague whereas the 2 have been on the University of Michigan.
Andrew J. Jolivétte, chair of the ethnic research division at University of California, San Diego, stated that Ms. Smith’s lack of tribal enrollment shouldn’t be used as a cudgel towards her.
“The focus on individuals who are unenrolled by enrolled citizens does not serve Indian country,” he stated. “Our time would be better served caring for our communities rather than worrying about individual cases of identity.”
Earlier in her profession, Professor Smith herself known as out white feminists for hijacking Native identities.
White feminists “often want to disassociate themselves from their whiteness,” Professor Smith wrote in a heralded 1991 essay. “They do this by opting to ‘become Indian.’ In this way, they can escape responsibility and accountability for white racism.”
Public questions on Ms. Smith’s id started in 2008, after
she was denied tenure on the University of Michigan, inflicting an uproar. Her supporters held a one-day convention, with Dr. Smith’s dissertation adviser, Angela Davis, as a visitor speaker. A news launch described Dr. Smith as “one of the greatest Indigenous feminist intellectuals of our time.” Dr. Davis didn’t reply to an e mail looking for remark.
The battle drew the eye of Steve Russell, a Cherokee educational who discovered that she was not enrolled as a Cherokee however wrote a column for Indian Country Today.
By the autumn of 2008, Ms. Smith had a brand new job at Riverside, however the accusations didn’t go away.
A prolonged story in The New York Times Magazine in 2021 introduced additional consideration to Ms. Smith’s claims. Four months later, Chancellor Kim Wilcox launched a cryptic assertion to the campus insisting on “transparency and integrity in matters of indigenous affiliation and identity.”
But the Riverside motion got here after a college grievance in August 2022. One professor, Gerald Clarke, from the ethnic research division, stated in an interview that he was compelled to lift the difficulty due to the harm false claims of id do to tribal communities.
“Identities are one of the last things we have that are precious and that we have control over,” stated Mr. Clarke, a member of the Cahuilla Band of Indians.
Source: www.nytimes.com