Massachusetts Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren informed Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania of her Native American heritage, her campaign told the Boston Globe in a statement Wednesday night. It’s the first time Warren has said she informed the universities where she worked of her heritage. Previously, Warren had simply said that she listed herself in a legal directory as Native American.
“At some point after I was hired by them, I . . . provided that information to the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard,’’ Warren said in the statement. “My Native American heritage is part of who I am, I’m proud of it and I have been open about it.’’
Warren has previously contended that she did not know Harvard was listing her as a minority faculty member until it was reported in the Boston Herald. Members of the Harvard committee which recommended hiring her have said that her Native American background was not discussed in the hiring process.
From the Globe:
Warren’s new statement came after the Globe asked her campaign about documents it obtained Wednesday from Harvard’s library. The documents show that the university’s law school began reporting a Native American female professor in federal statistics for the 1992-93 school year, the first year Warren worked at Harvard, as a visiting professor.
A campaign official said they had no records indicating that she had informed Harvard of Native American heritage that year.
