Elizabeth Warren's credibility took another hit today with stories in both major Boston daily newspapers stating that Warren was listed as a minority in a professional directory for nine years before she was hired by Harvard Law School in 1995.
The Boston Herald broke the story on Friday that Harvard Law School described Warren as its sole Native American professor during the mid-1990s when Harvard was under fire for lack of diversity among its faculty.
In response to the Herald story, Warren said she could not "recall" citing her Native American ancestry when applying for college or a job.
Three days later, the Warren campaign has yet to produce documentation proving that Warren, an Oklahoma native, descended at least in part from the Cherokee and Delaware tribes.
Warren has claimed she did not mention her Native American ancestry when applying at Harvard, an assertion corroborated by Harvard Law School professor Charles Fried, a former U.S. Solicitor General under Ronald Reagan and member of the appointing committee that recommended hiring Warren at Harvard Law.
But this appears to be undermined by Warren being listed in the Association of American Law Schools' annual directory of minority law teachers from 1986 to 1995, as reported by both the Boston Herald, a conservative tabloid, and the left-leaning Boston Globe.
"Despite claiming she never used her Native American heritage when applying for a job, Elizabeth Warren's campaign admitted last night the Democrat listed her minority status in professional directories for years when she taught at the University of Texas and the University of Pennsylvania," writes Herald reporter Chris Cassidy.
According to the Boston Globe, "the listings were based on professors reporting that they were members of a minority group, the directory says."
Warren, a Democrat running to unseat GOP Senator Scott Brown, has described herself as creating "much of the intellectual foundation" for the Occupy movement.
Over the weekend, the Brown campaign called on Warren to apologize for allowing Harvard to cite her hiring as an example of the college's alleged commitment to diversity. Warren, not surprisingly, has declined to do so.
"That Warren allowed Harvard to hold her up as an advantage of their commitment to diversity in the hiring of historically disadvantaged communities is an insult to all Americans who have suffered real discrimination and mistreatment," Brown campaign manager Jim Barnett told the Herald, "and Warren should apologize for participating in this hypocritical sham."
The Herald reported Friday that other Harvard Law professors became aware of Warren's Native American lineage during conversations with her after she was hired.
