A University of California, Berkeley professor who falsely identified as Indigenous is “deeply sorry.”
In an online “letter of apology and accountability,” anthropology instructor Elizabeth M. Hoover said she incorrectly identified as Native throughout her life “based on incomplete information.”
Hoover, raised in upstate New York, claimed she “uncritically” believed her heritage was Native American based on family stories she believed without seeking documentation.
The associate professor of environmental science is a published author whose resume includes a Book Award from the American Indian Studies program at Arizona State University. Brown University said she was at one point the school’s “only faculty member of Native American descent” when she worked there in 2016.
“I caused harm,” Hoover wrote in her apology letter. “I hurt Native people who have been my friends, colleagues, students, and family, both directly through fractured trust and through activating historical harms.”
She’d claimed to be of Mohawk and Mi’kmaq descent based on things Brown said she accepted as facts when she was a child.
“But as an adult, as an academic, I should have done my due diligence to confirm that my ancestors were who I was told they were,” she confessed.
According to Hoover, she lived in Native communities where it was clear her depth of connection to Native culture was not comparable to that of her peers.
“At the time I wrongly felt that my distant connection was enough for me to claim a Native identity alongside them,” she claimed.
Hoover now wonders if the communities that aided her research and community work would have been as helpful had they known her true heritage. She concedes academic opportunities that came her way were intended to support people of true Native ancestry.
Hoover said her background was first challenged when she became an assistant professor. In 2021, her name appeared on an “Alleged Pretendian List” compiled by Native American Jacqueline Keeler. According to Hoover, her own research led her to conclude things she’d been raised to believe were not supported by facts. That information also came as a surprise to her family, she said.
Her letter of apology listed several steps she hopes will help alleviate whatever harm she’s caused.
“I have put away my dance regalia, ribbons skirts, moccasins, and Native jewelry,” Hoover wrote. “I’ve begun to give away some of these things to people who will wear them better.”
UC Berkeley said in a statement the school was not at liberty to discuss personnel matters.
“However, we are aware of and support ongoing efforts to achieve restorative justice in a way that acknowledges and addresses the extent to which this matter has caused harm and upset among members of our community,” a spokesperson wrote.