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UC Riverside professor resigns over ‘pretendian’ claims, but will keep teaching for another year
'Academia has become a pretendian factory,' says Jacquelyn Keeler, a journalist and citizen of Navajo Nation
Aug 30, 2023
An ethnic studies professor at UC Riverside whose claims of Cherokee heritage have been in question for 15 years and stirred public outcry has agreed to resign following a complaint by 13 faculty members.
Under a separation agreement signed in January, Andrea Smith will be allowed to continue her employment as a full-time faculty member until August 2024, when she will become eligible to receive full retirement benefits and the honorary title of emeritus.
However, Smith, a tenured professor employed at UC Riverside since 2008, has agreed that the university will not list her emeritus status on its website directories.
‘Pretendians’
Jacqueline Keeler, a freelance journalist, author, Navajo Nation citizen and a descendant of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, said the world of academia has become a breeding ground for “pretendians,” those who falsely claim indigenous identity for professional, political, and monetary gain.
“Academia has become a pretendian factory,” Keeler said in a telephone interview Wednesday, Aug. 30.
She believes universities, standing behind federal civil rights and discrimination laws, have essentially given their faculty carte blanche to perpetuate false claims of ancestral ties to indigenous people or other races. Such was the case at UC Riverside, she said.
“I think the university’s claim they were fearful of a lawsuit is ridiculous,” Keeler said. “(Smith’s) retirement will cost more than a lawsuit, and there’s no basis for one because there’s no proof she’s Native (American).”
Faculty complaint
Smith’s resignation was prompted by a complaint to the university received last August from 13 faculty members. They accused Smith of making fraudulent claims to Native American identity in violation of the Faculty Code of Conduct, according to the separation agreement.
Smith, according to the agreement, denied and disputed the allegations contained in the complaint. The university subsequently engaged in discussions with her to resolve the matter, and Smith agreed to resign.
‘Will always be Cherokee’
Smith, who is not registered as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, did not respond to email and telephone messages seeking comment.
But in 2015, amid ongoing media controversy surrounding her questionable ties to the Cherokee Nation, Smith released a statement on her blog saying, “I have always been, and will always be Cherokee.”
“I have consistently identified myself based on what I knew to be true,” Smith said in her 2015 blog post. She said there had been “innumerable false statements” made about her in the media.
“It is my hope that more Indigenous peoples will answer the call to work for social justice without fear of being subjected to violent identity-policing,” Smith said.
Keeler, the author and Navajo Nation citizen, said Smith is among several figures in academia who’ve made headlines in recent years over false identity claims. Others include Jessica Krug and Elizabeth Hoover.
Krug, a white Jewish woman from the Midwest and an associate professor at George Washington University, resigned in 2020 after she was outed and admitted to inventing several Black identities, including being of North African and Caribbean descent.
Hoover, an associate professor at UC Berkeley, issued an apology in May, admitting she was a White person who incorrectly claimed to be Native American her whole life.
Assemblymember James Ramos, a member of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, called the “pretender” problem a “serious issue” that especially needs to be better addressed in university systems.
“The bigger question is, when someone claims Native American ancestry — when you start to see people using that to further themselves — there should be the question of who is and who isn’t (Native American), and who decides who is and who isn’t,” Ramos said.
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