Warren explains directory listings

Mass. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren explains past listing of Native American heritageDemocratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren said Wednesday she listed herself as having Native American heritage in law school directories because she hoped to meet people with similar roots.

Warren, a Harvard Law School professor, said she never tried to use minority status to get teaching jobs and criticized the campaign of Republican Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown for suggesting that may have been the case.

“I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group, something that might happen with people who are like I am,” Warren said during a campaign appearance in Braintree, according to the Boston Herald (http://bit.ly/K2ppRF).

The listing did not produce any such contacts, and she later stopped using it, Warren said.Warren Says She’s Proud of Being American Indian

By Jess Bidgood and Abby GoodnoughElizabeth Warren on Wednesday defended her decision to identify herself as a minority in a directory of law professors in the 1980s and ’90s, saying that she hoped it would help her “meet more people who had grown up like I had grown up.”

Taking questions after an event in Braintree, Mass.—and speaking publicly about the controversy for the first time since Friday, when The Boston Herald first wrote about it—Ms. Warren also responded forcefully to allegations from her Republican opponent, Senator Scott P. Brown, that she had claimed American-Indian ancestry to advance her academic career.

“I am a hard-working teacher, I have won teaching awards, I’ve written books that have won acclaim,” Ms. Warren said. “I applied for one job in 1978 by letter, and every job I’ve had since then has been from someone who recruited me into that job. And they’ve come to me and said–and they have now said publicly–‘Because of your work, we’d like you to come here.’”

“The only one, as I understand it, who’s raising any question about whether or not I was qualified for my job is Scott Brown,” Ms. Warren continued. “Frankly, I’m a little shocked to hear anybody raise a question about whether or not I’m qualified to hold a job teaching.”Comment:  So Warren checked the "Native" box only to meet other Natives? She never imagined that describing herself as Native would help her get a job?

If this is true, I presume she also joined many Native organizations to achieve her goal. Face-to-face encounters are usually more beneficial than dry directory listings, of course.

What? We have no evidence of her joining Native organizations to meet people? I'm shocked.

In short, I find her claim a bit hard to believe. People are right to be suspicious of this seemingly naive story.

For more on the subject, see Did Warren Check "Native" to Get Job? and Warren Documents Cherokee Ancestor.

Below:  "Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Elizabeth Warren faces reporters during a news conference at Liberty Bay Credit Union headquarters, in Braintree, Mass., Wednesday, May 2, 2012. Warren responded to questions from reporters on her Native American heritage." (AP Photo/Steven Senne)