A professor of environmental science at the University of California at Berkeley apologized for mistakenly identifying as having Native American ancestry.
Elizabeth Hoover, an associate professor at UC Berkeley's Department of Environmental Science, acknowledged this week that she had "incorrectly identified" as Native American throughout her life, which she said was based on "incomplete information."
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"I have brought hurt, harm, and broken trust to the Native community at large, and to specific Native communities I have worked with and lived alongside, and for that, I am deeply sorry," Hoover wrote in a lengthy apology statement posted on her personal website.
Hoover's research at UC Berkeley centered on "Native American environmental health and food sovereignty movements," and she has written several books on both subjects.
In the apology, Hoover says that she "uncritically" accepted as fact stories she was told by her family that she had Native American ancestry and that she should have properly researched her ancestors and confirmed the stories she had been told.
"Having my family claim Native identity does not mean Native nations claimed us," she wrote. "By claiming an identity as a woman of Mohawk and Mi’kmaq descent without confirming it with communities of origin, and by not confirming kinship ties back to politically and culturally affiliated Indigenous peoples, I betrayed and hurt my students, collaborators, and friends. I have negatively impacted people emotionally and culturally."
Hoover's mea culpa expressed regret for participating in Native American rituals, ceremonies, and "social spaces," saying she was "devastated to have perpetuated harms caused by white people on Native communities."
The UC Berkeley professor said she will no longer wear Native American clothing and jewelry, and that she will be transparent about her identity in the future while taking steps to address the harms she caused.
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"I have been working with restorative justice facilitators to better understand how members of the UC Berkeley campus community have felt harmed and betrayed, and ways I can work to meaningfully make amends for this," she said. "I recognize this will take time and am committed to staying with this process. I will give space to those who need it as part of their healing process, and will be here if and when people would like to dialogue with me about how I can productively address the harm I’ve caused."
The university previously said it would not dismiss Hoover from her faculty post amid reports that she had misrepresented her ancestry. The Washington Examiner has reached out to the school for comment.