Harvard University labor reports to the federal government over the past six years are raising more questions about Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren’s statements regarding her own claim of Native American heritage.
The Boston Globe reported Friday that the diversity statistics Harvard has reported to the Labor Department repeatedly lists one woman faculty member as a Native American, suggesting that either Warren or Harvard classified her as a minority member of the staff.
Warren, a Democrat who is seeking the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Scott Brown, has said she was unaware that Harvard was promoting her as a Native American member of the law school faculty and has not used the designation to further her career.
The Globe also suggested the description of Warren failed to meet both federal and Harvard’s own guidelines for Native American status.
The Warren campaign declined to answer the Globe’s questions about the Harvard filings. But in a statement, her spokeswoman, Alethea Harney, said: “Over the past month Elizabeth has answered countless questions openly while the people who recruited her have made it clear it was because of her extraordinary skill as a teacher and a groundbreaking scholar.’’
A poll released earlier this week showing Warren and Brown in a virtual dead heat in the Senate race found that most Massachusetts voters, while aware of the controversy surrounding her claim of Native American status, do not consider it an issue in the campaign.
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