At the risk of prolonging this utterly stupid conversation, in which I am being castigated for *defending* Warren but only from Trump, I will say: if you work in academia, the timing to which this refers makes it more, not less, suspicious. /1
I do not know what's in Warren's heart. Whether she lied, or truly believed it. There is no evidence, and having had colleagues who did *not* claim such heritage because it could not be documented, I will always be distrustful of Warren's motives in making this claim. /2
If you've spent a life in academia, you know it values - for good reason -increasing the diversity of its faculty. Warren knows it too. To me, it looks like gaming the system. To others, it doesn't. But that's my personal view and it's not going to change. /3
I have been on numerous committees, at more than one institution. I think Warren was adding weight to a category she knows schools value. Others disagree and believe she acted in good faith. That's unknowable. /4
But my original point - the one that got lost in all the immediate howling about Warren - was a response to a post that said what Warren did (allegedly, fine) was worse than what Trump is doing. I said: no, Trump's behavior is far worse. What a pointless attempt that was. /5x
