Author Topic: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)  (Read 15221 times)

Offline AClockworkWhite

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Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« on: September 18, 2015, 09:29:46 pm »
I didn't see her posted anywhere here, unless I totally missed it. So, what do you guys make of her situation? I know what is going around social media, but I have a lot of respect for the objectivity displayed here regarding high-profile cases. My gut tells me the avoidance of responding to evidence spells it out. In light of Andrea Smith (Racheal Dolzeal, et al), I feel it is being examined for legitimate reasons.
 
So here it is:
http://now.dartmouth.edu/2015/09/susan-taffe-reed-named-director-native-american-program
Blog entry about her lineage:
http://ancestorstealing.blogspot.com/2015/09/susan-taffe-reed-and-eastern-delaware.html
« Last Edit: September 20, 2015, 12:17:59 pm by educatedindian »
I came here for the popcorn and stayed for the slaying of pretenders.

Offline Keely

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2015, 06:31:39 am »
What do I think? She is a fraud! From a obvious fraud group!

Offline Diana

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2015, 08:41:54 am »
@ Clockwork, I think the first order of business would be to contact the Delaware Tribe in Oklahoma and alert them to this Susan Taffee Reed's gross misconduct. Second, I would write the university and inform them that you have contacted the only Delaware Tribe in existence and inform them of your conversation with the Delaware. Third, call or write Indian Country Today and see if they would be interested in writing an investigating story about this obvious fraud.

Offline Laurel

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2015, 10:28:45 am »
The FakeIndians blog has a lot to say about her, including this:

It was September 11, 2015 that Dartmouth announced the hiring of Susan Taffe Reed as the Director of the Native American Program. The news of this broke, one council member of the Delaware Nation from Oklahoma began asking if anyone knew Susan Taffe Reed, and that is when the tribe learned, Susan Taffe Reed is a FAKE!

That council member was Nicky Michael, and when she went to the Facebook page Native American Alumni At Dartmouth (NAAAD) and began to ask questions, her posts were deleted.


Posts about her are titled "Susan Taffe Reed and the Western Delaware Nations," "Dartmouth and Susan Taffe Reed," and "Standing By Taffe Reed" (all posted since 11 September).

Offline Laurel

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2015, 04:56:33 pm »
Sorry for not including links.

http://ancestorstealing.blogspot.com/

Offline Diana

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2015, 07:25:21 pm »
Apparently the university is already aware of Susan Taffee Reed's fibs about her racial background. It looks like the local newspaper has picked it up. Here's an article  http://dartblog.com/ My Bold.



Dartmouth Native American Program Director Under Fire


By Rob Wolfe

Valley News Staff Writer
 
Friday, September 18, 2015
(Published in print: Friday, September 18, 2015)
 

Hanover — Native American advocates are raising questions about the way Dartmouth College’s new director of the Native American Program has represented both her ancestry and tribal affiliation.

The advocates say that Susan Taffe Reed, who began work on Sept. 1, is neither biologically native nor a member of a federally recognized tribe, and accuse her of “cultural appropriation.”

College officials have stood behind Taffe Reed, who denies the claims and says she has been forthright about her personal and professional experiences.

Dartmouth announced in a Sept. 11 news release that Taffe Reed, “an ethnomusicologist and the president of the Eastern Delaware Nations,” recently had taken over the college’s services for Native American students. The controversy over her hiring was first reported by insidehighered.com on Thursday.

The federal government recognizes three Delaware tribes as descendants of Native Americans expelled hundreds of years ago from their ancestral homelands. The Eastern Delaware Nations, despite its nonprofit status, has not received state or federal recognition , according to the Eastern Delaware Nations’ website.
 
“She’s using the Delaware name, and that’s not OK with us,” Nicky Michael, a member of the federally recognized Delaware Tribal Council, said by phone Thursday. “We’ve not given the permission or the right to do it.”

Native American advocates have scrutinized Taffe Reed’s ancestry, which they say does not include Native American heritage, as well as the organization she runs.

“I personally have no problem with a non-Indian getting the job on her own merits,” Keely Squirrel Denning, a Shawnee tribe member who researched Taffe Reed’s origins, said in a telephone interview. Misrepresenting one’s background, however, is a “slap in the face,” Denning said.

Denning, who said she based her research mainly on death certificates, rebutted Taffe Reed’s claimed ancestral ties to the Eastern Delaware Nations. Denning found Taffe Reed’s grandfather was a member of the Eastern Delaware Nations, but his parents appeared to be Irish immigrants.

Through a college spokeswoman, Taffe Reed said that Denning’s genealogical study had not been accurate, though she did not specify the inaccuracies.

“Susan Taffe Reed is of Native and European heritage,” spokeswoman Diana Lawrence said in a statement. “She has never represented herself as a member of a federal- or state-recognized tribe. She was transparent about her professional and personal experience throughout the search process. We are satisfied with the information she provided and are confident in her qualifications for this position.”

The statement also noted that it is illegal to hire a candidate or deny employment based on ethnicity. Advocates and college officials alike agreed that Native American ancestry should not be a requirement for the college job.

Dartmouth’s news release, which praises Taffe Reed’s “leadership roles in her Delaware tribal community,” does not mention the Eastern Delaware Nations’ recognition status.

The disagreement over tribal identity is rooted in a history of Native American persecution by European settlers. Members of the Eastern Delaware Nations, according to the group’s website, mostly “are descendants of Native Americans who lived in the Endless Mountains Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania and resisted being removed.”

“Some EDN members are not of Native American descent,” the website reads, “but join as social members in support of a family member or to assist EDN in educational outreach and other activities.”

Taffe Reed, who holds a doctorate in musicology and Native American studies, has made the history of the Pennsylvania region a focus of her research.

“My most recent academic scholarship is about powwow music and dance, and the experience of Native peoples in the mountains of Pennsylvania,” she said in a statement. “It is a diverse group of people with a rich oral history and body of experience to share. I look forward to sharing my work and my experience with the Dartmouth community. It is simply inaccurate to say that there are no people of Native American descent in Pennsylvania.”

But not everyone sees it that way. In the opinion of Michael, who lives in Oklahoma with many other card-holding tribe members, the Delawares left the East Coast long ago — and none remain.

“For people to say they hid out, that’s much more questionable,” Michael said, “and to say that they hid out for 400 years? That’s hard to believe. If you ask our elders, they’ll say, ‘We didn’t leave anybody behind.’ ”

N. Bruce Duthu, a Native American studies professor who chaired the Dartmouth search committee that selected Taffe Reed, defended the hire in a statement provided Thursday to the Valley News.

“Susan openly acknowledged that she is a person of mixed ancestry and identity, including Native ancestry,” Duthu said. “In the case of Native peoples (and other people of color), state records, including birth and death certificates, are notoriously unreliable sources of information about personal background. Likewise, there are serious problems with reliance on notions of ‘federal recognition’ as a measure of ‘authenticity’ since the standards for such recognition have been widely and consistently criticized by Native and non-Native scholars and activists alike ever since they were promulgated in 1978.”

Michele Leonard, a member of Eastern Long Island’s Shinnecock Indian Nation, acknowledged that “who gets to decide who is Native American” was a complex matter. Leonard said her own tribe only received federal recognition as recently as 2010, after 40 years of litigation, despite having had state recognition for far longer.

But where the Eastern Delaware Nations was concerned, there was less ambiguity, she said.

Leonard said the case reminded her of Rachel Dolezal, the former president of the NAACP’s chapter in Spokane, Wash., who represented her race as black, despite being biologically white.

Comparing Taffe Reed to Dolezal, Leonard said by phone Thursday, “when an individual claims to be something they’re not, and then uses the parts of that culture to gain funding or advancement ... they seize it for themselves, and they deny it to those that are deserving.”

In her statement, Taffe Reed focused on Dartmouth’s students and the lessons they stood to learn.

“Our students reflect the broad diversity of Native communities, histories and experiences,” she said. “(M)y goal as director is to support their educational experience and personal development. I am concerned about ways in which questions of identity and authenticity affect them. Sadly, (this) is a teachable moment that enables our students to reflect on the complex history and issues of identity in Indian Country.”

Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or 603-727-3242. 

Correction 

Susan Taffe Reed is the new director of Dartmouth College’s Native American Program, a student affairs department. A headline in an earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to an academic program at the college




Offline educatedindian

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2015, 12:36:21 pm »
The Reed case reminds me of the Smith one in several ways. First, it remains very disturbing how many Native activists repeat the racist myth that there are jobs set aside just for NDNs. The only true Indian preference I know of is for the BIA, and even that is recent, and if they can't find a qualified NDN, they will hire someone else.

It's never been true in academia, outside of the Churchill case, which was one of several big reasons why so many were glad to see him go. You're only hired for your academic accomplishments, period. Both Smith and Reed can point to quite a few.

But both of them have a huge ethical problem, claiming to be something they are obviously not. Reed has an even bigger one, since she's not just a member of a dubious outfit, the EDN. She's their leader.

The EDN needs to be looked at as much as Reed herself. Like the posted article points out, there are huge problems with what they claim:

The hiding out in the woods for 400 years silliness.
The actual Delaware don't recognize them.
Their claims contradict actual Delaware history.

And something the article didn't point out: They claim to be not just Delaware but nearly a dozen other groups, Shawnee, Shinnecock, etc. None of those groups recognize the EDN.

If the EDN called themselves a heritage group, it'd be far more honest. Obviously they'll never be recognized, not just because many of them aren't Native. You can't be a member of two recognized tribes. If any of them actually were Shawnee, etc, why not be enrolled with them?

Offline WINative

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2015, 05:31:25 pm »
Here's another good article on the subject that was sent to me a few days ago. I agree with educatedindian there is no way of forcing Academia into hiring enrolled legitimate Native people. Unless maybe each Native community can come together and protest and put constant pressure on the university to acknowledge their needs and voices.
I know here in Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee we have several women in high positions in the American Indian Studies program and teaching Ojibwe language who are not enrolled Natives, but they are representing, teaching and mentoring Native students and others. So although there is no Native preference Act, we know that there is someone better from the community who may not have the degrees, but who can better teach the languages and history of our people.


https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/17/indian-activists-raise-questions-about-woman-appointed-lead-native-american-program

Offline Bahesmama

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2015, 08:16:13 pm »
I'm working on an article not hiring of Susan Taffe Reed for Dartmouth NAP director position. Any info is helpful. I've been interviewing lots of folks and looking into EDN. Their ties to convicted child molester David "Two Wolves Smith is troubling. He and his "spiritual father" featured on the EDN website Carl Pierce have been accused of conducting "sex magic" Lenape adoption ceremonies in sweat lodges. It's astounding. Taffe Reed's relatives later denied he was involved in EDN when he went to prison for it but this article shows otherwise: http://archives.timesleader.com/1993_7/1993_06_17_AMERICAN_INDIANS_TO_HOLD_POW_WOW_IN_FORKSVILLE_MEMBERS_OF_EASTER.html

And they are not related to the Michael Taffe ancestor her uncle asserts is their Lenape connection from the 18th century. Their ancestry goes to Ireland through a Thomas Taaffe (spelling of last name is different) and who arrived from Ireland in the 19th century.


Offline educatedindian

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2015, 12:22:48 pm »
Here's another good article on the subject that was sent to me a few days ago. I agree with educatedindian there is no way of forcing Academia into hiring enrolled legitimate Native people. Unless maybe each Native community can come together and protest and put constant pressure on the university to acknowledge their needs and voices.
I know here in Wisconsin at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee we have several women in high positions in the American Indian Studies program and teaching Ojibwe language who are not enrolled Natives, but they are representing, teaching and mentoring Native students and others. So although there is no Native preference Act, we know that there is someone better from the community who may not have the degrees, but who can better teach the languages and history of our people.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/09/17/indian-activists-raise-questions-about-woman-appointed-lead-native-american-program
Part of the first is unlikely to happen, and many would argue it should not. There's no similar pressure to only have Asians teach Asian history, for example. OTOH obviously it's best to have someone raised with the language teach it. Someone who grew up speaking Spanish is obviously a better choice than someone who learned it at a school. The second definitely should happen, and schools with a large NDN population in places like AZ have tried, or claimed to be trying, to meet the needs of tribes in the area.

The problem for Churchill, Smith, and now Reed is they were falsely claiming to be coming from an insider perspective they didn't have. Reed is even worse than Churchill in one sense in leading an obviously dubious group. What the Dartmouth search committee thought made her more qualified should have been Disqualifying. It's no different than if someone were head of the Cherokees of Oregon, or one of the fake Shawnee or Yammasee groups.

That article has some interesting comments. Jimmy Boy Dial says:

"Approximately 17 years ago as I was moving from New Jersey to Virginia I was being defended by the ACLU in a Federal suit in Pennsylvania by the EDN for writing in my newsletter that the EDN was not a legitimate tribe and had members that could not prove any Indian heritage at all. The case was eventually thrown out by the court after the EDN failed, twice, to inform the judge what it was that I wrote that was incorrect. I am a Dartmouth grad. This is outrageous."

There's also numerous comments defending Reed from a David Chamberlain, who claims to be  Dartmouth Faculty, Lenape, and "ex oligarch." I don't know if the last means he's former faculty, or a former leader among an alleged Delaware group.

Another from a group called "Big Horn Lenape" defends her.

Bahesmama, I know we have a thread on David Smith, but don't recall one on Pierce. We definitely need to look at him.

Offline Bahesmama

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2015, 02:47:41 pm »
Chamberlain claims to be Dartmouth faculty? Whoa. I interviewed him and he didn't mention that. I am a Dartmouth Native alum.

The Delaware Nation President Kerry Holton is going to call again today to try to speak to president of Dartmouth. When I spoke to the Dartmouth PR person if Holton would receive an answer to his question in The Daily Beast, she breezily said, "Oh, well the president [of Dartmouth] is very busy. I don't know if he will get back to him."

It reminded me how far New England is from any large Native American tribes....


Offline Bahesmama

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2015, 02:52:46 pm »
It's true we can't force a college to break it's rules to not hire based on ethnic background, but really, if I claimed to be say Asian or a citizen of India, and I was not would Dartmouth hire me?

This sort of thing is only acceptable for claims made on our identity. Look at Dolezal. In this situation, Taffe Reed is either 1) a poor scholar and remarkable lacking in curiosity about her own genealogy, 2) ethically challenged, or 3) delusional. None of these are qualities we want in the director of a program whose job is to retain and graduate Native American Ivy League students.

Offline Diana

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #12 on: September 26, 2015, 01:21:42 am »
There have been so many Op-ed pieces and articles this past week about this Susan Taffe Reed person I wasn't sure which one would be best to post. This one came out yesterday by NAAAD. http://www.naaad.net/?p=735

NAAAD Board Issues Statement Regarding Dr. Taffe Reed’s Appointment


September 24, 2015

Since the early 1970s, Dartmouth College has taken many noteworthy steps to strengthen its relationship and original commitment to the Native American community by recruiting talented Native American students from across the country. One of the College’s most recent victories is the decision to elevate the position of the Native American Program (“NAP”) from the Office of Pluralism and Leadership to the Provost Office. This is an important development for the College, as the Provost Office is best able to support the NAP in its efforts to provide Native American students with support services through one-on-one advising sessions and collaborations with Dartmouth’s faculty, staff, and tribal communities.

While the Board of Directors of the Native American Alumni Association of Dartmouth College (“NAAAD Board”) applauds Dartmouth for this achievement and its increased commitment to honor the original charter of the institution, we are concerned about the recent hiring of Dr. Susan Taffe Reed as the Director of the NAP. While the selection committee for this position included members of the administration, faculty from the Native American Studies Department, a member of the Native American Visiting Council and Native American students, the NAAAD Board was not invited to participate in the process.

The NAAAD Board recognizes the challenges that the Native American community faces with identity and cultural appropriation and respects the College’s past efforts to address its role in such dialogue – one example being the removal of the Indian mascot in 1969. However, the College must be more cognizant of issues related to identity and cultural appropriation when it makes hiring decisions.

Though the NAAAD Board does not assert that the NAP Director must be a member or citizen of a federal or state recognized tribe, it holds firm that the NAP Director must be able to empathize and relate to students and their needs, to navigate the political and organizational culture of Dartmouth, and to properly represent the students and the College amongst other peer institutions and tribal nations.  Unfortunately, Dr. Taffe Reed’s hiring, coupled with the negative media such hiring has garnered, has caused an irreparable division amongst alumni, and more importantly, the students, thereby making it impossible for her to perform these essential functions.

From our communications with students, alumni, faculty, and tribal leaders, it has become clear to the NAAAD Board that Dr. Taffe Reed cannot effectively carry out her duties as the Director of the NAP.  Therefore, the College should take steps to find a replacement. The administration has been open to listening to our concerns and has continuously expressed to us its commitment to the Native American students; therefore, we hope that they will take the actions necessary to resolve this issue.

Over the years, the NAAAD Board, along with others, have advocated for the best interests of Native American students at Dartmouth. While the issue at hand has been controversial, we remain committed to supporting the students and hope that this experience can be used as a learning opportunity to not only address the issues that the Native American students at Dartmouth continue to face, but also to improve the collaboration between the College and the NAAAD Board.

Sincerely,

NAAAD Board Members

Offline Diana

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #13 on: October 01, 2015, 09:30:32 pm »
http://www.dartblog.com/

Susan Taffe Reed Un-Appointed

by Joseph Asch '79 on October 1, 2015 / Permalink / E-mail This / FB
 

Susan Taffe Reed will not be the College’s Director of the Native American program after all. But she will remain on the payroll... click on link to read the rest. Cannot cut and paste E-mail from the Vice Provost for student affairs.....

Offline Defend the Sacred

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Re: Eastern Delaware Nations Inc. (was A Need To Know)
« Reply #14 on: October 01, 2015, 11:13:56 pm »
It's not copy and pasteable as it's an image file. Embedding it here and saving a copy as an attachment.