Warren Identified as Native American to Get 'Invited to a Luncheon'

Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told a reporter today that she publicly identified herself as part Native American while teaching at Harvard University in order to get "invited to a luncheon" with people of similar heritage. The Boston Herald reports:

Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren, fending off questions about whether she used her Native American heritage to advance her career, said today she enrolled herself as a minority in law school directories for nearly a decade because she hoped to meet other people with tribal roots.

“I listed myself in the directory in the hopes that it might mean that I would be invited to a luncheon, a group something that might happen with people who are like I am. Nothing like that ever happened, that was clearly not the use for it and so I stopped checking it off,” said Warren.

The Harvard Law professor argued she didn’t use her minority status to get her teaching jobs, and slammed her Republican rival U.S. Sen.Scott Brown for suggesting otherwise.