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The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee has reversed course and cleared professor Margaret Noodin of misleading people about her ethnic identity, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
The university initially concluded that Noodin’s inconsistent explanations of her supposed Indigenous ancestry violated the university’s code of conduct and lacked integrity. But when Noodin objected and requested a secondary “expert review,” the university obliged and eventually cleared her of any wrongdoing.
University provost Andrew Daire assigned professor Mark Freeland to conduct the second review. Freeland, who succeeded Noodin as director of the university’s center supporting Native students and research, has been one of her biggest defenders against the accusations, the Sentinel reported.
In the end, Daire accepted Freeland’s conclusion but urged Noodin “to consider how you represent yourself publicly.”
Critics have denounced the university’s handling of the matter, arguing that it highlights how ill-equipped higher ed institutions are to address such complicated cases of identity.
“All I can say is wow,” Sarah Gordon Altiman, a UWM graduate student who took several classes with Noodin, told the Sentinel. Altiman is a citizen of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. “It is interesting that the university had her hand-picked successor be the so-called expert on Indigenous identity. [Noodin and Freeland] are personal friends and knew each other prior to his hiring—talk about a conflict of interest.”
UWM declined to answer questions about how it conducted the investigation, saying it could not comment on personnel matters.
