Ask a Manager: My relative is lying about race to get a job in my department

[ermingarden]

A relative I haven’t spoken to in years is fraudulently applying to my department at a large university. To put it simply, this is a potential Rachael Dolezal situation. “Connie” is applying for a research and teaching position in my department. Her mother was married to my uncle for about 15 years and for 15 years I spent most weekends and every holiday and summer with Connie. We were quite close as kids.

For full clarity: Connie is white. She is not an immigrant, she is not adopted, and both of her parents come from white, American multi-generational wealth. There is not a hospital, museum, or major university in our city without her family name on at least one building. Her mother and my uncle got divorced quite a while ago, but our mothers are still very good friends. Connie and I lost touch as we grew up but reconnected on social media a few years ago.

When we were introduced in the interview, she pretended not to know me. During her team interview with me, two department chairs, and four other faculty, Connie spoke passionately about being a white-passing woman of color who has to confront racism daily, and how her past struggles with an impoverished upbringing as an immigrant in the U.S. have shaped her teaching values. I was speechless the entire time. Her resume is impressive, which makes me concerned she’s been lying to get certain grants/opportunities or that her resume is false.

The two department chairs were very impressed with her, a few people are neutral, and the rest seemed uncomfortable during the interview and passed on notes saying such. How do I approach this? I’m struggling with ethics vs optics: it’s unethical to put Connie forward as a voice for an underrepresented student population and an expert on certain racial and social justice movements and issues. My mentor (an older white male) told me to stay out of it because the optics are poor. I’m white, and I have had a privileged life that allows me to live comfortably on an academic salary. It would look like I’m attacking a candidate based on race in a predominantly white department. Regardless of optics, I would be complicit in this unethical situation if I didn’t say anything and she’s offered the job. So far nobody else has been invited to interview.

First, I’m assuming that you know this is definitely the same Connie you grew up with. Assuming that’s the case, say something.

You can’t let someone you know to be white and privileged lie about her background when she’s applying for a job to be a voice for marginalized populations (and presumably taking that job from a candidate who isn’t lying about their background). You can’t ethically say nothing, and it’s likely to harm you professionally if it later comes out that you knew and didn’t speak up.

I’d approach the person on the hiring panel whose judgment you most respect and who’s reasonably senior/influential, and share what you know. Your framing should be, “I’m concerned this will hurt the department when it comes out.” (Not if — when.) That’s not attacking Connie based on race; it’s sharing info about significant misrepresentations she’s made, and the potential for real harm if those lies go unchallenged.

From there, it’s up to them but you’ll have sounded an alarm that you’re uniquely positioned to sound right now.

Comments

[ermingarden]

I agree with AAM here; I also wonder, given the practical certainty of the deception coming out, if mental illness could be playing a role here.

(Also, yes, LW had better be POSITIVE she’s the same person! Maybe see if a relative has a recent photo?)

[melannen]

Honestly you don't even have to touch race! (It's even possible there is some very hidden non-white heritage on her side you don't know about.) You know for a fact she was being extremely misleading in the interview about the circumstances of her upbringing, whether she was an immigrant, and whether she knew you or not. Those are all valid concerns to bring up to the hiring panel (and enough to make even a reasonable person also look more closely at the racial claims.)

Even if there hadn't been any other lies, if you were on the hiring panel it seems important to mention that you know Connie really well and you don't know why she pretended otherwise in the interview.

[minoanmiss]

Yeah this is a good point. Concentrate on the receptiveness bot the race part

[green_grrl]

You know for a fact she was being extremely misleading in the interview about the circumstances of her upbringing, whether she was an immigrant, and whether she knew you or not. Those are all valid concerns to bring up to the hiring panel (and enough to make even a reasonable person also look more closely at the racial claims.)

Yup, yup, yup. This. Just start with the very blatant, easily provable, known facts. “She’s my cousin; we grew up together. Her parents were neither immigrants, nor poor.” That’s already disqualifying, and these facts avoid getting derailed into a quagmire.

[minoanmiss]

Oh boy

ETA someone has already said “if you can call yourself whatever gender why not whatever race”. This is me holding myself back from writing an essay which will be ignored

[xenacryst]

Ah, one of THOSE.

:flames from the side of my face:

[minoanmiss]

Fortunately the comment and whatever glories it spawned are now gone.

[conuly]

Sheesh.

[movingfinger]

If LW was introduced to Connie in the interview and recognized her, why didn't they say "Hi cousin" then?

Regardless, LW needs to say something now.

[cimorene]

I thought this too. I can sort of picture it happening, but not happening to me - like this happens in books and tv all the time, but it seems very tough to imagine a real person. The way fiction tends to describe situations like this is being frozen in shock/panic/confusion and then panicking because the longer you wait the more awkward it is, and simply deciding not to say anything repeatedly because now it would be weird. But like. For one thing, you should've just said it all those times because it's only getting weirder. And for another, you should still say something NOW along the lines of "I didn't want to make things awkward in the interview by bringing up a personal issue with her at the time, but it's very strange that my cousin acted like we were strangers. (Followed by the childhood/economic-weighted explanations suggested above.)"

[shanaqui]

Perhaps the LW wasn't sure how to handle the potential conflict of interest, and didn't want to make an unnecessary fuss out of it -- perhaps even they were thinking "oh, maybe this is just Connie being really cautious about making it look like I'm going to be partial, I'll play along as a favour" without expecting consequences to arise.

Also, some people are just that awkward. I really hate being wrong/making a scene, and I absolutely miss the moment when I should say something, and then it becomes even more of a scene and I avoid it even harder.

[cereta]

If LW was just observing the interview (it's very common in academic interviews to have something - a teaching demonstration, a sort of focused Q&A - that anyone in the department can observe, and may or may not say anything), they may not have been specifically introduced. LW could simply mean that Connie didn't say anything upon seeing them, at which point LW may have felt awkward about approaching. Academic interviews can be...weird.