Wisconsin teacher quits university post after years of lying about being black

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A Wisconsin university teaching assistant resigned from their job after admitting lying for years about being black. “When asked if I identify as black, my answer should always have been ‘No,’” the teaching assistant admitted in a September 8 post. ‘I take full responsibility for spreading these lies and am deeply sorry.’ The post added: “I want to apologise for ever taking lies about Cuban roots at face value, and for subsequently attaching myself to people’s perceptions of me as though it would provide answers where there are none.” Vitolo-Haddad is a PHD candidate at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and had a teaching assistant position, from which she has now stepped down, also resigning as co-president of the university’s chapter of the Teaching Assistant’s Association, which is a graduate student union. Vitolo-Haddad later admitted to ‘insidehighered.com' having benefited “socially” from the situation, but had never applied for scholarships, fellowships or awards for people of colour or identified as Black on any paperwork.