The Dartmouth employee at the center of a controversial appointment at the school’s Native American Program will no longer serve as its director.
The college announced Thursday afternoon that the distraction around Susan Taffe Reed’s appointment keeps her from effectively doing the job.
The Native American Program is not an academic department. It’s a program that supports and mentors the school’s 91 Native American students.
Taffe Reed is president of Eastern Delaware Nations in Pennsylvania, a nonprofit run by her family. It is not a federally recognized tribe.
Shortly after Dartmouth hired her in September, Native American advocates across the country criticized the school for saying that Taffe Reed had ties to the Delaware community, which members of the Delaware Council in Oklahoma disputed.
The director does need to be Native American, but current students and alumni complained of a lack of transparency in the hiring process.
The school says it has appointed an interim director but will not say who that person is. The school will now search for a new director.
In the meantime, the school says it is exploring other opportunities for Taffe Reed to contribute to Dartmouth.
