After Backlash George Washington University Professor Who Pretended To Be Black Resigns

On Wednesday, George Washington University announced Jessica Krug's resignation would be effective immediately.

A George Washington University professor, Jessica Krug who recently admitted she pretended to be Black has resigned.

An email from the university’s Provost M. Brian Blake states her resignation is effective immediately. This news follows GW announcing it would be investigating the lengthy essay shared on Medium under Krug’s name. The essay expanded on her taking up space in countless communities under numerous Black identities. 

Krug also admitted she had “assumed identities within Blackness that I had no right to claim.” The former GW professor who is white is originally from Kansas City, according to the Medium post. 

“Dr. Krug has resigned her position, effective immediately,” the email said. “Her classes for this semester will be taught by other faculty members, and students in those courses will receive additional information this week.”

According to The New York Times, the email also urged students to seek support from campus resources and stated, “We hope that with this update our community can begin to heal and move forward.” On Friday, the university announced Dr. Krug would not teach classes this semester. That same day numerous members of the university’s history department called for her to resign. They said they were “shocked and appalled by Dr. Jessica Krug’s admission on September 3, 2020, that she had lied about her identity for her entire career.”

Krug who has been compared to Rachel Dolezal since the Medium post surfaced claimed identities that derived from North Africa, the U.S., and the Caribbean. She also stated this was the "epitome of violence, of thievery and appropriation."