White GWU professor who pretended to be Black will not teach fall classes

Krug revealed her ethnicity on Thursday in a blog post on Medium.

Sep 5, 2020

George Washington University announced on Friday that Jessica Krug, a white and Jewish professor who pretended to be Black will not be allowed to teach classes during the fall semester.

Jessica Krug participates in a panel at the Embassy of Haiti in Washington DC on Dec. 5, 2017 (by Samira Rashid via NBC news)

“Many of you understandably have many questions in the wake of the Medium post by GW faculty member Jessica Krug,” read an announcement from M. Brian Blake, the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, and Paul Wahlbeck, dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences.

“While the university reviews the situation, Dr. Krug will not be teaching her classes this semester.”

“We want to acknowledge the pain this situation has caused for many in our community and recognize students, faculty, staff and alumni are hurting,” the message continued. The school also offered support through the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement and Counseling and Psychological Services.

According to Forbes, alternatives are being developed for students enrolled in Krug’s classes.

I was in Jessica Krug’s Latin American History class on Monday and I vividly remember her referring to herself as Latina multiple times
— Cam Cayer (@CamCayer) September 3, 2020

Krug revealed her ethnicity on Thursday in a blog post on Medium titled, “The Truth, and the Anti-Black Violence of My Lies.”

“To an escalating degree over my adult life, I have eschewed my lived experience as a white Jewish child in suburban Kansas City under various assumed identities within a Blackness that I had no right to claim: first North African Blackness, then U.S. rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness,” Krug stated in her blog post.

Krug apologized for “continued appropriation of a Black Caribbean identity” and admitted that she was wrong, unethical, immoral, anti-Black and colonial. “I am not a culture vulture,” she wrote. “I am a culture leech.”

In addition to teaching Black History, Krug has authored several books on the subject. According the GWU’s website, she is an expert in Latin America, African-American history and imperialism and colonialism.

Krug claimed that she has been dealing with mental health issues since childhood.

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