In April 2012, the Boston Herald sparked a campaign controversy when it reported that from 1986 to 1995 Warren had listed herself as a minority in the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) directories, called the AALS Directory of Law Teachers.[64] Harvard Law School had publicized her minority status in response to criticisms about a lack of faculty diversity, but Warren said that she was unaware of this until she read about it in a newspaper during the 2012 election.[64][65][66] Scott Brown, her Republican opponent in the Senate race, speculated that she had fabricated Native American heritage to gain advantage in the job market.[67][68][69] Former colleagues and supervisors at universities where she had worked stated that Warren's ancestry played no role in her hiring.[65][66][69][70] Warren responded to the allegations, saying that she had self-identified as a minority in the directories in order to meet others with similar tribal roots.[71] Her brothers defended her, stating that they "grew up listening to our mother and grandmother and other relatives talk about our family's Cherokee and Delaware heritage".[72] In her 2014 autobiography, Warren described the allegations as untrue and hurtful.[73] The New England Historic Genealogical Society found a family newsletter that alluded to a marriage license application that listed Elizabeth Warren's great-great-great grandmother as part Cherokee, but could not find the primary document and found no proof of her descent.[69][74][75] The Oklahoma Historical Society said that finding a definitive answer about Native American heritage can be difficult because of intermarriage and deliberate avoidance of registration.[76]