Fresno State University has rescinded a faculty position offer to a graduate student candidate who allegedly misrepresented their identity, university officials said Thursday.

CV Vitolo-Haddad, currently a PhD candidate in journalism and mass communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, had been conditionally offered a tenure-track position at the Central Valley campus of the California State University, pending a background check, the university said.

But after allegations surfaced that Vitolo-Haddad, who uses the gender pronoun they, had identified as Black and Latinx without belonging to either group, the university reversed course.

“The University will always uphold its core values of discovery, diversity and distinction,” it said in a statement last week. “We are taking this matter seriously and acknowledge the pain and confusion this situation has caused members of our campus and external community.”

Read the full story on LATimes.com.