Major controversy erupted Wednesday involving a well-respected journalist and a well-respected journalism school: Nikole Hannah-Jones and the UNC-Chapel Hill Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
Hannah-Jones is the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from The New York Times. She was the driving force behind The Times’ “1619 Project” that looked at the history of slavery in the U.S. and its impact on America.
Hannah-Jones was supposed to join the school as a tenured professor. But now it appears that her role as Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism will not be tenured, at least for now. Instead, her position will be a fixed-term “Professor of the Practice” with the option of being eligible for tenure within five years.
The News & Observer’s Kate Murphy reported that the school’s dean, Susan King, “said she was told that the UNC-CH Board of Trustees was hesitant to give tenure to someone outside of academia.” King has gone on to say she was disappointed in the decision and worried about how this might affect the school.
But was that really the reason, that she was from “outside of academia?”
Or is it really because of the conservative pushback of Hannah-Jones’ work on the “1619 Project”?
The answer seems obvious to many.
Just recently, the conservative National Review had this headline: “University of North Carolina Disgraces Itself with Latest Faculty Hire.” It used the word “propaganda” to describe the “1619 Project.” The Carolina Partnership for Reform wrote, “This lady is an activist reporter — not a teacher.”
That pushback, and more like it, could have worked its way into this latest decision.
NC Policy Watch’s Joe Killian and Kyle Ingram wrote, “Last summer, Hannah-Jones went through the rigorous tenure process at UNC, King said. Hannah-Jones submitted a package King said was as well reviewed as any King had ever seen. Hannah-Jones had enthusiastic support from faculty and the tenure committee, with the process going smoothly every step of the way — until it reached the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees.”
One member of the board, speaking anonymously, told NC Policy Watch that the decision was political.
“The university and the board of trustees and the Board of Governors and the legislature have all been getting pressure since this thing was first announced last month,” the trustee said. “There have been people writing letters and making calls, for and against. But I will leave it to you which is carrying more weight.”
Another trustee said, “There was some discussion about ‘She is not from a teaching background, she is not from academia, so how can she just get a tenured position?’ But if you look at the previous Knight Chairs … these are people who come from the world of journalism. That’s the idea. That’s what the program is and it’s always been that way. So that argument doesn’t really hold water.”
Hussman faculty put out a strongly-worded statement on Wednesday, saying they were “stunned” by the decision and that the failure to give Hannah-Jones tenure is a “concerning departure from UNC’s traditional process and breaks precedent with previous tenured full professor appointments of Knight chairs in our school.”
They went on to say, “We demand explanations from the university’s leadership at all levels. Nikole Hannah-Jones does necessary and transformative work on America’s racial history. The national politicization of universities, journalism, and the social sciences undermines the integrity of and academic freedom within the whole University of North Carolina system.”
Journalist Wes Lowery from CBS News tweeted, “It's hard to see UNC's decision to deny tenure to Nikole Hannah Jones as anything other than an attack on press freedom — she is being penalized for producing journalism that powerful people do not like and have worked for years to silence.”
PBS anchor and reporter Yamiche Alcindor tweeted, “UNC’s decision to deny tenure to @nhannahjones is absurd & a reminder of how hard some work to deny the hard truth that is Nikole’s life work & the 1619 Project. She is a Pulitzer Prize winner & a MacArthur genius. What more needs to be said?”
John Eligon of The New York Times tweeted, “Telling the truth about racism always inspires backlash. This absurd decision speaks to the profound power of Nikole’s work.”
Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker called the decision “obscene.”
The failure to give Hannah-Jones tenure sure looks like a political decision based on some people’s disapproval of Hannah-Jones’ work. The decision might placate those people, but this ultimately is a bad look for the school.
King told NC Policy Watch, “Will it be a chilling effect? Will it hurt the reputation of UNC? We’re nationally acclaimed now. That’s what I’m worried about.”
Oh, one more notable point: Hannah-Jones graduated from the University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media with a master’s degree in 2003.
