Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article’s headline stated Hannah-Jones was “denied” tenure by UNC. It’s since been updated to reflect her tenure application was delayed, not rejected.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones will no longer join the University of North Carolina’s journalism school in a tenured position — sparking outrage from the community.
Hannah-Jones is set to return to her alma mater as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism, a tenured professorship. However, as first reported by NC Policy Watch, the school has changed its plans following political pressure from conservative groups who object to her work “The 1619 Project.”
Hannah-Jones, who covers civil rights and racial justice for The New York Times Magazine, won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for commentary for an essay she wrote as part of The 1619 Project – which highlights the long-term consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans. She was one of multiple writers, photographers and editors on the project.
Now, Hannah-Jones will start July 1 for a fixed five-year term with the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media as Professor of the Practice — with the option of being reviewed for tenure at the end of that time period.
Faculty members at the journalism school quickly voiced their displeasure with the new decision by the university.
“As Hussman School of Journalism and Media faculty, we are stunned at the failure to award tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize, Peabody, and MacArthur Foundation ‘Genius Grant’ winner and UNC-Chapel Hill 2019 Distinguished Alumna recently inducted into the North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame,” read a letter that has been signed by more than 30 faculty members.
“We demand explanations from the university’s leadership at all levels,” read the letter.
Several journalists — both at UNC and nationally — took to Twitter directly to share their opinions. Jelani Cobb, a staff writer for The New Yorker and professor at the Columbia Journalism School, called the decision “obscene.”
The UNC decision to deny tenure to Nikole Hannah Jones is obscene. Tenure exists precisely to protect faculty from this kind of politicized decision-making. We need to compare the credentials of people who *did*get tenure this year if a Pulitzer & MacArthur winner did not.
— jelani cobb (@jelani9) May 19, 2021
I signed this letter but will go farther — not granting tenure to @nhannahjones is entirely based on racist, reactionary and anti-academic-freedom ideology at the highest levels. https://t.co/mkftUoj1HJ
— Kate Sheppard (@kate_sheppard) May 19, 2021
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.
— Wesley (@WesleyLowery) May 19, 2021
Ryan Thornburg, a professor at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, said there is “no explanation for the reason [Hannah-Jones] is not arriving with tenure.”
By all objective measures, her 18 years of reporting at the highest levels merits tenure for @nhannahjones at @unc. We have no explanation for the reason she is not arriving with tenure. https://t.co/3TPClNxiFx
— Ryan Thornburg (@rtburg) May 19, 2021
Susan King, the Dean of the Hussman School, also responded to the university’s decision.
“While I am disappointed that the appointment is without tenure, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that she will be a star faculty member,” said King. “Ours is one of only a very few schools in the country to have two prestigious Knight Chairs that bring working journalists into the classroom to share their professional expertise and knowledge.”
King had previously shared her support for Hannah-Jones alongside other university leaders, which was detailed in the letter to UNC Wednesday.
“This failure is especially disheartening because it occurred despite the support for Hannah-Jones’s appointment as a full professor with tenure by the Hussman Dean, Hussman faculty, and university,” read the Hussman faculty letter to the university. “Hannah-Jones’s distinguished record of more than 20 years in journalism surpasses expectations for a tenured position as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism.”
The UNC Board of Trustees is set to meet tomorrow at 9 a.m. UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz is expected to comment on Hannah-Jones’ tenured position at the following media availability.
This story was contributed to by Elle Kehres.
Lead photo via the News & Observer.
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I love it when egotists, filled with their idea of self importance, get pissed off when others disagree with them.