Hundreds of artists, athletes and educators signed onto an open letter Tuesday morning, voicing solidarity with award-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones following the news that UNC elected to postpone its review of her tenure application.

Hannah-Jones, who works for the New York Times, is set to return to her alma mater as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism, a professorship that typically includes tenure. The UNC Board of Trustees, however, elected to “take no action” on her tenure application, which has led to increasing community outrage. The discourse continued Tuesday, with 238 people writing support for Hannah-Jones in an opinion column for the Black-oriented magazine The Root.

“Because of her extraordinary achievements, the [UNC] Hussman School recruited Hannah-Jones, one of the school’s most notable alumni, intending to appoint her a professor with tenure,” reads the letter. “Hannah-Jones underwent the university’s rigorous tenure review process, which included enthusiastic support from the Hussman School faculty, her journalistic peers among them. The failure of courage on the part of the Board of Trustees to follow the recommendation of Hannah-Jones’ peers is almost certainly tied to Hannah-Jones’ creation of the 1619 Project.”

As first reported by NC Policy Watch, the school changed its plans on Hannah-Jones’ tenure application following political pressure from conservative groups who object to her work on “The 1619 Project,” a long-form investigative project examining the impact of slavery and race in the United States.

Tuesday’s letter, which is signed by a star-studded list of artists and celebrities, decried “this rising tide of suppression and the threat to academic freedom that it embodies.”

“Some of us,” it reads, “will call upon our university administrators, public school superintendents, principals, teachers, and faculty unions and senates to issue statements of support for the freedom of ideas in the classroom. Others of us will urge philanthropic foundations to look twice at state institutions that betray that freedom. The artists, performers, and speakers below may decline invitations from institutions that suppress free thought about racism and its historical roots. We will take our views with us to the ballot box and hold local, state and national politicians accountable to the free exchange of ideas and academic freedom. We, our children, young scholars, and our country deserve no less.”

Among the individuals to sign onto the letter are writer and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates, Yale University emerita History professor Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore and Johns Hopkins University History professor Martha S. Jones. Other names include filmmakers Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins and Ryan Coogler, NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade, NBA head coach Doc Rivers and Pulitzer Prize Winner Heather Ann Thompson.

Several current and former UNC student-athletes also included their names — such as former men’s basketball players Cole Anthony, Danny Green, Marcus Paige, Jawad Williams, Kenny Williams and Marvin Williams. Brianna Pinto of the UNC women’s soccer program, Bryn Boylan and Courtnie Williamson from UNC field hockey, Jonathan Cooper from football and Janelle Bailey from women’s basketball also signed the letter.

Some UNC educators also signed their support of the letter, like MacArthur Fellow and Senior Researcher Tressie McMillan Cottom and Associate Professor of History William Sturkey.

This is the latest group to call for transparency in the Board of Trustees’ decision to postpone a review of Hannah-Jones’ tenure application. On Monday, the UNC Faculty Executive Committee held a meeting and demanded that the board hold an immediate meeting to vote on tenure for the award-winning journalist.

Read the full letter published in The Root here.

 

Featured image via the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.

 

 

Related Stories
‹
Student Body President, Trustees Push for Updates to UNC's 'Subpar' Rec Center
Students and campus leaders are advocating for updates to campus workout facilities, like the SRC, so that more students can exercise at a time.
UNC Police, Emergency Officials Discuss Lockdown and Response Improvements with Trustees
The Board of Trustees met to discuss the response from UNC Police and emergency planning details on September 28.
UNC Experts Present Efforts to Combat Opioid-Related Deaths in Campus Community
At the most recent UNC BOT meeting, researchers and health professionals shared what the university is doing to combat opioid overdoses on campus.
UNC Trustees Talk Affirmative Action, Accessibility at First Meeting of 2023-24
UNC Board of Trustees officially barred use of 'race, sex, color or ethnicity' in admissions, complying with Supreme Court case decision.
UNC Students Call to Raise Graduate Student Pay
Facing an affordability crisis in Chapel Hill, graduate students are calling for a change. UNC’s graduate and professional student government leaders are stepping up their efforts to raise the graduate student pay. 
'The Bare Minimum': UNC's Black Community Addresses Board of Trustees
While Nikole Hannah-Jones was granted a tenured professorship after weeks of public scrutiny, some Black community members, who attended the Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday, said that is not enough.
UNC Board of Trustees Approves Nikole Hannah-Jones' Tenure Application
The UNC Board of Trustees met for a special meeting Wednesday to discuss and vote on acclaimed journalist, Nikole Hannah-Jones’, tenure application.
Renowned Chemist Declines UNC Professorship, Cites Treatment of Hannah-Jones
UNC’s Board of Trustees’ decision to “take no action” on Nikole Hannah-Jones’ tenure application has led a renowned chemist to decline professorship at the university, according to a letter from department faculty. Over the past two years, UNC’s Department of Chemistry has been working to recruit Professor Lisa Jones – a leading African American chemist […]
Report: Lawsuit Requests UNC Considers Hannah-Jones' Tenure Application Before June 4
The UNC Board of Trustees is under renewed pressure to consider the tenure application of incoming journalism professor Nikole Hannah-Jones or it could face federal and state lawsuits. A report from NC Policy Watch on Saturday said attorneys with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the law firm Levy Ratner and the law firm Ferguson Chambers […]
Artists, Athletes, Educators Voice Support for Nikole Hannah-Jones Amid Issue of Tenure at UNC
Hundreds of artists, athletes and educators signed onto an open letter Tuesday morning, voicing solidarity with award-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones following the news that UNC elected to postpone its review of her tenure application. Hannah-Jones, who works for the New York Times, is set to return to her alma mater as the Knight Chair in […]
›