The approval of tenure for incoming UNC professor Nikole Hannah-Jones on Wednesday left social media ablaze across the Orange County community, as well as the country. Following a months-long delay of consideration, which reports indicate may have been for political reasons, the award-winning journalist will be given tenure if she begins her role as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Reporting.

The decision, made from a 9-4 vote by the UNC Board of Trustees, ends weeks of controversy surrounding the delay and the university’s treatment of Hannah-Jones. The incoming professor herself shared a release following the news, as well as a simple photo reflecting her mood.

Additionally, Dean Susan King of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media shared a release, saying Hannah-Jones is “a journalist’s journalist, a teacher’s teacher and a woman of substance with a voice of consequence” and expressing her pleasure in the board’s vote.

Walter Hussman Jr., a mega-donor to the journalism school and who reportedly questioned the decision to hire Hannah-Jones, also released a statement to NC Policy Watch.

Local elected officials, like Carrboro Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Foushee and Chapel Hill Town Council Member Allen Buansi, shared their emotions about the decision. Other community members, including faculty at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, gave credit to Black students, Black faculty and Student Body President Lamar Richards for their leadership during the delay in tenure consideration.

State figures also chimed in on Wednesday in support of Hannah-Jones, as did national figures and Black women journalists like broadcasters Joy-Ann Reid and Jemele Hill.

Hannah-Jones, an architect of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, is also the recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant. She is set to begin her role at UNC today.

 

Photo via the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

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