As the UNC Board of Trustees continue its inaction on the tenure application of Nikole Hannah-Jones, the faculty chair is urging the university’s faculty to speak out in favor of the incoming journalism professor.
In a letter to the campus community on Saturday, Chair of the Faculty Mimi Chapman wrote about the ongoing tension surrounding the Board of Trustees’ failure to grant tenure to Hannah-Jones, the incoming Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism for the Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
Chapman said she believes the university’s reputation is being harmed by the ongoing controversy, coupled with women from historically marginalized populations recently announcing their departure from the UNC faculty. At least three professors accepted positions at new schools in the last week, while the Carolina Black Caucus reports more than half of its members are actively seeking new job opportunities.
“They likely did not leave in direct response to Nikole Hannah-Jones’ tenure case — academic hiring is a long process that predates the current situation,” said Chapman, “but what is happening with Ms. Hannah-Jones is emblematic of one set of reasons that likely prompted their decisions. As a community, we can and must do better by faculty, staff, and students of color. But to do that work, much of which is underway, we must resolve the status of Ms. Hannah-Jones.”
Chapman’s letter shed light on the timeline of Hannah-Jones’ tenure application and acceptance of her position at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. While reports of the Board of Trustees’ inaction first surfaced in May, with one anonymous board member crediting the decision to political reasons, UNC Provost Bob Blouin received Hannah-Jones’ tenure dossier in November 2020. According to Chapman, Blouin waited to submit the dossier to the Board of Trustees until January, as he gathered information to answer board questions surrounding the journalist’s work on the 1619 Project and her potential as a professor.
The Board of Trustees received the tenure application for consideration at its January meeting. The chair of the board’s University Affairs Committee, trustee Chuck Duckett, then indicated he had questions about Hannah-Jones’ dossier, which delayed its consideration.
According to Chapman, UNC leadership then approached Hannah-Jones with a fixed term contract for professorship, which allows for later consideration of tenure.
“While some may think the administration should have waited until the March BOT meeting to see what would happen,” wrote Chapman on Saturday, “the choice was made because of concerns that Ms. Hannah-Jones might accept another offer and uncertainty about the BOT’s timing for a response.”
The UNC Board of Trustees has not taken any public action on the incoming professor’s tenure application since. Because of this, Chapman urged other faculty leaders in the university to publicly speak in favor of Hannah-Jones and her tenure consideration. She said she believes the UNC and campus community must “speak loudly and with one voice” to let the university’s trustees know the importance of properly considering Hannah-Jones’ tenure application with urgency.
“You do not have to agree with Ms. Hannah-Jones’ conclusions in The 1619 Project to do this,” wrote the faculty chair. “You only have to agree that faculty voice must govern the tenure process for academic integrity to have meaning. If outside bodies, in this case the BOT, without subject matter expertise are the arbiters of faculty scholarship, all faculty members run the risk of being punished for work that questions the status quo, threatens some outside interest, or makes people uncomfortable.”
“That is a path where light and liberty die,” added Chapman to end her letter. “Don’t let it. Use your voice. Keep going. Stand strong.”
The UNC Black Student Movement announced plans to hold a campus demonstration in solidarity with Hannah-Jones on Friday, June 25. The university said on June 4 it is working with attorneys representing the incoming journalism professor about her employment. Hannah-Jones is set to begin her role as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism on July 1.
Read Chair of the UNC Faculty Mimi Chapman’s letter here.
Photo via UNC.
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