UNC recently reached a settlement with Nikole Hannah-Jones approximately one year after controversy surrounding her tenure consideration. The university said the settlement “resolves legal matters arising from her application for a tenured position.”
“The steps taken to resolve the lingering potential legal action posed by Ms. Hannah-Jones will hopefully help to close this chapter and give the university the space to focus on moving forward,” UNC Board of Trustees Chair David Boliek said.
The settlement was just less than $75,000 and part of the stipulations bar Hannah-Jones from applying for employment with UNC through January 1, 2028. To read the full settlement, click here.
Hannah-Jones shared comments about the settlement on her twitter account Tuesday morning saying the it is more than just a monetary amount.
The University of North Carolina has confirmed the dollar amount of my settlement over my tenure in media reports, but my settlement was about much more than that. I and my @NAACP_LDF team fought for concessions that wld support the work of faculty & students of color on campus.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 19, 2022
According to the journalist, part of the settlement includes UNC training 20 faculty and staff to be paid search and selection process advisors in helping to diversify hiring at the university. Additionally the university is to post an additional trauma-informed therapist position by July 31 in the Multicultural Health Program.
Hannah-Jones also shared the settlement includes $5,000 in funding per year through June 2025 for Carolina Black Caucus.
“We took these concessions directly from the asks of student and faculty groups and fought very hard for them,” Hannah-Jones said. “We believe that these concessions will help make my alma mater better and help it live up to its promise. As I said again and again: This was never about me.”
We took these concessions directly from the asks of student and faculty groups and fought very hard for them. We believe that these concessions will help make my alma mater better and help it live up to its promise. As I said again and again: This was never about me. -30-
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 19, 2022
Janai Nelson, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund which represented Hannah-Jones, congratulated the journalist on social media.
@NAACP_LDF was joined in the privilege of representing @nhannahjones by co-counsel @LevyRatner and Ferguson Chambers & Sumter, P.A. Special thanks to @amberkoonce @JLee_LDF & @Jennyhooo for their excellent lawyering.
— Janai Nelson (@JNelsonLDF) July 15, 2022
UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media made plans to hire Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and UNC alumna, in 2020. Hannah-Jones, who is known for her work on The New York Times’ ‘1619 Project,’ was set to become the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism — traditionally a tenured professorship.
In May, however, NC Policy Watch reported that Hannah-Jones’ tenure application was being delayed after criticism from conservative circles and, later unveiled, Walter Hussman Jr., the donor who’s name is on the UNC journalism school. The university subsequently faced public scrutiny over the decision not to award the journalist tenure since all prior Knight Chairs received it and the delay bucked traditional hiring processes.
After the UNC Board of Trustees inaction on granting Hannah-Jones tenure, attorneys with the NAACP and two law firms wrote university officials and shared plans to file lawsuits on Hannah-Jones’ behalf. The Trustees later did vote to award her tenure in a 9 – 4 vote when Lamar Richards, the UNC Student Body President at the time, petitioned for a special meeting.
Days later, though, Hannah-Jones turned down the UNC Knight Chair position and instead took a position as Knight Chair at Howard University.
“The Board of Trustees wanted to send a message to me and others like me, and it did,” Hannah-Jones said at the time about her decision. “I always tell college students and journalists who are worried that they will face discrimination, who fear that they will be judged not by their work but for who they are or what they choose to write about, that they can only worry about that which is in their own control: their own excellence. I tell them all they can do is work as hard as possible to make themselves undeniable. And yet, we have all seen that you can do everything to make yourself undeniable, and those in power can change the rules and attempt to deny you anyway.”
Daniel Kreiss, a professor in the Hussman School and a principal researcher at the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life, spoke with 97.9 The Hill about the controversy’s initial resolution one year ago.
“I’m glad for [Hannah-Jones] personally,” Kreiss said. “Broadly, the journalism that she practices, the movements that she’s a part of that are necessary for racial equity and racial equality have been furthered by what happened, even if UNC was diminished by it.”
The American Association of University Professors voted to “resoundingly condemn” the UNC System in June. The special committee cited treatment of Hannah-Jones and political interference within its report.
Additionally, the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media faced ramifications. The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications found the program in non-compliance with the diversity and inclusiveness standard, downgrading the program to a provisional accreditation.
Beth Keith, associate vice chancellor of university communications, said the settlement moves the university past the controversy.
“This is an important step forward as Carolina focuses on its future and continues to educate the next generation of leaders,” Keith said. “As a part of the agreement, the university will accelerate its investment in crucial initiatives in Carolina Next, its strategic plan, to further that ongoing work.”
Featured Photo via the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
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