UNC-Chapel Hill faculty: Lack of tenure for prize-winning journalist a 'breach of trust'

Nikole Hannah-Jones, a UNC-Chapel Hill alumna and a New York Times reporter, was hired in April as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at the university's Hussman School of Journalism and Media. She won the Pulitzer, a Peabody Award and a so-called "genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for "The 1619 Project" about slavery's impact on America.

On Monday, the Faculty Executive Committee drafted a statement to the board calling the lack of tenure a "breach of trust" that must be repaired:

"The Faculty Executive Committee strongly urges the Board of Trustees to uphold the long tradition of respect for recommendations from faculty bodies in hiring and tenure cases and to take up the matter of tenure for Nikole Hannah-Jones immediately and to explain to the fullest extent possible, without violating the law, the reasons for its decision. These steps must be undertaken to address a breach of trust in a process that is essential to our standing as a leading public research university."

But Mimi Chapman, chairwoman of the Faculty Executive Committee, said Monday that not acting on the Hussman School's recommendation that Hannah-Jones be given tenure was essentially a decision to deny it.

"I’m not sure any of us has seen the faculty more galvanized with emotion – not just thought, but emotion over what has happened," Faculty Executive Committee member Eric Muller said. "We are outraged."

Two other UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members have been named to Knight Chair positions in the past. Chapman said both were tenured, although neither came from an academic background – similar to Hannah-Jones' situation.

"One thing that is different about Ms. Hannah-Jones than those previous chairs is that she writes about something that has become very controversial in the last year, her 1619 Project," Chapman said. "She writes about race in America, and that is something that has become a hot button. It shouldn’t be, not on a college campus. These are issues we talk about all the time.

"You have to raise the question of this is Black woman, and why is she being treated differently?" she continued. "Whether that is intentional, whether it’s more about her work versus her personal identity, I don’t know. And we don’t know because the Board of Trustees won’t take up the case."

"The process of tenure basically allows you the opportunity to express unpopular ideas, and by not extending that, it feels like the university is saying, 'Don’t make waves,'" said Sabriya Rice, the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism at the University of Georgia.

Rice called Hannah-Jones' situation both outrageous and heartbreaking, saying it's "hard to see it in any other way" when asked if the tenure issue in Chapel Hill was racially or politically motivated.

"Myself and the other Knight chairs were really excited to have Nikole join our ranks, and then for it to have to devolve to this just seems pretty frustrating," she said.

Hannah-Jones has maintained a low profile throughout the controversy. Although she's tweeted a few times to thank people for their support, she hasn't responded to WRAL News' requests for comment.

If UNC-Chapel Hill doesn't offer her tenure, Hannah-Jones might not join the faculty at all, Chapman said.

"I have certainly heard multiple times that she has multiple offers of tenured positions at other places," she said.

Beyond Hannah-Jones, however, the board's stance creates a "chilling effect" among other scholars at the university, Chapman said.

"When a candidate is recommended, goes through the entire process, and then to have that request not considered, and not acted upon, sends a really damaging message to the faculty," she said. "[This] situation sends a message to many other people on our campus, many other people who are studying topics [and] using theories that might be seen as controversial."