Students and faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill protested at a Board of Trustees meeting Thursday after a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist wasn't granted tenure.
But board Chairman Richard Stevens said the protesters are mistaken in assuming the trustees denied Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure.
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Hannah-Jones, a UNC-Chapel Hill alumna and a New York Times reporter, was hired in April to be the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media. She starts in the position in July.
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 in America. Some critics and historians say there are factual inaccuracies in her work.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has funded numerous Knight Chair faculty positions nationwide, and they typically carry tenure. But Hannah-Jones was offered a five-year contract instead.
Tori Ekstrand, an associate professor in the Hussman School, said the faculty deserve an explanation for why Hannah-Jones wasn't granted tenure.
"When a faculty member votes in a tenure case, we have to give an explanation on a piece of paper immediately so that administrators know what our personal reasons are for denying tenure. So, we’re asking the same from the Board of Trustees," Ekstrand said.
Chair of the Faculty Mimi Chapman said the board needs to trust them in the exhaustive process in recommending someone for tenure.
But Stevens said Hannah-Jones was never recommended to the full board for tenure, so no decision has been made. The board's personnel committee asked in January for more time to review her qualifications for tenure, he said, and she subsequently agreed to a five-year contract.
"As trustees, we take seriously our responsibility for approving tenure. You're talking about a lifetime position here," he said. "It's not unusual for members of the board ... to have questions for clarification about background, particularly [for] candidates that don't come from the traditional academic-type background."
Susan King, dean of the Hussman School, called Hannah-Jones "arguably the pre-eminent journalist of her generation."
"She was qualified before The 1619 Project," Ekstrand agreed. "She had proven herself at a very early age to be an extraordinary reporter and investigative journalist."
But conservative groups like Carolina Partnership for Reform have referred to Hannah-Jones as “an activist reporter – not a teacher.”
Stevens said Hannah-Jones could be considered for tenure during the course of the five-year contract.
King wrote in an email to Hussman School faculty that she was told "the board was worried about a non-academic entering the university with this [tenured] designation."
At least 30 UNC-Chapel Hill professors signed a letter defending Jones, and members of the school's student government issued a statement Thursday blasting the Board of Trustees and university administrators for not giving her tenure.
"We acknowledge that UNC does not create an environment for Black academics to flourish, and it would be hypocritical of us as student leaders to ask you to reside in an atmosphere that does not uplift, protect or respect you," the statement said, referring to Hannah-Jones.
Hannah-Jones' supporters say opposition to her work on The 1619 Project is at least partly responsible for holding up her tenure.
"If the speculations are true, then we denounce any decision to deny a distinguished journalist tenure because she simply did her job by reporting facts about slavery in America," Dorothy Tucker, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said in a statement Thursday.
"The university would be sending a message to its students that it does not support press freedom and that seeking the truth and reporting it is not a pillar it believes should be a part of our profession, and that the work of Black journalists, or any journalist, to expose the ills of slavery and its impact on America is unmerited," Tucker said.
"To think that the ignorance of North Carolina would overrule a MacArthur genius fellow and a Pulitzer Prize winner and say we don’t even want that thought in our state, it’s shameful. It’s embarrassing," Chapel Hill resident Anna Richard said as she protested outside the Board of Trustees meeting.
"For her to be scrutinized as a result of this project is outrageous," said Betty Curry, a member of the local NAACP. "White America has a problem with the truth, especially when it comes to Black America."
"I am here for my students, my students of color in particular, who have told us they want more faculty of color in our building and on our campus," Ekstrand said.
Hannah-Jones tweeted Wednesday night that she was keeping a low profile amid the controversy but was appreciative of the support she had received.
She followed that up Thursday with another tweet saying she will try not to disappoint her supporters.
"I have been overwhelmed by all the support you all have shown me. It has truly fortified my spirit and my resolve," she said. "You all know that I will be OK. But this fight is bigger than me, and I will try my best not to let you down."