1619 Project Creator Nikole Hannah-Jones Considers Legal Action Over UNC Tenure Denial I am obligated to fight back against a wave of anti-democratic suppression that seeks to . silence Black voices and chill free speech, the journalist said.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of The New York Times’ “1619 Project,” said she is considering legal action against the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill after she wasn’t offered tenure for her new position with the school.
“I had no desire to bring turmoil or a political firestorm to the university that I love, but I am obligated to fight back against a wave of anti-democratic suppression that seeks to prohibit the free exchange of ideas, silence Black voices and chill free speech,” Hannah-Jones said in a statement Friday.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, an investigative journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for her commentary on The New York Times’ 1619 Project has been denied tenure at her alma mater after pushback from conservatives.
The University of North Carolina’s Hussman School of Media and Journalism announced in April that Hannah-Jones would become the newest Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism, a professorship that typically comes with tenure. However, despite approval from faculty and the tenure committee, the MacArthur Fellow was offered a five-year teaching contract instead after the Board of Trustees did not act on the faculty’s recommendation.
While Hannah-Jones did not address the university’s decision directly, she acknowledged on Twitter the support she’d received in the aftermath of the announcement.
Other journalists and members of the press also sounded off about the news on Twitter.
This is weak as fuck UNC. Absolutely spineless. But these are the entities that come running to the conversation about how to be good allies. https://t.co/tLuFB68wxf Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) May 19, 2021
Telling the truth about racism always inspires backlash. This absurd decision speaks to the profound power of Nikole’s work. https://t.co/k9yZvNPpQO John Eligon (@jeligon) May 19, 2021
it s hard to see UNC s decision to deny tenure to Nikole Hannah Jones as anything other than an attack on press freedom she is being penalized for producing journalism that powerful people do not like and have worked for years to silence. Wesley (@WesleyLowery) May 19, 2021