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Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The New York Times' controversial 1619 Project, said she will not become a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill unless she's guaranteed tenure.
In a letter addressed to the university this week, Hannah-Jones' legal team said she will not begin her position as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media in July as previously scheduled – and will not take the position without "the protection and security of tenure," NC Policy Watch first reported Tuesday.
She also indirectly renewed threats to bring a federal discrimination lawsuit against the university.
The UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees declined to vote on Hannah-Jones’ tenure when she was first recruited for the position in April reportedly amid political objections from trustees and pressure from conservatives who have sought to block her hire altogether.
UNC ACCUSED OF TOKENIZING, EXPLOITING MINORITIES AFTER 1619 PROJECT'S HANNAH-JONES DENIED TENURE
She was instead offered a five-year, fixed-term contract – despite the fact previous Knight chairs, defined as media professionals rather than career academics had secured the role with tenure.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publisher Walter Hussman Jr. – for whom the journalism school was renamed in 2019 after his $25 million donation – had voiced concern about UNC tying itself to the 1619 Project, arguing Hannah-Jones had prioritized political ideology over objective journalism. But dean Susan King nevertheless continued to pursue Hannah-Jones, a UNC alumna, for a faculty position.
"Since signing the fixed-term contract, Ms. Hannah-Jones has come to learn that political interference and influence from a powerful donor contributed to the Board of Trustees’ failure to consider her tenure application," Hannah-Jones' legal team wrote. "In light of this information, Ms. Hannah-Jones cannot trust that the University would consider her tenure application in good faith during the period of the fixed-term contract. Such good faith consideration for tenure was understood to be an essential element of the fixed-term contract when Ms. Hannah-Jones agreed to enter into it.
"In light of the information which has come to her attention since that time, she cannot begin employment with the University without the protection and security of tenure," the letter read.
Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones attends the 75th Annual Peabody Awards Ceremony held at Cipriani Wall Street on May 21, 2016, in New York City. (Brent N. Clarke/FilmMagic)
Stressing that Hannah-Jones has not withdrawn her application for tenure and does not intend to do so, her team also sets the tone of the legal argument she will likely pursue should she follow through on threats of bringing a federal discrimination lawsuits against the university board.
"The inferior terms of employment offered to Ms. Hannah-Jones in the fixed-term contract resulted from viewpoint discrimination in violation of the freedom of speech and expression, secured by the United States and North Carolina Constitution; race and sex discrimination and retaliation in violation of federal and North Carolina state law; unlawful political influence in violation of North Carolina state law; and other unlawful grounds," the letter says. "Under these circumstances, any appointment of Ms. Hannah-Jones without tenure is unacceptable."
In an op-ed published on the UNC student government website this week, the student body president argued the university continues to "tokenize and exploit" students of color after Hannah-Jones was denied tenure. Lamar Richards, in the piece titled "Brace for Reckoning," urged prospective students from minority backgrounds to "look elsewhere," as the school has "continually fallen short" in efforts to "reform."
This comes after several House Republicans earlier this month reintroduced the Saving American History Act, which aims to ban federal funds from being used to teach the 1619 Project in K-12 schools or school districts. The 1619 Project claims that America’s defining year was not when our nation was founded in 1776, but rather when the first slave ship arrived at American shores in 1619. It advances the idea that America is a nation founded primarily to prolong slavery and has been criticized as revisionist history.
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Hussman, in 2019 emails first opposing Hannah-Jones’ hiring, said her own words will lead many to believe she is "trying to push an agenda" and "assume she is manipulating historical faces to support it."
"My hope and vision was that the journalism school would be the champion of objective, impartial reporting and separating news and opinion, and that would add so much to its reputation and would benefit both the school and the University," he wrote at the time, according to the news site the Assembly. "Instead, I fear this possible and needless controversy will overshadow it."
Fox News’ Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.
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