1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones is refusing to teach at UNC Chapel Hill after she claims a 'powerful donor' blocked her from tenured role
The founder of the controversial 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones is refusing to teach at UNC Chapel Hill after she claims a 'powerful donor' blocked her from a tenured position, according to a letter from her lawyers.
Hannah-Jones won a Pulitzer Prize for her work on the 1619 Project, named for the year that the first African slaves were brought to the English colony of Virginia.
Published The New York Times Magazine in August 2019, it frames American history through the lens of slavery. It sold better than anything put out by the Times since its historic 2008 Obama presidency edition, but also drew fierce criticism from academics who claimed it clouded historical fact with left-wing ideology.
In the latest success for Hannah-Jones, she was invited to teach at her alma mater the UNC's Hussman School of Journalism and take the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism from July 1.
But her lawyers claim that in a break from tradition she was blocked from holding a tenured position – a permanent paid post – because of a 'powerful donor' whose influence at UNC 'contributed to the Board of Trustees' failure to consider her tenure application.'
Walter E. Hussman Jr., a news mogul who has donated $25 million to the journalism school named after him, was among the donors who raised concerns about Hannah-Jones' hiring last summer.
Author Nikole Hannah-Jones speaks on stage during the 137th Commencement at Morehouse College on May 16, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia
Hannah-Jones won a Pulitzer Prize for her work on the 1619 Project, named for the year that the first African slaves were brought to the English colony of Virginia (pictured: speaking at a tribute to MLK in New York in January 2020)
The South Building at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, North Carolina is adorned with banners (stock photo)
'I worry about the controversy of tying the UNC journalism school to the 1619 project,' he wrote to Susan King, dean at the Hussman School of Journalism. But King went on to hire Hannah-Jones anyway.
Every Knight Chair since 1980 has been appointed with tenure, but instead Hannah-Jones was offered a five-year contract by trustees as a 'work-around' to prevent an ugly political clash if her application proceeded to a vote by the board.
But Hannah-Jones' lawyers said information was withheld when she signed the fixed-term contract and that she never withdrew her tenure application, according to the letter dated Monday obtained by NC Policy Watch.
The letter said: '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.
'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 also laid out the legal framework through which Hannah-Jones sought to challenge the decision not to grant her tenure.
The NAACP lawyers wrote: '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 Constitutions; 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 …
'Under these circumstances, any appointment of Ms Hannah-Jones without tenure is unacceptable.'
Private emails reveal that UNC Chapel Hill megadonor Walter Hussman (right) had objected to the university's hiring of New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones as a Knight Chair professor at the school last summer
After a $25 million donation to the college, UNC named its journalism school after Hussman
Teachers and students at UNC have rallied around Hannah-Jones since it came to light that the board was going to break from tradition and not offer her a tenured position.
A two-page ad appearing in The News & Observer of Raleigh last month featured 1,619 alumni and students at UNC-Chapel Hill who offered their support of Hannah-Jones and called on the school to grant the tenure request.
A letter signed by professional athletes, writers and academics also assailed the university, saying the trustees 'failed to uphold the first order values of academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas.'
Hussman, who has criticised the 1619 Project in emails to university chiefs, told The New York Times this month that he did not want to influence the board.
'I really wanted to make them more knowledgeable about the 1619 Project,' Hussman told the paper. 'And I thought, I'm now a lot more knowledgeable about it, having read it — not cursory but carefully.'
Referring to the board members, he said, 'They're going to have to make their own decision.'
Hussman told the paper that the board's decision would not affect any future donations.
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