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There are a lot of good people teaching at UNC. However, since the days of Jesse Helms calling the school a zoo and "pinko filth," there has been partisan press

There are a lot of good people teaching at UNC. However, since the days of Jesse Helms calling the school a zoo and "pinko filth," there has been partisan pressure to tear it apart. Sadly, it seems that might finally be working. Short of the Boards resigning and the Legislature not gloating about all of this, it's hard to imagine how to undo the harm caused by the treatment of Hannah-Jones.

leephillips 5y ago
What was wrong with the treatment of Hannah-Jones, and what harm did it cause?
- sul_tasto 5y ago
  She is the author of the 1619 Project, a debunked attempt at retelling the founding of the United States with an over-emphasis on the role of slavery. I don’t know what happened to her at UNC, but she is a very polarizing figure who is part of the ‘woke’ movement in the IS.
- panda-giddiness 5y ago
  Hannah-Jones is a staff reporter for the New York Times who launched the 1619 Project, a piece of long-form journalism which reframes American history in terms of the plight of Black Americans and enslaved people. Despite controversy in conservative circles, she won a Pulitzer Prize for this work. The Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC (her alma mater) invited Hannah-Jones to become the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. Notably, previous Knight Chairs have been granted tenure, and Hannah-Jones was similarly recommended for tenure by a committee within the department. However, all tenure decisions must be approved by the UNC Board of Trustees. The Board, unlike school faculty, is ultimately beholden to the (Republican) state legislature: 4 seats are appointed by the state legislature, 8 seats are appointed by the NC Board of Trustees (who are all appointed by the state legislature), and 1 seat is afforded to the student body president. Rather than grant/deny Hannah-Jones tenure, the Board initially ignored her application, effectively preventing her from receiving tenure. Due to the Board's inaction, the school instead offered the position as a fixed five-year contract, with an option for tenure at the end of that term pending review. Unsurprisingly, Hannah-Jones found such a deal unsatisfactory, given that she expected to receive tenure and a future tenure review could just as easily be blocked by the Board. After a great deal of backlash by students and faculty, as well as threats of an impending lawsuit by Hannah-Jones, the Board eventually acquiesced. She was granted tenure by a vote of 9-4. Of course, Hannah-Jones has since decided to accept a tenured position at Howard University instead. --- [1] https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/05/nikole-hannah-jones-tenure-unc.html https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/05/nikole-hannah-jones... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/business/media/nikole-hannah-jones-unc-tenure.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/business/media/nikole-han...
  - infamia 5y ago
    > Despite controversy in conservative circles, she won a Pulitzer Prize for this work. This is a one-sided telling of the story. 1619 Project is controversial within academic circles. Numerous professors, including a Pulitzer Prize winning historian, a winner of the Bancroft Prize, and other historians found many defects and published a public letter requesting corrections. The aforementioned Pulitzer Prize winner described 1619 as, "So wrong in so many ways". Characterizing the controversy as occurring "conservative circles" doesn't even come close to painting a complete picture. https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2020/02/u-professors-send-letter-requesting-corrections-to-1619-project https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2020/02/u-professo... Additionally, the reason Hannah-Jones' tenure application stalled had nothing to whatsoever to do with State Republican influence as you allege, but was in part, blocked by a large donor whose name is on the School of Journalism. Donating $25 million dollars gives you a lot of say in a university. https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/donor-concerns-hannah-jones-prompted-emails-unc-78051552 https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/donor-concerns-hannah-jo...

leephillips 5y ago

What was wrong with the treatment of Hannah-Jones, and what harm did it cause?

sul_tasto 5y ago
She is the author of the 1619 Project, a debunked attempt at retelling the founding of the United States with an over-emphasis on the role of slavery. I don’t know what happened to her at UNC, but she is a very polarizing figure who is part of the ‘woke’ movement in the IS.
panda-giddiness 5y ago
Hannah-Jones is a staff reporter for the New York Times who launched the 1619 Project, a piece of long-form journalism which reframes American history in terms of the plight of Black Americans and enslaved people. Despite controversy in conservative circles, she won a Pulitzer Prize for this work. The Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC (her alma mater) invited Hannah-Jones to become the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. Notably, previous Knight Chairs have been granted tenure, and Hannah-Jones was similarly recommended for tenure by a committee within the department. However, all tenure decisions must be approved by the UNC Board of Trustees. The Board, unlike school faculty, is ultimately beholden to the (Republican) state legislature: 4 seats are appointed by the state legislature, 8 seats are appointed by the NC Board of Trustees (who are all appointed by the state legislature), and 1 seat is afforded to the student body president. Rather than grant/deny Hannah-Jones tenure, the Board initially ignored her application, effectively preventing her from receiving tenure. Due to the Board's inaction, the school instead offered the position as a fixed five-year contract, with an option for tenure at the end of that term pending review. Unsurprisingly, Hannah-Jones found such a deal unsatisfactory, given that she expected to receive tenure and a future tenure review could just as easily be blocked by the Board. After a great deal of backlash by students and faculty, as well as threats of an impending lawsuit by Hannah-Jones, the Board eventually acquiesced. She was granted tenure by a vote of 9-4. Of course, Hannah-Jones has since decided to accept a tenured position at Howard University instead. --- [1] https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/05/nikole-hannah-jones-tenure-unc.html https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/05/nikole-hannah-jones... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/business/media/nikole-hannah-jones-unc-tenure.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/business/media/nikole-han...
- infamia 5y ago
  > Despite controversy in conservative circles, she won a Pulitzer Prize for this work. This is a one-sided telling of the story. 1619 Project is controversial within academic circles. Numerous professors, including a Pulitzer Prize winning historian, a winner of the Bancroft Prize, and other historians found many defects and published a public letter requesting corrections. The aforementioned Pulitzer Prize winner described 1619 as, "So wrong in so many ways". Characterizing the controversy as occurring "conservative circles" doesn't even come close to painting a complete picture. https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2020/02/u-professors-send-letter-requesting-corrections-to-1619-project https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2020/02/u-professo... Additionally, the reason Hannah-Jones' tenure application stalled had nothing to whatsoever to do with State Republican influence as you allege, but was in part, blocked by a large donor whose name is on the School of Journalism. Donating $25 million dollars gives you a lot of say in a university. https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/donor-concerns-hannah-jones-prompted-emails-unc-78051552 https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/donor-concerns-hannah-jo...