As members of the faculty of the Department of English and Comparative Literature, we write to express our alarm about the recent denial of tenure of Nikole Hannah-Jones for an endowed Knight professorship at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. Should the UNC Board of Trustees’ decision stand, it has implications that extend far beyond the facts of this case. We address three of those issues below.
Our first concern is about shared governance and the belief in the integrity and professionalism of the process that allows us to recruit, hire, and retain world-class scholars, researchers, and writers. The denial of tenure of Nikole Hannah-Jones has already drawn world-wide scrutiny about the fairness of that process. So far that scrutiny has played itself out in the press and on social media platforms. Of course, damage to and loss of reputation devastates people—but such damage also does incalculable harm to institutions. Decades of work to distinguish North Carolina’s extraordinary education system has been thrown into question as people pass judgment about professional decisions being made for political reasons. With public scrutiny comes the risk of formal sanctioning of the University by professional organizations such as the American Association of University Professors—as well as by the agencies that accredit UNC Chapel Hill—for “substantial noncompliance with standards of academic shared governance” (AAUP Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities).
Secondly, the censure and sanctioning of UNC for the politicization of the tenure process will prompt accreditation agencies to investigate the security of tenure at the University broadly. Tenure is a key part of the guarantee of academic freedom necessary for a wide range of work at contemporary colleges and universities. Law schools, for example, cannot be accredited without the availability of tenure for its faculties. The decision to deny tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones endangers academic freedom. If the Board’s decision stands, it signals to our peer institutions and the world at large that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suppresses the expression, and rigorous interrogation, of dissenting points of view.
Our last, and perhaps most important concern, is for our colleagues who do research on race and the United States, and for our colleagues of color, regardless of their areas of research. If UNC denies tenure to a groundbreaking writer and thinker, a Black woman who has earned her place at the top of her profession, and a celebrated graduate of UNC itself, then why would any scholar who works on race or any scholar of color want to work at UNC Chapel Hill? Nikole Hannah-Jones is the only scholar of color to have been appointed to the prestigious Knight professorship. All previous appointees have been white. Hannah-Jones is the recipient of a Polk award, a Pulitzer Prize, and a MacArthur (“Genius”) grant, among many other honors. Yet she is the only Knight endowed chair to be offered a five-year contract. How does UNC explain this glaring discrepancy to BIPOC students and faculty who will now be all the more inclined to leave North Carolina to do their ground-breaking research at other institutions?
Her peers believe her to be the best of the best within her profession, and she is a graduate of UNC Chapel Hill. She allows students to see what one can accomplish with what one learns at UNC Chapel Hill. We urge you to extend tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones and place her in the classroom in the fall so that she may teach what she knows and that she may help educate students who will themselves change the world. Nikole Hannah-Jones’s presence will enrich all of us. Granting Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure will tell the world that UNC Chapel Hill is a strong institution that is dedicated to academic freedom, the education of the citizens of North Carolina, and the making and sharing of knowledge with the world.
Mary Floyd-Wilson, Chair and Mann Distinguished Professor
Tyler Curtain, Associate Professor
Elyse Crystall, Teaching Associate Professor
Geovani Ramírez, Postdoctoral Teaching Assistant Professor
Florence Dore, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Jordynn Jack, Chi Omega Term Distinguished Professor
Erika Lindemann, Professor Emerita
Jessica Wolfe, Marcel Bataillon Term Distinguished Professor
Karen Tucker, Teaching Assistant Professor
Sarah Boyd, Teaching Assistant Professor
David Baker, Peter G. Phialas Distinguished Professor
Joseph Viscomi, James G. Kenan Distinguished Professor
Wendy Weber, Teaching Associate Professor
Meta DuEwa Jones, Associate Professor
Jane F. Thrailkill, Bank of America Honors Term Distinguished Professor
Kimberly Stern, Associate Professor
María DeGuzmán, Eugene H. Falk Distinguished Professor
Jennifer Washington, Business Officer
Gregory Flaxman, Associate Professor
Rebecka Rutledge Fisher, Associate Professor
Daniel Wallace, J. Ross MacDonald Distinguished Professor
Moira Marquis, Postdoctoral Teaching Assistant Professor
Jennifer Larson, Teaching Associate Professor
Ross White, Teaching Assistant Professor
Soren Palmer, Teaching Assistant Professor
Reid Barbour, Roy C. Moose Distinguished Professor
Rick Warner, Associate Professor
Joseph Fletcher, Teaching Assistant Professor
Courtney Rivard, Teaching Associate Professor
Leslie Frost, Teaching Associate Professor
Margaret O’Shaughnessey, Teaching Professor
Shayne Aaron Legassie, Associate Professor
Beverly Taylor, Professor
Martin L. Johnson, Associate Professor
Eliza Richards, Professor
Cynthia Current, Teaching Associate Professor
Jane Danielewicz, Professor Emerita
Guillermo Rodríguez-Romaguera, Teaching Assistant Professor
Tom Reinert, Associate Professor
Marsha S. Collins, Professor
Matthew Taylor, Associate Professor
Jeanne Moskal, Professor
Heidi Kim, Associate Professor
Liz Gualtieri-Reed, Teaching Assistant Professor
Susan Irons, Teaching Professor
Todd Taylor, Eliason Distinguished Professor
Kym Weed, Teaching Assistant Professor
Daniel Anderson, Professor
Bland Simpson, Kenan Distinguished Professor
Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Walker Percy Fellow/Associate Professor
Danielle Christmas, Delta Delta Delta Fellow, Assistant Professor
Melissa Faliveno, Kenan Visiting Writer