Nikole Hannah-Jones, whom the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recruited to teach in its journalism department, will not join the faculty if she is not granted tenure, her lawyers told the school Monday.
Hannah-Jones agreed earlier in 2021 to teach at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. Her application for tenure was dropped in May after the university said she lacked a “traditional academic-type background.”
Her lawyers offered the school an ultimatum, telling the university it could either reinstate the tenure application or not have Hannah-Jones teach at all.
“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,” a letter from her attorneys reads.
1619 PROJECT FOUNDER LOSES UNC TENURE OFFER AFTER SCHOOLS OFFICIALS’ CRITICISM
The letter referenced an alleged “powerful donor” whose influence “contributed to the Board of Trustees’ failure to consider her tenure application.” The donor attorneys referenced is Walter Hussman, a newspaper publisher whom the school is named after, according to the New York Times.
Pulitzer Prize–winning Hannah-Jones works as a correspondent at the New York Times Magazine and is the developer of the long-form journalistic endeavor called the 1619 Project, which claims to look at American history through the context of slavery and systemic racism.
Hussman reportedly questioned university leaders about Hannah-Jones’s involvement with the project when it was announced she could be recruited to teach at her alma mater.
Hannah-Jones considered filing a discrimination suit against the university, her lawyers said.
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The Washington Examiner contacted representatives close to Hannah-Jones but did not immediately hear back from them about her lawyers’ remarks.
