“Politics.” That’s how one member of the board of trustees at the University of North Carolina summed up to NC Policy Watch the decision to deny tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones, a New York Times reporter recently hired to fill the university’s prestigious Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. After a rigorous yearlong review process, Hannah-Jones had been enthusiastically recommended for tenure by faculty and administrators, only to have it denied by the board in an unprecedented action.
“Politics.” That’s how one member of the board of trustees at the University of North Carolina summed up to NC Policy Watch the decision to deny tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones, a New York Times reporter recently hired to fill the university’s prestigious Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. After a rigorous yearlong review process, Hannah-Jones had been enthusiastically recommended for tenure by faculty and administrators, only to have it denied by the board in an unprecedented action.
