Nikole Hannah-Jones Won’t Join UNC Faculty Without Tenure, Attorneys Say

The Pulitzer Prize-winning "1619 Project" creator had been set to begin a five-year teaching contract next month.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones won’t join the University of North Carolina faculty next month unless she is granted tenure, her attorneys declared Wednesday. Hannah-Jones, creator of The New York Times’ acclaimed “1619 Project,” was set to begin a five-year contract teaching at the university on July 1 as a Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. But her lawyers said in a letter first published by NC Policy Watch that they believed “political interference and influence” had resulted in the school’s failure to grant her tenure. “Ms. Hannah-Jones cannot trust that the University would consider her tenure application in good faith during the period of the fixed-term contract,” her lawyers wrote. They added: “She cannot begin employment with the University without the protection and security of tenure.”