The Absurd End to the UNC–Nikole Hannah-Jones Furor

By George Leef

Monday, August 01, 2022

 

University leaders have been letting standards slide for a long time, but the decision by the University of North Carolina to hire writer Nikole Hannah-Jones as a journalism professor takes the cake. When her job didn’t come with tenure, she pitched a fit and the school quickly caved in, offering her tenure. But by that time, she was fed up and moved on to another offer, at Howard University.

 

Alas, that wasn’t the end of the story. Her lawyers concocted a lawsuit against UNC, and, to nobody’s surprise, UNC again caved in with a juicy settlement. (This reminds me of the way activist groups often sue the federal government, knowing that the feds will give them just what they want in a “settlement” of the case.)

 

In today’s Martin Center article, Philip Magness and James Harrigan write about the settlement.

 

First, as to the initial job offer, the authors observe, “While UNC did, in fact, offer Nikole Hannah-Jones a position, which she did, in fact, accept, there was a devil in the details. The job she accepted did not come with tenure; it came with a five-year contract with an option for tenure review. Whatever the interior machinations at the Hussman School, this was not an unreasonable offer. Hannah-Jones, quite simply, had not done the sort of academic work that tenure rewards. Journalism and academia are two very different animals.”

 

A five-year contract at a major university should have been enough, but the lack of immediate tenure caused Hannah-Jones to claim that she was being mistreated.

 

What about the terms of the settlement? UNC will pay her $75,000 not to sue again. Far more expensive, however, are the other terms. The authors explain:

 

It turns out the $75,000 wasn’t quite enough. As part of her settlement, she somehow managed to secure a bunch of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) sinecures for 20 university administrators. Per the agreement, these bureaucrats will be attached to hiring committees for new university employees. They will “receive a stipend to serve as consultants or participants” in hiring searches. The terms of Hannah-Jones’s deal also direct UNC to make a new hire for something called a “trauma-informed therapist within the Multicultural Health Program,” as if to signal atonement for Hannah-Jones’s claims of mental anguish over an insufficiently generous hiring offer in the initial round. Another clause dedicates an annual payout of $5,000 to pay for “meetings, events, and symposia” hosted by an activist organization for university faculty and staff.

 

So, UNC will be paying for its folly for many years to come.