University of North Carolina

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/1/2023
  

  UNC Trustees Sidestep Faculty to Launch "School of Civic Life and Leadership"

  Faculty believe, based on statements by politically appointed Trustees, that the school will be a landing place for appointing conservative scholars to the campus without typical shared governance. 

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• SOURCE: North Carolina Policywatch
  4/6/2022
  

  Documents Show UNC Conducted "Sweeping and Disturbing" Investigation of Faculty over Donor Agreement Leaks

  When faculty leaked documents showing a large donor's involvement in the Nikole Hannah-Jones debacle, the University of North Carolina took aggressive action to identify the leakers. 

• 
• SOURCE: Chapelboro.com
  12/13/2021
  

  At UNC, New Provost Hire Raises Concerns of Political Influence

  Associate Professor of History William Sturkey worries that ideology may matter more than experience in hiring key administrators at Chapel Hill, and says many faculty are concerned about the growing role of politics in running the campus. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Intercept
  9/28/2021
  

  Israeli Diplomat Pressured UNC to Cancel Grad Student Instructor's Course on Israel-Palestine Conflict

  "Kylie Broderick had expected scrutiny some of her teaching. What she did not was the degree to which the smear campaign against her would balloon, up to and including interventions from officials of two governments."

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  9/16/2021
  

  Can This Group Bring Political Interference Under Control at UNC?

   “I worry that we are going to have some of our best and brightest faculty just take the attitude that, well, gosh, I don’t need to put up with this. I don’t need to put up with people who seem to want to tamper with my ability to do my job.”

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• SOURCE: NAACP Legal Defense Fund
  7/6/2021
  

  Nikole Hannah-Jones Issues Statement After Passing Up UNC for Howard University

  “I cannot imagine working at and advancing a school named for a man who lobbied against me, who used his wealth to influence the hires and ideology of the journalism school, who ignored my 20 years of journalism experience, all of my credentials, all of my work, because he believed that a project that centered Black Americans equaled the denigration of white Americans."

• 
• SOURCE: Mother Jones
  6/30/2021
  

  Nikole Hannah-Jones Finally Has Been Granted Tenure. But the Damage Is Already Done.

  It's uncertain that the Board of Trustees' decision to grant tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones will lead her to join the University of North Carolina, and unlikely that the decision will erase the damage done by conservative interference in university governance. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  6/30/2021
  

  Nikole Hannah-Jones Granted Tenure by UNC Trustees

  The vote was 9-4, after a number of protesters were removed from the room. It is not now known if Hannah-Jones will now accept the appointment at UNC. 

• 
• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  6/29/2021
  

  Finally: Tenure Vote for Hannah-Jones

  by Colleen Flaherty

  The Board of Trustees for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will hold a special meeting Wednesday, reportedly to vote on tenure for journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones.

• 
• SOURCE: NC Policy Watch
  6/14/2021
  

  Toll from Political Push at UNC Continues to Mount

  Malinda Maynor Lowery is leaving her position at the University of North Carolina because of the politicization of the university's governance by conservative activists, most recently reflected in the refusal to hire Nikole Hannah Jones with tenure. 

• 
• SOURCE: Slate
  6/2/2021
  

  The Conservative Disinformation Campaign Against Nikole Hannah-Jones

  by Alice Marwick and Daniel Kreiss

  Two of Nikole Hannah-Jones's prospective UNC colleagues describe the pressure to prevent her being hired with tenure a part of a long pattern of conservative political activism using disinformation and distortion as weapons to control what is taught at universities.

• 
• SOURCE: The Root
  5/25/2021
  

  We Stand in Solidarity With Nikole Hannah-Jones

  by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore and Martha S. Jones

  "The University’s Board of Trustees has failed to uphold the first order values of academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas. And too many lawmakers have wrongly deemed it their role to reach into classrooms and tell educators what to teach and how to teach it."

• 
• SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer
  5/23/2021
  

  Nikole Hannah-Jones and the Secret History of the Real ‘Cancel Culture’ on U.S. Campuses

  by Will Bunch

  This week's controversy at UNC is only the latest chapter in a decades-long effort by the right to exert control over public universities. 

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  5/24/2021
  

  We Have Criticized Nikole Hannah-Jones. Her Tenure Denial Is a Travesty

  by Keith E. Whittington and Sean Wilentz

  Two scholarly critics of Nikole Hannah-Jones's 1619 Project say that the actions of the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees set a dangerous precedent for academic freedom. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Guardian
  5/23/2021
  

  What is at Stake with Nikole Hannah-Jones Being Denied Tenure

  by Siva Vaidhyanathan

  "For more than a decade a powerful conservative cabal has been undermining academic research, freedom and excellence at what was until recently the pride of that rising and growing state."

• 
• SOURCE: NC Policy Watch
  5/19/2021
  

  PW Special Report: After Conservative Criticism, UNC Backs Down From Offering Acclaimed Journalist Tenured Position

  “This is a very political thing,” the trustee said. “The university and the board of trustees and the Board of Governors and the legislature have all been getting pressure since this thing was first announced last month. There have been people writing letters and making calls, for and against. But I will leave it to you which is carrying more weight.”

• 
• SOURCE: TeenVogue
  5/19/2021
  

  Campus Cancel Culture Freakouts Obscure the Power of University Boards

  by Asheesh Kapur Siddique

  The real power at American universities lies with their boards of directors, which are increasingly drawn from the ranks of corporate America and have shown themselves willing to enforce ideological restrictions on teaching and research. 

• 
• SOURCE: CNN
  8/20/2020
  

  UNC Fiasco Reveals Truth About Reopening Colleges

  by David M. Perry

  University administrations need to be more transparent and accountable for how they are handling reopening under COVID. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  12/9/19
  

  A University’s Betrayal of Historical Truth

  by David W. Blight, W. Fitzhugh Brundage, Kevin M. Levin

  The University of North Carolina agreed to pay the Sons of Confederate Veterans $2.5 million—a sum that rivals the endowment of its history department.

• 
• SOURCE: NY Times
  12/3/19
  

  Why Did U.N.C. Give Millions to a Neo-Confederate Group?

  by William Sturkey

  The University of North Carolina’s settlement over a controversial statue is a subsidy for white nationalism.