Day after the UNC system's board of trustees reversed itself and approved her tenure, Nikole Hannah-Jones did, in my view, the right thing: decline UNC offer.
Hannah-Jones is not the only Black academic who was
denied tenure in the last few months alone. Harvard University also denied Dr.
Cornel West tenure. What is striking about this case is the fact that Dr. West had
a tenured position at Harvard before. He left his tenured position in 2002
after then Harvard president, Lawrence Summers, depreciated his “scholarship,
his commitment to teaching, and his political advocacy.” It should be noted
that this is the same Summers who argued that women are underrepresented in the
sciences not because of historical discrimination, but because women underperform
in math and sciences because of biological difference when compared to men.
We must consider these cases in the context of academic
positions and the power structure within the system. First, it should be noted
that almost three-quarters of all US faculty positions are off the tenure track
and more universities are moving to limit tenure-track positions and replace
them with contract laborers. Second, as the US Department of Education data on
the makeup and salaries of faculty members in higher education show, Black
persons and people of color are severely underrepresented and underpaid
compared to white persons. In fact, most cases of tenure-denial or notices to
that potentiality in the last 30 years have impacted people of color and rarely
impacted white persons, especially white men.
Nikole Hannah-Jones will not be the last Black
person who will face discrimination. The system as is will likely produce the
same outcomes. It was the right decision to fight the denial and it was the
right decision to decline the offer after the denial. The series of events
underscored the corrupt nature and highly politicized processes in academia.
Had Hannah-Jones accepted tenure after she was denied it, it would perpetuate
the idea that the system works: it was an error that was fixed, and the system
works since Hannah-Jones eventually received tenure. That is not true. The decision
was reversed only because of public pressure and only because of the stature of
Nikole Hannah-Jones. Anyone else who deserve tenure but lacks the stature,
standing, and connections of Nikole Hannah-Jones, but happens to be a person of
color will not be able to force a university to reverse itself.
Changing the system will require acts of courage
from the persons who experience discrimination and systemic exclusion to refuse
to legitimize the system as is, expose the social groups who benefit from it,
and reveal the actors who designed it.
Abstract: On May 11, 2019, the US federal government indicted 50 individuals, charging them with bribery and fraud in a widespread colle...
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