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Hunter College–CUNY Believe It Or Not: CBS Morning News Gayle King and Journalist and Scholar Nikole Hannah-Jones Q&A
Nikole Hannah-Jones: Well, I’ve decided to decline the offer of tenure. I will not be teaching on the faculty of the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. A very difficult decision, not a decision I wanted to make. And instead, I’m going to be the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Journalism, at Howard University.
Gayle King, CBS: So many things to unpack there. First, let’s start with you declining the offer. The vote was nine to four, clearly in your favor. There were some people that could say, you said you wouldn’t take the job without being offered tenure. They offered you the tenure and you’re still saying, thanks, but no.
Nikole Hannah-Jones: That’s-
Gayle King, CBS: Because?
Nikole Hannah-Jones: Well, because look what it took to get tenure. So this was a position that since the 1980s came with tenure. The Knight Chairs are designed for professional journalists when working in the field to come to academia. And every other chair before me, who also happened to be white, has seen that position with tenure. I-
Gayle King, CBS: Had never been denied, no one had ever been denied tenure before?
