Airing UNC Chapel Hill’s Dirty Diversity Laundry-My Experience & You Be the Judge
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” Ida B. Wells
I wrote this piece a few weeks ago in response to the Trustees’ of University of North Carolina Chapel Hill decision not to grant tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones, noted journalist, founder of the 1619 Project, and a McArthur “Genius Award” recipient.
Their actions revealed the fragility of academic freedom for Black scholars and the highly racialized fault lines in higher education as it continues to maintain a system of racial hierarchy and exclusion.
I just read (Nikole Hannah-Jones Granted Tenured Faculty Position At The UNC at Chapel Hill ) today that UNC-Chapel Hill backtracked. According to the Black Enterprise article, “…the backlash they received” in the court of public opinion and from their own faculty and students pushed all the right buttons. Hannah-Jones was awarded tenure.
One reason the UNC Chapel Hill board gave for its original decision, according to the Associated Press, was “because she didn’t come from a “traditional academic-type background.” Most journalists don’t. But they knew that when they recruited her.
But at the top of the reasons why the board had not even bothered to review her case was concern expressed by some conservative members, as well as some donors, over her New York Times 1619 Project that “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States’ national narrative.” Such is the stuff of which social change and revolutions are made.
Added to the pressure was the Pulitzer prize journalist’s own announcement that she would not come without tenure, despite having accepted a five-year contract.
But few of us have that kind of star leverage — especially BIPOC scholars — that includes the backing of the New York Times or the McArthur. Foundation genius brand. Wish.
What happens to regular BIPOC applicants is that their situations get buried — meaning that UNC-Chapel Hill has been practicing their own brand of exclusionary practices since forever. The covers just got pulled off of this one.
And now, I wish to trouble the waters with my own narrative, so that the world will know Hannah-Jones experience was not the exception, but UNC Chapel Hill doing business as usual. I also want to disclose that what happened to me reflects a broad pattern of institutional exclusion and systemic discrimination at predominately white institutions or PWIs.
I have spent over fifty years of my life, from college to career, navigating these white spaces. So, I speak from a place of knowledge and experience.
What my case shows is that even when BIPOC candidates have exceptional credentials, we are bumped by whites who “meet the minimum.”
Without public outcry, or a cadre of attorneys, like UNC Chapel Hill has on staff to do their CYA (cover your as*) work, most of us who don’t get the job or don’t get tenure simply fade quietly into the night.
And, even when we challenge such decisions by filing a grievance, we are met with an office filled with professionals and legal staff whose main job is to protect UNC Chapel Hill from any damage.
I ask you, how likely is it that those whose paychecks are paid by the institution will find any fault with the hand that feeds them? Highly unlikely and improbable!
Having worked in white higher education administration for decades — one of the assets I offered as part of my credentials repertoire — I am well aware of how institutions mobilize to manage damage control. Without deep pockets for legal fees, as well as finding local attorneys brave enough to challenge the status quo, our stories remain invisible.
My Own UNC-Chapel Hill Story: A Tale of Racism, Ageism & Sexism
I have my own tale to tell of professional engagement and discriminatory practices with UNC Chapel Hill that reveals how dedicated PWIs are to maintaining whiteness at any cost and turning away amply qualified nonwhites simply because they can.
If change is to occur, perhaps it will be because the Mellon Foundation, which funded the position I applied for as Humanities for the Public Good Initiatives Director at UNC Chapel Hill, might become more discerning about future funding and center DEAII (diversity, equity, access, inclusion and intersectionality) as essential components of their grant making. I can only hope so.
My experience contributes to the mounting evidence that this is a persistent and intentional pattern at UNC Chapel Hill — and at PWIs nationwide — and accounts for the lack of progress at most academic institutions in moving diversity, equity, and inclusion needle forward in higher education.
PWIs continue to demonstrate, promote, and excuse implicit bias, structural racism, white nepotism. ageism, and pervasive inequality, all of which adversely impacts BIPOC people.
Airing Dirty Diversity Institutional Laundry — A Blast from the Past
My own experience at the University of Florida some years ago (1995–2006) illustrates that what is happening today at UNC Chapel Hill, with regards to the unequal treatment of Black faculty like Nikole Hannah-Jones, is not an isolated incident.
Despite a lapse of 17 years, since I resigned from my tenured position, I hazard to guess that the numbers of Black American faculty at the University of Florida in my field of Anthropology has not budged much since I became the first Black anthropologist ever tenured through the ranks in the Department of Anthropology in 1999.
At one point, some years after my tenure, around 2002, this department had upwards of 4–5 Black American anthropologist. Some retired — many left.
My research shows that today, fifteen years after I resigned in 2006, the Anthropology Department at the University of Florida (UFL) has one African Associate anthropologist, two white Latin American anthropologists (one Associate and one Assistant) — Afrolatin@s are even rarer, and that there are NO Black American anthropologists — though the department has an Endowed Zora Neale Hurston Fund and I once directed the Zora Neale Hurston Diaspora Research Program, and there is also a sizable collection of Zora’s papers in the UFL library.
Zora would be outraged!
Most of the white men colleagues I knew in anthropology are now full professors — there are 8 out of the 18 core men faculty. All of the 13 women faculty are white and 6 are full professors.
Overall not much has changed in 15 years for Black faculty as a whole at the UFL according to a 2020 news article: Holding UF accountable: Black faculty recount experiences of discrimination on campus — The Independent Florida Alligator.
It begins, “After 27 years at UF, Michelle Jacobs said what she sees today is just a continuation of what’s always been: an inequitable reality for Black faculty and staff at UF.”
My point is this — across the country what happened at UNC Chapel Hill with Nikole Hannah-Jones is routine.
Unfortunately, our stories remain hidden and don’t get noticed because we are not famous or MacArthur genius scholars, but the trauma we endure — implicit bias, microaggressions, lack of equity, ageism and the absence of any institutional accountability — is just as real and painful as that of Hannah-Jones, and must be addressed.
Facts are Facts
I have chosen to remove the curtain behind which UNC Chapel Hills hides its long-term practice of persistent bias and inequality — called out by its own Black faculty, staff, and supporters.
In speaking out at this moment, there is no personal gain for me, and I may incur lots of risks, including the possibility that the institution might attempt to besmirch my reputation — shut me down — since they have the power and means to do so. I have only the slightest hope that by speaking out, making my truth public, that something — anything — might change in UNC Chapel Hills institutional practices, and perhaps become a model nationwide in higher education.
To borrow from the greatest truth sayer, Ida B. Wells, I am “shining the light” on this practice of systemic and institutional racism in higher education.
Just the Facts
Fact 1: the advertised job description.
Fact 2: The Director they hired is a very young white woman with a Master’s degree from UNC Chapel Hill, zero leadership experience, zero university teaching experience, and zero experience directing a major program or overseeing a large program budget.
That is not to say that she isn’t a nice person, and I harbor no personal animosity towards her. She, also, is a wheel in the institutional cog of inequality.
Fact 3: A look at the job description places her background at the lowest end of meeting the criterion and having none of the “preferred” qualifications.
Fact 4: She was one of their own, having completed her MA from UNC Chapel Hill and also having done some part-time work for the institution — insider’s knowledge, insider’s support, nepotism, or simply historic white privilege and practice? Perhaps.
It’s just that things continue to remain the same in terms of inequality across generations. And white privilege prevails.
“Who Am I? I am Nobody. Are You Nobody Too?”
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed —
~~Langston Hughes, “I, Too, Am America.
Despite my exceeding the qualifications (http://irmamcclaurin.com) for the job — e.g., having the “preferred” credentials of a PhD, decades of university teaching experience, an extensive administrative and leadership background, proven expertise in working with faculty, students, and communities that constitute “the public”, and managing multi-million dollar budgets and building programs in academic institutions from scratch — myself and others were bypassed for a young white woman who met the bare minimum requirements and had no leadership experience.
I, on the other hand, founded the Africana Women’s Studies program at Bennett College for Women, served as a Program Officer at the Ford Foundation where I managed a $10.8M portfolio and 59 grantees, and was the founding Executive Director of the first Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center at the University of Minnesota (UROC).
This project involved oversight for the renovation of a 21,000 sf derelict shopping center into a community-based research center and leading a community-involved strategic planning process.
The annual budget I created for UROC was $900,000. Certainly close enough to mange the $1.5M Mellon grant for the Public Humanities Center at UNC Chapel Hill.
Did I also mention that I am a past President of Shaw University and have an MFA in English in addition to my MA and PhD in Anthropology ? That is, I hold two terminal degrees in both the social sciences and humanities.
In a few words, I am a rare professional entity (an academic entrepreneur) who has accumulated extensive leadership experience building programs focused on public engagement — not easy for a Black person who has spent the vast majority of my professional career working in white academic and nonprofit environments.
This is now why I coach BIPOC professionals in any field — to share and pass on my extensive knowledge of navigating, surviving, “performing”, and thriving in a white landscape.
Often during my time served at PWIs, I was “the only one” or one of a very small number (handful, if that) across the campus.
I also have worked at two Research I and land grant universities and three HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities); my portfolio consists of building several programs from the ground up. I also was employed by the US Federal government, passing their background checks, in order to teach leadership education to hundreds of senior federal executives from agencies like the CIA, NASA, FEMA, Veterans Affairs, IRS, Navy, Department of Education, and more.
Needless to say, I was shocked that I wasn’t even offered an interview, especially with my extensive publications’ background in both the traditional academic scholarship and in public humanities, public social sciences, social media, and public science.
I have earned tenure twice, taught at multiple colleges and universities, and am an award-winning author and writer. My book, Black Feminist Anthropology: Theory, Politics, Praxis and Poetics, was selected as an “Outstanding Academic Title” by Choice Magazine in 2002.
In the realm of public humanities writing, the Black Press of America named me “Best in the Nation Columnist” in 2015 for writing “A Black Mother Weeps for America: Stop Killing Our Black Sons,” published in Insight News, a Black-owned newspaper in Minneapolis.
Since 2008, I have published over 90+ Opeds in Insight News and served as the Culture and Education Editor. I also am a contributor to Ms. Magazine and a member of its Committee of Scholars and write in Medium as well.
What more evidence did UNC Chapel Hill need for me to warrant at least an interview? Was it my “nontraditional” background? Whatever that means.
When white institutions are dedicated to keeping you out — you have to be clever (e.g., nontraditional) to be able to maneuver, and find or create spaces to perform whenever and however you can.
I raised this question in a detailed letter to Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz. He did not respond. Instead, I was referred to the EOC office.
I decided to subject myself to the painful action of filing an Equal Opportunity and Compliance (EOC) complaint for implicit bias along with age and race discrimination.
I say “painful” because it became clear that the all-white UNC Chapel Hill EOC. staff “investigating” my complaint were not only clueless as to what their job was, but had not read the extensive documentation I provided, including my resume.
Also, I had my other experience with the University of Florida in which the state EEOC gave me “the right to sue,” but decided to just move on; what BIPOC has the emotional bandwidth and financial resources to go up against an institution from whom all the lawyers in town received their law degrees — and wouldn’t touch your case with a 50 foot pole?
My only consolation is that the materials, and crazy responses I received from administrators, will become public as part of my “Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive” — people need to know what we endured.
The “no findings” conclusion I received from the EOC office at UNC Chapel Hill was expected. When the proverbial fox is put in charge of investigating its own indiscretions and violations, there can only be one outcome — we are innocent!
How can those who have never experienced implicit bias or endured the consequences of racial hierarchies, the barriers designed by structural racism, or encountered any form of white arrogance, racial discrimination, microaggression, or had to manage white fragility— how can they possibly gauge the validity of my claims, or those of any non-white person?
They simply don’t get it! Also, what did their “investigation” consist of? While I was questioned extensively about why I thought my claims of bias and discrimination were valid, they in turn offered not one shred of evidence to prove there had even been an investigation.
I imagine their EOC “investigation” consisted of calling the chair of said search committee and asking if they discriminated against me, being told “no,” and going about business as usual. Sort of like what happens on golf courses — friendly chats and no real interrogations of the facts.
Also, what idiot EOC investigator would find fault with the very institution that signs their paycheck?
The person hired for the position was an insider. Moving forward, she will benefit from her white privilege and acquire on-the-job training that will make up for her current lack of experience, and go on to build an illustrious professional career, while those of us with experience already in hand are once again denied access.
I do not have the national stature of Nikole Hannah-Jones. Nor am I comparing myself to her.
But I do have substantial accomplishments of which I am very proud. My writing this column is simple to expose the fact that what we saw with Hannah-Jones’ treatment is part of institutional patterns at white institutions on a national scale that is finally coming out of the academic shadows into the light.
What happened to her happens a lot; but most of those to whom it happens don’t have the stature to command media attention.
The fact that a Black woman scientist recently turned down an offer from UNC Chapel Hill illustrates that finally this institution is being held accountable externally and must face the consequences of their actions of unequal and discriminatory practices.
I made an attempt to call such issues to their attention a year ago with my own experience and was shut down by them. UNC Chapel Hill, as an institution of higher learning, is incapable of finding fault with themselves. (And they are not alone). They, and other PWIs, cannot see what they cannot see — and what they don’t want to see.
Revealing the Dirty Laundry of UNC Chapel Hill
Below is the EOC letter I received from UNC Chapel Hill in response or my complaint. The bulk of it consists of a regurgitation of my claims and statements from the letter I sent to the Chancellor and from the EOC interview, which they recorded, but to which I could only have access by going to their office in the midst of the COVID pandemic.
The document provides absolutely no facts, no proof, and no information about their investigation or indicates any findings. It simply refutes my charges by stating them (“you said, you reported, you stated”), not offering any factual proof to challenge me, but simply saying “there is insufficient evidence” according to their investigation — ya think??
Worth It or Leave It Alone?
I am at that age where protesting and challenging is work best left to those with more years in front of them. Does it make sense for me to file a state EEOC complaint against UNC Chapel Hill and further the airing of their dirty laundry?
Is it worth my precious time to pursue an EEOC complaint when I don’t have a cadre of attorneys on retainer? Even making this issue public may have an adverse impact on my consulting business in this area, and maybe nationally. Though it’s a risk I am willing to take.
Remaining silent about institutional patterns of discrimination and exclusion is not the answer to change.
I stand with Nikole Hannah-Jones. UNC Chapel Hill should absolutely have tenured her from the start; regardless of whether the board agreed with her ideas, simply because her work and her credentials exceeded those of previous white counterparts who held the same position.
Also, the board violated decades of tenure protocols by going against their own administrators’ recommendation — tenure requires the support of the department, a college committee, the dean, the provost, and the president before it even reaches the board of trustees.
All of these administrative layers thought she was good enough. The board clearly stepped outside of their lane when they decided to second guess and micromanage UNC Chapel Hill’s personnel decisions. Hopefully, SAACS, the accrediting body will look into that action.
Now the board has had to backtrack and recant because of public outcry. Ouch!
Between the Silent Sam fiasco and Hannah-Jones, those in charge of damage control at UNC Chapel Hill have a LOT of clean-up work to do. Even when the media frenzy has died, the stench of what happens will linger like stale laundry that sat for too long before washing. It will take a few washes — or years — before the stink disappears.
Hopefully, UNC Chapel Hill will create a welcoming environment for Hannah-Jones and she will not be perceived as “a problem” where everything she does is subjected to unwarranted scrutiny. Another form of institutional racism.
I have watched this happen to one of my coaching clients who was persecuted for advocating for Black Lives Matter years before white people decided it was ok to support #BLM!
After being “investigated”, the institution finally deciding she had merely exercised her right to “free speech;” yet every minor student complaint about her was kicked up to a higher level, even though she was constantly nominated for outstanding teach awards — not to mention the legal expenses she incurred to defend herself. In the end, no apologies, no reimbursements — nada. Instead, she was labeled.
She knows firsthand, as noted scholar W.E.B. Du Bois once stated, what it feels like to be perceived as “a problem.”
“Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. How does it feel to be a problem?” W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (cited by Melissa Harris-Perry)
This form of institutional microaggression has had a chilling effect on her sense of academic safety and created an unwarranted paper trail in her file that potentially can be used to label her “a problem” and impede her career mobility.
Hannah-Jones will have to decide if she can be safe and practice self-care after all the controversy blows over.
One thing UNC Chapel Hill can do is to be proactive and to go out of its way to create a safe space for her by not just hearing, but really listening to current Black and POC faculty, and make some changes.
Stop it! Stop hiring “whites only” administrators and get some BIPOC folk who are not afraid to shake things up and challenge the status quo. Establish a deliberate plan and roadmap to make targeted Black faculty hires — to replace those who have left and increase the pool —This is a good place to start.
There should be an intentional and publicly disseminated action plan to recruit a huge cadre of Native-born Black American scholars familiar with Black American culture, especially that rooted in the experiences of North Carolina history based on their research and lived experiences! Both matter.
To become a viable diverse institution committed to equity, diversity and inclusiveness, the UNC Chapel Hill must stop with its practice of BS searches that always result in the hiring of minimally qualified whites and the turning away of amply qualified BIPOCs — present company included.
As for me, I have retired my CV completely and will only look at consulting jobs, where I can speak the truth and not have to worry about whether or not I will be hired or promoted. I am past those days.
The experience with UNC Chapel Hill has soured me towards making any future effort. If the truth be told, I no longer believe academia to be a place where there can be an authentic and free exchange of ideas. Rather, there is today even greater policing if Black, Indigenuous, and Brown bodies and minds primarily.
There is also the common practice now of using non-Native born Blacks and those who fall under the nebulous POC (people of color) label as proxies to address historical inequities that Native-born Black Americans have struggled so assiduously to challenge and dismantle, but from which so many others — who have not lived our experiences — are benefitting.
This is why Reparations, so eloquently written about by Duke University Black economist, Dr. William (Sandy) Darity, and scholar A. Kirsten Mullins, is the only solution for those of us Black folk who are descended from people enslaved by the United States.
Ageism, racism, and gender bias are my three strikes, and I simply am tired of swimming against the tide of institutional racism. Hear me — I am tyred!
Right now, I leave you, the reader, to be the judge as to whether I should file a formal EEOC complaint against UNC Chapel Hill with the state.
Is it worth my energy? Or is just airing this dirty institutional diversity laundry enough?
Whaddaya think?
Clap, if you agree and send me your comments, and I will consider each one.
Call to Action: If this has happened to you, then add your voice: tweet @mcclaurintweets or FB — use #academicmetoo & name the institution.
© 2001 Irma McClaurin. All Rights Reserved
