Journalism society co-founded by Nikole Hannah-Jones announces move from UNC
A journalism organization housed at UNC-Chapel Hill that was co-founded by Nikole Hannah-Jones announced on Thursday its relocation from the university.
The Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, “a news trade organization dedicated to increasing and retaining reporters and editors of color in the field of investigative reporting,” will move to Morehouse College, a historically Black college in Atlanta.
The society was founded in 2016 by Hannah-Jones and three other award-winning reporters and editors: Ron Nixon, Topher Sanders and Corey Johnson. The organization offers training, mentorship and other resources to journalists of color.
Morehouse will be the fourth home of the organization, after it was previously based at the City University of New York’s Newmark School of Journalism and Harvard University. The organization moved to UNC in 2019.
“I am very excited to announce that Morehouse College will be the new home of the Ida B. Wells Society,” Hannah-Jones said in the announcement from Morehouse.
“This partnership helps our young organization settle more deeply into our mission, which is to increase the number of investigative reporters of color. Being located on the campus of a historically Black college located in Atlanta in proximity to other HBCUs and coming to Morehouse just as it gets its journalism major off the ground provides a tremendous opportunity for us to increase our impact on the field and society.”
Move comes after tenure battle at UNC
The organization’s move to Morehouse comes after a months-long battle in 2021 over Hannah-Jones, a MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient and Pulitzer Prize winner for her work on The New York Times’ 1619 Project, initially not being offered tenure at UNC — a decision by the university’s Board of Trustees that sparked national controversy.
Hannah-Jones had been set to join UNC’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism. Knight Chair positions, supported by journalism organization the Knight Foundation, historically have been granted tenure at the school, but trustees originally set aside Hannah-Jones’ tenure application.
The board later voted, 9-4, in support of granting Hannah-Jones tenure, but she declined the offer and instead became an inaugural Knight Chair at Howard University in Washington.
Hannah-Jones settled with the university over the issue for just under $75,000 last July.
“We are grateful for the opportunity and experience of partnering with the Society since 2019 in its work to encourage and retain reporters and editors of color in the field of investigative reporting,” UNC Hussman dean Raul Reis said in an email to faculty Thursday. “Carolina is committed to an inclusive and equitable community for all. We look forward to the future work of the Society and wish their team all the best. “
The society will officially launch at Morehouse on Feb. 16. A search for an on-campus executive director for the Ida B. Wells Society at Morehouse is “actively underway,” Thursday’s announcement said.
