To: ‘Meekins, Ralph William|rmeekins@unc.edu} From: __ King, Susan Robinson|/o=ExchangeLabs/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/cn=532d27d7e42c48f985tab8e955c41a67-Susan Robin] Sent: Mon 7/12/2021 6:57:39 AM (UTC-04:00) Subject: Re: Nikole Hannah-Jones Dear Mr. Meekins, am very sorry that you feel | am not communicating with my faculty and boards in a way that is truthful I trust our processes and respect the role of the board in the tenure process and hoped that the board would live up to its, responsibility which it did. Thank you for being part of that process and for voting to award Nikole Hannah Jones tenure. | will respond to only one of your points: the expected November vote on tenure. We are given a schedule of dates for tenure packages that guides our work on the school end - when the package must be received by the Provost's office and when they are reviewed by the BOT. Our schedule showed NH4’s package would be in the November BOT meeting. She was scheduled to begin January 1, 2021 and teach in the spring semester. However, in the late fall | was told all tenure packages were delayed until January and her package would not be voted on until January. We changed our class schedule and | communicated the delay to Ms. Hannah Jones and the faculty. hope we can move on as a school and focus on our mission to prepare students for the world of communications. Your letter makes it clear this has been a difficult time for the members of the board. It has been a difficult time for our faculty, staff, students, and alumni as well. Sincerely, Susan King From: "Meekins, Ralph William" Date: Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 7:42 PM To: Susan King Subject: Re: Nikole Hannah-Jones Susan. Please use this email if you respond as the initial email was mistakenly sent from my personal email account and I do not want that email public. Thanks. Get Outlook for iOS From: Meekins, Ralph William Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2021 6:11:06 PM To: King, Susan Robinson ‘Subject: Nikole Hannah-Jones Dean King. ‘Why do you continue to state that the Board of Trustees failed to act in November? You know that is not the case. Additionally, why are you claiming that the Board of Trustees only considered the matter of tenure for Ms. Hannal Jones after an uproar? (Which, by the way included myself and other BOT members receiving hundreds of emai calling us horrible names and making veiled threats.) Even more incredulous, we recently received a letter signed by many of your faculty claiming that we, the Board of Trustees, acted in a racist manner in handling this tenure issue-- something that is grossly offensive and most likely libelous. Your continued failure to come forth with the truth on these issues and your continued use of your blog account and letters to others to blame me and the Board of Trustees for what has happened in this instance is disturbing. You know, and we all know now, that you, the Knight Foundation, and Ms. Hannah-Jones entered into a contract in February, and never came back to the Board of Trustees to consider the tenure issue until this “uproar” that you helped to orchestrate. Why are you continuing to blame the Board of Trustees for this delay? Why didn't you bring it back to the Board of Trustees in March? Mr. Duckett's decision to ask for more information from the Administration in January, prior to our Board addressing this particular tenure issue, was a reasonable request and as a member of the Board of Trustees | am willing to takewhatever criticism that comes with that act. That is the only action that caused a delay to this matter by the Board of Trustees as a corporate body. If any individual member of our Board, or any member of the Legislature or our Board of Governors took any inappropriate action in this case, please direct your criticism to them and not me and the Board of Trustees as a corporate body. If a member or members of our Board insisted upon some type of “work around’ in this case please let me know because we as a Board did not authorize such an act. | am no longer going to read the drivel coming from you and others without standing up for the truth. Six of us called for a special meeting to move this matter in a timely manner, soon after we were asked in June to consider tenure for Ms Hannah-Jones. We as the Board of Trustees voted for tenure. Had we been asked to consider this matter in March or June, | believe we would have made the same decision, once Mr Duckett's questions were answered and the matter was properly vetted. | am responding publically to your latest letter to our alumni in an effort to shed light on this controversy which continues to cause pain to our great University. Only in the light can we uncover the truth and leam from our mistakes. Thank you for your time. Ralph W Meekins Get Outlook for iOSTo: ‘Meekins, Ralph Williamrmeekins@unc.edu} ce: Blouin, Bob[Bob_Blouin@unc.edu) From: __ King, Susan Robinson|/o=ExchangeLabs/ou=Exchange Administrative Group (FYDIBOHF23SPDLT)/cn=Recipients/en=532d27d7e42c48f985tab8e955c4fa67-Susan Robin] Sent: Sat 7/17/2021 8:06:07 PM (UTC-04:00) Subject: Re: Nikole Hannah-Jones Dear Mr. Meekins, |so appreciate your reply. Best, Susan King From: "Meekins, Ralph William" Date: Saturday, July 17, 2021 at 7:08 PM To: Susan King Cc: Bob Blouin Subject: Re: Nikole Hannah-Jones Thank you Susan. | agree with your sentiments, especially your last comments. | realize that there may have been comments/actions by others that may have influenced the way in which this matter was handled. | have no idea what others may have said or done. | only know what | know. Thanks for your response and have a great day. Get Outlook for iOS From: King, Susan Robinson Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2021 9:34:07 AM To: Meekins, Ralph William Ce: Blouin, Bob ‘Subject: Re: Nikole Hannah-Jones Dear Mr. Meekins, First, thank you for your conversation a few weeks ago. | appreciated your perspective and your honesty. I want to make sure that we have an opportunity to work together to help heal the campus and the hurt that is deep. | know from our conversation that you — like me. — care about our students and faculty, and especially those of color, and want to ensure that our words about being a welcoming community are more than words. We have a lot of healing to do at Chapel Hill and | am committed to doing it. | look forward to working with you and other board members to create a culture of transparency and honesty that will give faculty, staff and students a sense of shared commitment to the future. understand your anger in the note below, but understand that as dean I don’t deal with the board on the tenure timing. There is a schedule that is set up by the university and the school conforms to that schedule. Ms. Hannah-Jones’ dossier was set to be reviewed in November and | had been asked a number of questions, some directly from a board member, before that meeting. Ms. Hannah-Jones was scheduled to teach in January and was on the official registrar offerings. | was informed that no tenure packages would be reviewed in November and that they were postponed until January. That is what I told Ms. Hannah-Jones and our faculty. | have only recently been told that only her package was delayed. | realize that for the board that technicality about the timing of who was on a tenure list is key to your actions. There may have been backroom conversations and not formal ones and why all board members were not aware. | am not privy to those board deliberations. On the contract that would bring Ms. Hannah-Jones into UNC as a Knight Professor of the Practice without tenure. | did agree to that after | was told that the board was “reluctant” to grant tenure to someone who had not worked at a university. Of course, the Knight Chair was designed to attract distinguished members of the media to the classroom and always included tenure at our school. The job we posted, the job Ms. Hannah Jones was interviewed for, the job that she was voted on by faculty was a tenured full professor position. | realize now that agreeing to the fixed term contract was a mistake ~ that it was a “workaround” that meant the board did not have to vote. Once it was discovered that such an agreement was a breach of university norms, questions and concerns were raised. | take full blame for moving forward a contract that made the Knight Chair a lesser position within the school. Like others, | wanted her to join our faculty and this agreement, presented by the leadership, seemed a bold move of support for her and the school. | now can say it was not.am sure there will be a time for sorting out all the steps in this difficult period for the university. Certainly my faculty want to understand what happened. However, | am trying to find common ground and a way forward along with our university's leaders. Iwant to make sure that faculty and students of color feel welcomed and that the great opportunity that is UNC, Chapel Hill is as much a part of its future as its past Sincerely, Susan King Susan King Dean, John Thomas Kerr Distinguished Professor Hussman School of Journalism & Media UNC Chapel Hill SusanKing@UNC.edu From: "Meekins, Ralph William" Date: Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 7:42 PM To: Susan King Subject: Re: Nikole Hannah-lones Susan. Please use this email if you respond as the i want that email public. Thanks. | email was mistakenly sent from my personal email account and | do not Get Outlook for iOS From: Meekins, Ralph William Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2021 6:11:06 PM To: King, Susan Robinson Subject: Nikole Hannah-Jones Dean King, ‘Why do you continue to state that the Board of Trustees failed to act in November? You know that is not the case. Additionally, why are you claiming that the Board of Trustees only considered the matter of tenure for Ms. Hannah- Jones after an uproar? (Which, by the way included myself and other BOT members receiving hundreds of emails calling us horrible names and making veiled threats.) Even more incredulous, we recently received a letter signed by many of your faculty claiming that we, the Board of Trustees, acted in a racist manner in handling this tenure issue-- something that is grossly offensive and most likely libelous. Your continued failure to come forth with the truth on these issues and your continued use of your blog account and letters to others to blame me and the Board of Trustees for what has happened in this instance is disturbing. You know, and we all know now, that you, the Knight Foundation, and Ms. Hannah-Jones entered into a contract in February, and never came back to the Board of Trustees to consider the tenure issue until this "uproar" that you helped to orchestrate. Why are you continuing to blame the Board of Trustees for this delay? Why didn't you bring it back to the Board of Trustees in March? Mr. Duckett's decision to ask for more information from the Administration in January, prior to our Board addressing this Particular tenure issue, was a reasonable request and as a member of the Board of Trustees | am willing to take whatever criticism that comes with that act. That is the only action that caused a delay to this matter by the Board of Trustees as a corporate body. If any individual member of our Board, or any member of the Legislature or our Board of Governors took any inappropriate action in this case, please direct your criticism to them and not me and the Board of Trustees as a corporate body. If a member or members of our Board insisted upon some type of "work around’ in this case please let me know because we as a Board did not authorize such an act. | am no longer going to read the drivel coming from you and others without standing up for the truth. Six of us called for a special meeting to move this matter in a timely manner, soon after we were asked in June to consider tenure for Ms Hannah-Jones. We as the Board of Trustees voted for tenure. Had we been asked to consider this matter in March or June, | believe we would have made the same decision, once Mr Duckett’s questions were answered and the matter was properly vetted. | am responding publically to your latest letter to our alumni in an effort to shed light on this controversy which continues tocause pain to our great University. Only in the light can we uncover the truth and learn from our mistakes. ‘Thank you for your time. Ralph W Meekins Get Outlook for iOS