UNC’s Journalism School Can’t Serve Two Masters
The UNC-Chapel Hill Hussman School of Journalism and Media finds itself in a precarious position. It’s impossible to serve two masters, yet, in this calendar year alone, the school has attempted to satisfy the contradicting demands of two authoritative entities. The first is the programmatic accreditor for journalism schools, the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). The second is the University of North Carolina System, which creates and enforces policies for its member institutions, including UNC-Chapel Hill.
The history of Hussman’s trouble with these dual masters started with a planned ACEJMC site visit in October 2021. The visit came on the heels of the botched hiring of New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. ACEJMC found the school to be “out of compliance” with a Diversity and Inclusion accreditation standard. The site team noted a climate of low morale among faculty and staff, particularly in the aftermath of the Hannah-Jones upset. Many reported feeling “undervalued and not heard/understood.”
In this calendar year alone, Hussman has attempted to satisfy the contradicting demands of two authoritative entities.For the accreditor, the school’s overt efforts to bolster diversity and inclusion by embedding them in syllabi, activities, research, and strategic goals were not sufficient. Such efforts, according to students and faculty, were superficial and represented merely “going through the motions.”
