Episode Details

UNC-Chapel Hill’s latest tenure battle is heating up, as trustees abruptly blocked the tenured hire of Kiran Asher in Women’s and Gender Studies—despite approval from department, college, provost, and tenure committee. Emails reveal trustees openly disdain tenure as an outdated financial burden, with one calling it an “anachronistic relic.” The board’s intervention sparks a power struggle over who controls tenure decisions, echoing past controversies like Nikole Hannah-Jones’s 2021 case. Asher calls the process opaque and undemocratic, while department leaders warn blocking hires harms enrollment efforts—now down from 112 to 50 majors. Critics suspect the real motive is dismantling tenure in less-favored fields, and Asher plans to speak at UNC later this year, ensuring this fight isn’t over.

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