Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Tenure Saga Isn't Unique. Here's My Story

Also: I Finally Feel Free To Speak My Mind ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  [View in Browser]( | [Donate [WBUR]]( [WBUR](  [WBUR]( July 11, 2021 Dear Cog reader, You may be following the story of award-winning New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, who was recently offered a prestigious professorship at the University of North Carolina — but unlike her white predecessors, Jones was denied tenure. After an outcry, UNC changed its mind. But the damage had been done. Jones [accepted]( a faculty position at Howard, a historically Black university in Washington, D.C. Wellesley professor Kellie Carter Jackson wrote [an essay for us]( about her own experience as a Black woman in academia. She describes her difficulties in finding a tenure-track job teaching at a university where she was the only female Black faculty member among 500 scholars: pay significantly below the average salary, promises revoked, teaching assignments outside her expertise. Although Hannah-Jones’s saga was well-publicized, it is far from unique, she says. "For Black academics like myself, these high-profile denials are not just canaries in the coal mine, they reflect a continued legacy of cautionary tales that haunt Black scholars," Carter Jackson writes. Also this week: why the state should [open up more public swimming areas]( rather than ban open-water swimming; the case for [air-conditioning]( as infrastructure; and a woman's reflection on the [freedom of sharing]( her Arab heritage. Happy weekend, — Kathleen Burge and Frannie Carr Toth, editors newsletters@wbur.org Must Reads url[I Am A Black Woman In Academia. Nikole Hannah-Jones’s Tenure Saga Isn't Unique]( The fiasco that ensnared Hannah-Jones is "old and ongoing," writes Kellie Carter Jackson. The number of Black women in tenured positions remains disproportionately low. [Read more](.   #%23%23[Twitter](   #%23%23[Facebook](    [30 Years After I Arrived In America, I Finally Feel Free To Speak My Mind]( I'm coming to terms with what it means to become an American, writes Jéhane Sedky. [Read more](. [Bill Cosby's Release Forces Us To Ask: How Far Can #MeToo Go?]( The ruling pits the sea change in attitudes toward survivors of sexual violence against the entrenched power of patriarchy, writes Leigh Gilmore. [Read more](.  Support the news [The Surprising Case For Air Conditioning As Essential Infrastructure]( Our contentious debate over the definition of “infrastructure” is about to heat up, literally. It appears we must add air conditioning to the mix, writes Rich Barlow. [Read more](. [In Defense Of The Quarantine 15]( Over 40% of Americans gained weight during the pandemic. I’m one of them, writes Shalene Gupta, and here’s a dirty little secret — I’m okay with it. [Read more](. [Walden Has Always Been For Everyone. Don't Make Swimming Across It A Crime]( We should ensure that the freedom of access to Walden is restored, writes Miles Howard. Better yet, we must enshrine access to swimming as a right for everyone. [Read more](. What We're Reading "As mothers, we’ve learned to deny our needs, quiet our desires, keep our work lives contained. I’m not surprised mothers were the ones to give up their careers this year." "[I sacrificed my career to care for my kids in the pandemic. Never again]( The Lily. "Rather than engage productively in the collective enterprise of figuring out how to protect voters of color against the states, the Court majority is more interested in protecting the electoral rules of the states from undue intrusion by voters of color." "[The Court’s Voting-Rights Decision Was Worse Than People Think]( The Atlantic. "We need to inspire people to answer the call to serve because in so doing they will discover ways to have their voices heard and their communities seen and respected." "[To Unite a Divided America, Make People Work for It]( The New York Times. “ But in a nation with a history of segregation at swimming holes, a pond like Walden is a precious gem. — Miles Howard, "[Walden Has Always Been For Everyone. Don't Make Swimming Across It A Crime]( ICYMI [After A Long Year Of Pandemic Parenting, Making It Through Is Enough]( After publishing in the pandemic, novelist Heidi Pitlor often found herself sharing anxieties — and reassurance — with other moms while on virtual book tour. More than anything, she writes, I wanted my kids to feel loved if they couldn’t feel safe.       If you’d like to write for Cognoscenti, send your submission, pasted into your email and not as an attachment, to opinion@wbur.org. Please tell us in one line what the piece is about, and please tell us in one line who you are. 😎 Forward to a friend. They can sign up [here](. 📣 Give us your feedback: newsletters@wbur.org 📨 Get more WBUR stories sent to your inbox. 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