White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that there continues to be systemic racism in \u201csome learning institutions\u201d in the United States, in response \u2026<\/b>
\nWhite House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that there continues to be systemic racism in \u201csome learning institutions\u201d in the United States, in response to a question about New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones rejecting tenure from UNC citing a history of racism. During her daily press briefing Psaki was asked about Jones\u2019 decision to decline an offer of tenure at the University of North Carolina, and whether the controversy was an example of the \u201csystemic racism\u201d that President Biden has promised to fight against. Psaki replied that she had not spoken to Biden about the Jones situation, but that \u201c\u2026there is no question that there continues to be systemic racism in our country, we see that in a range of sectors, including in some learning institutions.\u201d UNC\u2019s Board of Trustees voted 9 to 4 to offer the Times journalist and lead author of the controversial 1619 Project a tenured teaching position late last month. The decision comes after months of controversy that started when the North Carolina school denied Hannah-Jones tenure after she was tapped to be the school\u2019s Knight chair in race and investigative reporting \u2014 making her the first professor in the role to not have tenure. While Hannah-Jones said her tenure application was \u201coverwhelmingly approved\u201d by the school\u2019s Promotion and Tenure Committee, and the journalism department, the board of trustees took issue with the journalist\u2019s 1619 Project and she was offered a five-year contract instead. Hannah-Jones announced Tuesday that she was turning down the position after all, tenure notwithstanding, and instead taking a teaching position at Howard University. In a statement she said that, \u201cI have decided that instead of fighting to prove I belong at an institution that until 1955 prohibited Black Americans from attending, I am instead going to work in the legacy of a university not built by the enslaved but for those who once were.\u201d Howard University is a historically black university. Psaki stated that the students at Howard were \u201clucky to have her.\u201d Psaki did not elaborate as to what learning institutions she was referring to, and did not cite any specific examples of systemic racism in American schools. A request for clarification on those points from the White House has not been returned. The press secretary\u2019s claim of systemic racism in the nation\u2019s education system comes amid growing debate regarding the use of critical race theory in schools. Several states around the nation have introduced legislation to ban CRT from curriculums. This week the National Education Association, the largest teacher\u2019s union in the country expressed their opposition to such laws.<\/p>\n