Thread by @henryfarrell

1. Some repercussions from this that may not be obvious to non-academics. This is going to be a very big blow to the University of North Carolina. Universities live in a reputation system - and UNC has just taken a big hit to its credibility.

https://twitter.com/michelleinbklyn/status/1395007092650647556

2. First - the Board has substantially damaged the university's ability to attract good professors. If you are a young professor, and you are lucky enough that you can choose among a couple of tenure track jobs, you are going to be less likely to want to go to to UNC.

3. Why would you want to gamble on the decision of a board of trustees that has to approve your tenure case, and will shoot down candidates because of their politics? It's an additional risk - especially in a country where political controversies can come out of nowhere.

4. If you are a tenured professor, whom the university is looking to recruit from elsewhere, perhaps to an endowed chair like the one offered to NHJ, you are even less likely to be interested. You have a good, secure job already, and accepting a provisional offer from UNC

5. Which then may be revoked by the board, could leave you in a nightmare situation, having to return to your home university with your tail between your legs, and your credibility badly damaged. It doesn't stop there:

6. UNC may likely lose professors it already has. It is wounded in the water, and other universities will come hunting for good people, knowing there is a high chance they will come - people are more likely to want to get away.

7. Finally, UNC's ability to raise money from foundations has been gravely harmed. The Knight Foundation, which funded this chair, is likely to be very unhappy. And other potential donors are going to wonder what will happen to their gifts under a politicized board.

8. All this, of course, is a side-story. But it explains why administrators in UNC - including those who aren't engaged in the politics of the 1619 Project - are going to be fearful and unhappy today. It's big news and bad news for a university that was already hurting.