Jen Psaki says Howard University students are 'lucky to have' Nikole ...

White House press secretary Jen Psaki has said Howard University students are 'lucky to have' 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones as a faculty member after she rejected a contentious offer of tenure from the University of North Carolina.

Psaki's comments come after she was asked by a reporter at a press briefing what President Joe Biden made of the UNC tenure process and Hannah-Jones' ultimate decision to join the historically-black college Howard University.

'I have not spoken with the president about the decision on tenure by the institution in North Carolina. I will say that the students at Howard are quite lucky to have her as a professor and in their family,' Psaki said.

'But I think there is no question that there continues to be systemic racism in our country. We see that in some sectors, including in some learning institutions.'

She added: 'That's why the president is continuing to make racial equity and addressing racial equity as a central priority and crisis he would like to address and focus on as president.'

Hannah-Jones has rejected the University of North Carolina's tenure offer and will go to Howard University instead after protesters brawled during a board meeting and she claimed a 'powerful donor' blocked her from the lifetime role. 

The New York Times reporter won the Pulitzer Prize for the 1619 Project which 'reframed' American history to focus on when the first Africans arrived to Virginia as slaves.

But the 2019 series of essays has come under withering criticism for portraying American history as fundamentally racist and also containing historical inaccuracies and generalizations.

UNC had initially offered Hannah-Jones the role as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at their Hussman School of Journalism - a role which has been appointed with tenure since 1980.

But they later backed out of the offer of lifetime tenure offer amid criticism of her appointment, and she was offered a five-year contract after officials said they were concerned about her lack of a 'traditional academic background'. 

Hannah-Jones noted the influence of a 'powerful donor' to UNC, a reference to Arkansas newspaper publisher Walter Hussman, who revealed that he had emailed university leaders calling the 1619 Project about the legacy of American slavery 'highly contentious and highly controversial' before the process was halted. 

But the decision not to give Hannah-Jones a tenured position sparked further outrage from the left, leading to UNC last week pulling off a second u-turn and deciding to approve her tenure. 

They voted 9-4 to accept her application at a special meeting in a closed-door session that was invaded by her supporters, sparking an ugly brawl. 

But Hannah-Jones has now refused to take up the officer, deciding to instead accept the position of Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at Howard, a historically black school in Washington, D.C. 

Speaking to CBS This Morning, she called it 'a very difficult decision, not a decision I wanted to make.'  

She said: 'This was a position that since the 1980s came with tenure. The Knight Chairs are designed for professional journalists who are working in the field to come into academia. 

'Every other Chair before me, who also happened to be white, received that position with tenure. I was denied that.

'To be denied it to only have that vote occur on the last possible day, at the last possible moment, after threat of legal action, after weeks of protest, after it became a national scandal, it's just not something that I want anymore.' 

She added: 'It's pretty clear that my tenure was not taken up because of political opposition, because of discriminatory views against my viewpoints, and I believe my race and my gender.' 

Faculties of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media said Tuesday they were 'disappointed, but not surprised' at Hannah Jones's decision to turn down the school's offer. 

Howard has also recruited the author Ta-Nehisi Coates, who won a National Book Award for 'Between the World and Me,' which explores violence against black people and white supremacy in America. Both have been given MacArthur 'genius' grants for their writings.

Their appointments are being supported by nearly $20 million donated by Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as by an anonymous donor, to support Howard's continued education of and investment in black journalists, the university said.

'It is my pleasure to welcome to Howard two of today's most respected and influential journalists,' Howard President Wayne A. I. Frederick said in a news release. 'At such a critical time for race relations in our country, it is vital that we understand the role of journalism in steering our national conversation and social progress.'

UNC had announced in April that Hannah-Jones - who won the Pulitzer Prize for her work on The New York Times Magazine's 1619 Project focusing on America's history of slavery - would be joining the journalism school's faculty. It said she would take up the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at UNC in July.

But the news was swiftly condemned by conservative political groups with links to the UNC Board of Governors which oversees the state university's 16-campus system, according to NC Policy Watch. 

Among the loudest critics was the The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, which argued that Hannah-Jones is unqualified for the position because her 1619 Project was 'unfactual and biased'. 

The conservative watchdog group said her hiring signaled 'a degradation of journalistic standards, which should deter any serious student from applying to the journalism school'. 

The appointment was also apposed by millionaire newspaper tycoon Walter Hussman Jr, 75, who donated $25 million to his alma mater in 2019, and who UNC's journalism department is named after.

'I worry about the controversy

read more from dailymail.....