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The Wake Forest University campus. EMILY MCCORD/WFDD

Melissa Harris-Perry, a Wake Forest University professor and former talk show host on MSNBC, is criticizing the school and academic freedom on campus.

During a speech at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event on Monday, Harris-Perry questioned the university's labor practices for some employees, among other things.

She has since taken to Twitter, objecting to the timing of an email she allegedly received from an administrator inviting her to eliminate the Anna Julia Cooper Center as a university entity, an organization she leads on campus. She also claimed that academic freedom at the university “is Truly Dead.”

A Wake Forest University spokesperson says Harris-Perry’s recent comments about the university are misleading and disappointing.

Harris-Perry did not return a request for comment about her Twitter posts in time for this story.

Editor's note: This story has been updated for clarity.

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The student journalists participating in the "Black on Campus" program, a partnership between "The Nation" and The Anna Julia Cooper Center at Wake Forest University. Photo courtesy Dr. Sherri Williams

There is a new series currently running in the magazine The Nation. It’s called “Black on Campus,” and the stories are coming from ten students across the country, including one from Wake Forest University.

The idea behind the project is to not only document the black experience on college campuses, but it’s also a training ground for future journalists. WFDD’s Bethany Chafin spoke with Dr. Sherri Williams, one of the directors of the program, who says she hopes this will help create more diversity in the media landscape.

Interview Highlights On the purpose of the "Black on Campus" program:

With this project we're not only just giving the students an opportunity to develop their skills, but we're also giving them an opportunity to be able to be in connection and in community with some of the top editors and journalists in the country...what we're doing is not just producing these stories but we're also trying to have this as a professional journalism experience and get students ready to be able to have the skills to tell solid stories about diversity and inclusion in this country.

On what this series means at this particular cultural moment:

So what I think is important at this particular moment is that we really take a look at these students' stories and experiences and see that some of the same things that black college students and generations before them experienced are some of the things that black students are experiencing now, like the levels of discrimination and prejudice and how that is manifesting itself still exists. But there are some differences, because we know that since people like Charlayne Hunter-Gault and James Meredith integrated the University of Alabama and the University of Mississippi in the 1960s, that there were, of course, some clashes and problems that they faced. And what these students [today] experience is not necessarily mirroring those experiences, but some of the same racism still exists...we think that as a country we have come so far, and there has definitely been a significant amount of racial progress. But when we think of this generation, we think of it as being post-racial and that just certainly is not true. There is still a level of interpersonal racism that exists that students experience on campus. And there is also systemic racism that exists. So part of the goal and this project is to not only just let people know that this is happening but it's to actually really document it.

On how social media is changing what it means to be a black journalist:

It has in a sense made a lot of people in the black community journalists. So when we think about these movements that have happened in this country in the last five years, social media is a way in which activists have been able to use these social networks as a megaphone to be able to talk about some of the things that they feel are unjust in society. So we think of Ferguson and the ways in which citizen journalists were able to just directly communicate with the public and let them know what was going on right then and there. So one of the things that social media has done for black citizens is to allow them to not have to go through the traditional agents, the traditional agenda setters and gatekeepers and just go straight to the public and report what they wanted to report. And for black journalists it has given them a way to amplify their work and to be able to share it through a wider audience.

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Moderator Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry and Women's March Co-Chairs (from left to right) Linda Sarsour, Carmen Perez, and Tamika D. Mallory. Credit: Briana Brough

The three co-chairs of last month's Women's March spoke Thursday at Wake Forest University. Linda Sarsour, Tamika D. Mallory, and Carmen Perez were instrumental in organizing the event that drew millions around the world to participate. The women discussed their backgrounds as organizers, the role of diversity in the movement, and the next steps for those involved in the Women's March in a panel discussion moderated by Wake Forest's Dr. Melissa Harris-Perry.

Here are five highlights from "Reckoning and Resistance." 1. The issues being highlighted are not new ones.

Photo Credit: Briana Brough

Linda Sarsour opened by declaring Donald Trump, "a blessing in disguise." She's been organizing for 16 years and says finally, important issues are coming into the spotlight, like racism, xenophobia, and inequality.

Perez echoed that Trump is a "reflection of America" and that racism and oppression have long existed in the country. The two extended a "welcome" to those involved in the march.

Mallory agreed in welcoming newcomers to the movement, but also asked "where have you been?"

"America has been hostile to its people for a long time," Mallory said. "It did not start on November 8th, and it will not end in four years."

1. The need for diversity at the "center of the table." The women pointed out that the history of feminism has not necessarily been welcoming and uplifting to women of color, and if there's an agenda for women being created, they need to be present not just at the table, but at the center of the table.

Perez said feminism should be intersectional, not monolithic. An event and subsequent movement of this caliber, she says, could not have gone on and cannot continue to go on without women of color.

1. How to hold the coalition together. Perez asked, "what's going to make people continue to show up?" Sarsour stressed that people should try to see something outside of "their issue." At the heart of the movement, Sarsour says, are individual interactions, knowing one another. "How are you going to protect me if you don't know me?" she asked.

Demonstrators at one of the solidarity Women's Marches in Greensboro go past the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, the site of the 1960 sit-in by the Greensboro Four. Bethany Chafin/WFDD

1. What's next for the movement. During the Q&A after the discussion, a member of the audience asked what white women can do. Sarsour says, "get more uncomfortable."

"The Women's March was a moment of solidarity. It was a way to show up, to be counted, but there was little risk involved," she says.

The women pointed to the direct actions outlined on the Women's March webpage. Sarsour says individuals should get to know immigrant communities and stay consistently public. She pointed to March 8th, International Women's Day, as an opportunity for women to participate in a "A Day Without A Woman."

1. What they really think of those pink 'pussyhats.' The women admit that initially they weren't on board with the hats. But Perez heard a story from her sister about a grandmother that changed her mind.

"My sister said, 'This is my coworker's mom. She lives in the Bay area, and she can't march," says Perez. "And she's so proud of you, all of you, that she feels her contribution to the movement is making these hats.'"

Sarsour joked that she wasn't a fan at first. "I wasn't feeling the hats, I was like that's corny, people, but I love the hats now. I have my own. I have a couple of hats now."

women's march #linda sarsour #carmen perez #tamika d. mallory #melissa harris-perry #wake forest university

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