A federal lawsuit could be on the way for UNC Chapel Hill.

According to the online outlet NC Policy Watch, attorneys representing Nikole Hannah-Jones sent a letter saying that if UNC trustees did not vote to give her tenure by today, they would sue the university in federal court for racial discrimination in hiring.

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Hannah-Jones's legal team declined to comment Friday, but UNC spokesman Joel Curran said late Friday the school had responded to them. "We look forward to continued dialogue with her counsel," he added.

Hannah-Jones is the Knight Chair at UNC's Hussman School of Journalism. Her attorneys say it's standard practice at UNC to offer tenure with the position. The two previous Knight Chairs, both white women, were granted tenure on arrival.

But after controversy arose over her hiring, Hannah-Jones was offered only a five-year contract, not a permanent position.

UNC-Chapel Hill's Board of Trustees, which oversees tenure decisions, opted not to consider Hannah-Jones for tenure at a meeting last week. They did not meet again before Friday's deadline.

Since the Board's decision not to act, academics at UNC and across the country have expressed solidarity with the Pulitzer-winning journalist, as well as outrage at the school's governance. A celebrated chemistry professor who had been recruited by UNC cited the scandal as her reason for turning down their offer.

In a story first reported by online outlet The Assembly and advanced by WRAL News this week, the journalism school's largest donor, Arkansas newspaper publisher Walter Hussman, contacted the school's dean, Susan King, and other school leaders to express reservations about Hannah-Jones's hire.

Hussman denied he intended to pressure the school. But he criticized Hannah-Jones's reporting in the New York Times's 1619 Project, looking at the history of slavery in the United States and how its legacy still emerges in modern-day America.

Dean Susan King declined requests from WRAL for an interview Friday, but has said in the past she's hopeful the Board of Trustees will reconsider its decision on tenure.

"The Board of Trustees hasn’t been transparent at all," said UNC Journalism Professor Deb Aikat. "They need to be accountable, and they need to be honest about this."

Aikat is one of the 36 UNC journalism school faculty members who signed onto a statement Friday calling on the school to give Hannah-Jones a permanent position.

University officials said previously that Hannah-Jones had agreed to the offer of a five-year contract. But after the controversy and in light of potential legal action, it's uncertain whether the journalist will ultimately come to teach at UNC.

"I do earnestly and deeply hope that Nikole Hannah-Jones is on our faculty and she can benefit all of us in the Carolina community from her knowledge, perspective and her journalism," Aikat said.

WRAL News asked employment attorney Laura Noble if it would be possible for Hannah-Jones to back out of her agreement with the school.

Noble said she had not read the actual UNC contract, so she couldn't speak specifically on it.

"But in general, if they misled her with respect to that position and what benefits have been offered since 1980 with respect to that position, a tenured faculty position, then they’re going to have an issue with its enforceability," Noble said.