--- title: Jill Abramson Speaks At Wake Forest After New York Times Firing description: Jill Abramson spoke about the importance of resilience, and said there's "not a chance" she'll get her T tattoo removed canonical: https://time.com/104518/new-york-times-jill-abramson-wake-forest-commencement/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-19T14:29:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:19.043Z og:title: Jill Abramson to Wake Forest Graduates: "I'm in the Same Boat as You" og:description: Jill Abramson spoke about the importance of resilience, and said there's "not a chance" she'll get her T tattoo removed og:url: https://time.com/104518/new-york-times-jill-abramson-wake-forest-commencement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600d4edc3733a719/69869008cd804d1e8dccaeee/468822137.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-FRANCE-DIPLOMACY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jill Abramson to Wake Forest Graduates: "I'm in the Same Boat as You" twitter:description: Jill Abramson spoke about the importance of resilience, and said there's "not a chance" she'll get her T tattoo removed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600d4edc3733a719/69869008cd804d1e8dccaeee/468822137.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ousted New York Times Editor Says Firing 'Hurt'  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 19, 2014 2:29 PM UTC  Former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson arrived at the White House in Washington on February 11, 2014 for the state dinner in honor of French President Francois Hollande. Former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson arrived at the White House in Washington on February 11, 2014 for the state dinner in honor of French President Francois Hollande.NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 19, 2014 2:29 PM UTC Former New York _Times_ editor Jill Abramson joked to graduating college students Monday that “I’m in exactly the same boat as many of you,” making her first public appearance at a North Carolina commencement since she was [fired from the newspaper last week](http://time.com/99626/jill-abramson-dean-baquet-new-york-times/). Abramson, the commencement speaker at Wake Forest University, acknowledged the “media circus” surrounding her speech, saying, “the only real news here today is your graduation from this great university.” Abramson said she was “impressed that your achievements have attracted so much media attention, as well they should.” She said the firing “hurt,” and spoke about the importance of resilience. “Some of you, and now I’m talking to anyone who’s been dumped, not getting the job you really wanted, or gotten those rejection letters from grad schools, you know the sting of losing, or not getting something you really want,” she said. “When that happens, show what you are made of.” She told the audience that her sister had called her the day after she was fired from the _Times_. “I know dad would be as proud of you today, as the day you became executive editor of the New York _Times_,” Abramson recalled her sister saying. Abramson joked that between getting [hit by a truck ](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/nyregion/how-being-hit-by-a-vehicle-changed-times-colleagues-lives.html)seven years ago and her abrupt firing, she should be called “Calamity Jill.” “What’s next for me? I don’t know,” she said. “So I’m in exactly the same boat as many of you.” Abramson’s sudden ousting from the _Times_ caught both the newsroom and the national media establishment by surprise, and has ignited controversy over what led to it. Some reports have indicated that Abramson was fired because she press executives about [making less than her male predecessor](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/05/jill-abramson-and-the-times-what-went-wrong.html), while other reports have said a [management style that ruffled feathers](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/arthur-sulzberger-jill-abramson-new-york-times-106796.html?hp=t1) was the cause. The _Times_ has been adamant there was no pay disparity and that the issue played no role in the firing. Many women have pointed to complaints about her management style as amounting to a double-standard. Abramson, the newspaper’s first female executive editor, was replaced by Dean Baquet, the paper’s first African-American top editor. “Fueling \[outrage over her firing\] have been persistent but incorrect reports that Jill’s compensation package was not comparable with her predecessor’s,” _Times_ publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. said in a statement Saturday. “This is untrue. Jill’s pay package was comparable with Bill Keller’s; in fact, by her last full year as executive editor, it was more than 10% higher than his. “Equality is at the core of our beliefs at The Times,” Sulzberger said. “It will always be.” Abramson is famous for having the _Times_‘ T logo tattooed on her back, and she said during commencement address that some students asked her Sunday night if she would get it removed: “Not a chance.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/104518/new-york-times-jill-abramson-wake-forest-commencement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/104518/new-york-times-jill-abramson-wake-forest-commencement/"},"headline":"Ousted New York Times Editor Says Firing 'Hurt'","datePublished":"2014-05-19T14:29:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:19.043Z","description":"Jill Abramson, the New York Times editor told graduating students at North Carolina's Wake Forest University today that she's in 'the same boat as many of you' and admitted the firing 'hurt,' but added she wouldn't be changing her famous 'T' tattoo","url":"https://time.com/104518/new-york-times-jill-abramson-wake-forest-commencement/","keywords":["Living","gender","Education","New York Times","Commencement"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600d4edc3733a719/69869008cd804d1e8dccaeee/468822137.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt600d4edc3733a719/69869008cd804d1e8dccaeee/468822137.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-FRANCE-DIPLOMACY","caption":"US-FRANCE-DIPLOMACY","creditText":"NICHOLAS KAMM—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/104518/new-york-times-jill-abramson-wake-forest-commencement/","name":"Ousted New York Times Editor Says Firing 'Hurt'"}}]}] ```