My opening salvo is an op-ed in National Review (non-paywalled link), where I outline how NC State is violating UNC System Board of Governors policies on institutional neutrality and compelled speech.
Enacted in 2023, these policies marked a significant victory for intellectual freedom in North Carolina’s public universities. The institutional neutrality policy states that no public university “shall be organized, be operated, speak on behalf of the University … regarding matters of contemporary political debate or social action.” Meanwhile, the ban on compelled speech prohibits universities from “solicit[ing] or requir[ing] an employee or applicant for academic admission or employment to affirmatively ascribe to or opine about beliefs, affiliations, ideals, or principles regarding matters of contemporary political debate or social action.”
Simply put, institutional neutrality prevents universities from taking official positions on political or social issues, while the compelled speech ban ensures that students, faculty, and staff are not required to express opinions on these matters.
In my op-ed, I explain how DEI was not eliminated at NC State but merely went underground. I argue that laws and policies against DEI are meaningless without enforcement. This led me to consider how intellectual freedom policies in North Carolina can be upheld, and I concluded that the most effective approach was to take action myself. As a result, I recently filed a complaint with the Board of Governors, alleging that NC State is violating the institutional neutrality policy in multiple ways.
Violation 1: Promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in university and college strategic plans
Strategic plans shape institutional decision-making, guiding both university-wide and college-level operations. At NC State, these plans explicitly incorporate DEI goals, including within the College of Education and the College of Sciences. Here are some excerpts from NC State’s strategic plan:
- “NC State will be known as a diverse, equitable and inclusive community …”
- “Goal 4: Champion a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging and well-being in all we do.”
- “We seek … to bring about and sustain needed change in a way that champions equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging and well-being at NC State.”
By embedding explicit DEI goals into its strategic plans, the university is taking an institutional stance on a politically contentious issue, in violation of the institutional neutrality policy. Furthermore, this approach raises concerns about academic freedom—faculty conducting research that challenges any aspect of DEI may fear retaliation if their findings contradict the university’s stated objectives.
I requested that the Board mandate NC State to eliminate all references to DEI concepts from its strategic plans.
Violation 2: Promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in college, department, and administrative websites across the university
A search of NC State’s official website yields approximately 1,700 results for “DEI” and 4,750 results for “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” many from administrative websites. Here are a few examples:
- The College of Sciences hosts a webpage called Culture Charter, designed to establish “cultural and behavioral aspirations for leadership and the broader community.” This document requires faculty and staff to “demonstrate [their] commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.”
- The College of Design maintains an entire website dedicated to defining and promoting DEI terminology, titled DEI Lexicon.
- Notably, the former DEI office, the Office of Equal Opportunity, still maintains a webpage devoted to DEI, despite its supposed dissolution.
I requested that the Board mandate NC State remove all references to DEI concepts from administrative websites.
Violation 3. Requiring faculty to use students’ preferred pronouns and making a refusal to use them a violation of University policy
The issue of preferred pronouns remains highly contentious, yet the university has taken a definitive stance by requiring faculty to use students’ preferred pronouns:
Mandating faculty to use students’ preferred pronouns—regardless of personal or professional beliefs—and classifying refusal as a policy violation raises concerns about compelled speech under UNC System policy. Forcing individuals to use pronouns they believe misrepresent a person’s gender or biological sex effectively compels them to affirm a belief they do not hold.
I requested that the Board mandate NC State revise this policy and clarify that faculty are not obligated to use students’ preferred pronouns.
Violation 4: Land Acknowledgment and Historical Neutrality
Land acknowledgments are inherently political statements. They are widely framed as “… a reminder that every major city, town, and municipality benefits from the dispossession of Indigenous land and people. It is a formal recognition of that brutal, violent, and painful reality and history.” This perspective contrasts with the view that these lands were legally acquired by individuals, state governments, and the federal government. By posting a land acknowledgment that exclusively recognizes Native Americans as former landowners, the university implicitly endorses a particular historical narrative, suggesting that their ownership requires acknowledgment as a form of reparative justice.
I requested that the Board of Governors mandate that NC State either (1) remove the land acknowledgment statement entirely or (2) ensure that any such statement presents a neutral and historically comprehensive account of all previous landowners of the NCSU campus, such as the federal government, the state of North Carolina, UNC Greensboro, the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, Eastman Development, the Lemon Tree Inn, White landowners such as Richard Stanhope Pullen, and landowners of all other races and ethnicities, without selectively emphasizing particular groups or perspectives.
If you are an NC State student or employee and come across additional instances of the university taking official stances on current issues, please reach out to me, and I will escalate the matter to the Board of Governors.
See also this post: https://stephenporter.org/fighting-for-womens-sports-my-title-ix-complaint-against-nc-state/
