AAUP Condemns UNC System Policy That “Further Empowers Those Attempting to Censor Teaching and Learning”

UNC system President Peter Hans' new policy reclassifying course descriptions and syllabi as public records and mandating the creation of an online database to house all course syllabi for a given semester poses a clear and unnecessary risk to North Carolina's students, faculty, and communities.

This policy will stifle academic freedom, chill free inquiry, and expose educators and students to politically motivated attacks and targeted harassment. At its core, this new directive is an effort to intimidate instructors whose research and teaching delves into subject matter that some politicians don't want to see explored. Dark money-funded right-wing activists and their allies in the UNC system's leadership are attempting to strangle critical thought and the free exchange of academic thought by harassing faculty, disrupting student learning, and threatening the pursuit of truth. Ultimately, Peter Hans' regulation amounts to a doxxing database that will further empower those attempting to censor teaching and learning in the UNC system.

The UNC system now claims ownership over all course syllabi, even those containing copyrightable material, and those syllabi made before January 15. The hasty rollout of this policy, right as faculty and university administrators prepare for a new semester, wastes and will continue to waste significant resources and does not help students, who were already able to access detailed course descriptions prior to the new regulations.

Faculty, students, and all North Carolinians must defend shared governance and academic freedom as the UNC system leaders seek to undermine critical inquiry in service of Project 2025 and the Trump-Vance administration's assault on higher education.

In a recent editorial, system President Peter Hans acknowledged the "outright harassment" and "culture of digital surveillance" faced by university faculty and staff. Instead of a public database, Hans and his fellow leaders should create and invest in a robust antidoxxing policy to protect all faculty and students from threats and intimidation.

Join us in opposing the UNC system's disastrous doxxing database policy by signing this petition from the North Carolina AAUP state conference.