Conservative-leaning group requests syllabi from 74 UNC courses, uses keyword ‘DEI’ – The Daily Tar Heel
Editor’s Note: This is how the right-wing Heritage Foundation, and its offshoots, are trying to help Trump force colleges and universities to stop any “DEI” efforts or teaching, trying to eliminate any efforts to lift people up, give them a chance to succeed, and reach down to the disadvantaged in our society. Stop Heritage Foundation, and this Oversight Project. They are nobody, and the University of North Carolina, for its honor and traditions, should not respond to this external right-wing request from a non-governmental group. – DrWeb
University
Conservative-leaning group requests syllabi from 74 UNC courses, uses keyword ‘DEI’
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Aubrey Word / The Daily Tar Heel
By Dayna Wilkerson, Published Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025
On July 2, The Oversight Project submitted a public records request to UNC calling for the release of class resources and syllabi for 74 university courses. With the request, the group seeks to uncover any University materials that defy President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
One of the executive orders cited in the request was the Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity act, which eliminated affirmative action in admissions and increased scrutiny of DEI-related offices and statements in higher education institutions. The Oversight Project’s request seeks materials containing specific keywords such as “DEI,” “LGBTQ+” and “anti-racism.”
The request spans 29 UNC departments, including women’s and gender studies, anthropology and business.
“We want to see how the public policy changes that have been rolled out — the legal changes by the Trump administration — if and how they’re being implemented at the university level,” Mike Howell, the project’s president, said. Howell submitted the request on behalf of the group.
The Oversight Project is a subsidiary of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative organization that monitors governmental institutions, and more recently, higher education institutions.
Senior Director of UNC Media Relations Kevin Best wrote in an email to The Daily Tar Heel that the University has not responded to the request, and is still trying to figure out which materials, if any, will be released.
“Course materials, including but not limited to exams, lectures, assignments and syllabi, are the intellectual property of the preparer and are owned by the preparer as non-traditional work,” Best wrote.
UNC’s copyright policy states that unless an exemption applies, “it is unlawful for University faculty, staff or students to reproduce, distribute, display publicly, perform, digitally transmit, or prepare derivative works based upon a copyrighted work, without the permission of the copyright owner.”
Though, N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-1 says that records made in relation to the transaction of public business by any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions, are subject to release as public records. As a public institution in North Carolina, UNC is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law.
Continue/Read Original Article: https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2025/08/university-oversight-project-records-request
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