N.C. State Fires Secretly Recorded LGBTQ Pride Employee

North Carolina State University fired the assistant director of its LGBTQ Pride Center on Friday after an anti-DEI activist group secretly recorded him appearing to violate system policies, according to The Raleigh News & Observer. 

This is the fourth UNC system institution where an employee has been targeted by Accuracy in Media. The group posted videos of them allegedly subverting the system’s mandate to maintain “institutional neutrality” on issues related to social policies or political controversies.

The employees who were secretly recorded by Accuracy in Media at the University of North Carolina campuses in Charlotte and Asheville and Western Carolina University no longer work at those institutions.

“We’re still able to do the things that we want to do, have these events and programs. We have to be a little more careful,” Jae Edwards, the N.C. State employee, was recorded saying. 

“It’s been very interesting navigating now that there’s certain words we can’t use anymore … ’cause things like ‘equity’ implies inequities,” he said. “As a marginalized group, we’re used to these things, and we’re used to going around them and finding ways around.”

A spokesperson for the university told the News & Observer the institution was made aware of the video on Thursday, Feb. 5. “The individual seen in the video had no role in policy or compliance decisions and was not authorized to speak on behalf of the university,” the spokesperson said.

“The staff member no longer works at the university. NC State complies with both the spirit and letter of all applicable federal and state laws and UNC System policies, and any violation is taken very seriously.”

Claiming to use “investigative journalism and aggressive activism” to “expose corruption and public policy failings at the intersection of politics and culture,” Accuracy in Media  has also released similar videos allegedly of employees at the Universities of South Florida and West Florida.

In the N.C. State post, the group said, “This is not an isolated incident. Across the country, universities are openly defying state laws and governing boards while hoping no one notices. Accuracy in Media noticed—and we’re not backing down.” 

Correction: an earlier version of this article said N.C. State is the fourth UNC system institution to fire an employee after they were secretly recorded. The employee at Western Carolina University resigned a month before the video was released.