UNC Asheville administrator out of job after she was filmed in undercover DEI video
UNC Asheville’s dean of students is out of a job after an activist, undercover media organization recorded her making comments that implied the university is not in compliance with UNC System restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion programming.
Accuracy in Media — which describes itself as using “investigative journalism and citizen-led activism to expose government corruption, public policy failures, and radical activists” — posted a video online Tuesday in which an undercover interviewer, who is not identified or seen on camera, spoke to dean of students Megan Pugh about DEI and related subjects.
At the opening of the video, the unidentified interviewer told Pugh, “I’m so glad that you guys are still doing equity work.” Pugh responded by saying, “I mean, we probably still do anyway, but you know, gotta keep it quiet.”
Pugh then said, “I love breaking rules.”
Later, the interviewer asked Pugh if UNC Asheville was “supportive of y’all keeping” DEI programming, to which Pugh responded affirmatively.
The video comes a year after the UNC System Board of Governors repealed a policy that mandated DEI programming and jobs across the state’s 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.
UNCA spokesperson Brian Hart wrote in a statement to The News & Observer Wednesday that the university is “aware of a video in which an employee makes comments implying that the University does not comply with UNC System policies or legal requirements and supports employees disregarding such obligations.”
“These remarks do not represent the practices of UNC Asheville,” Hart wrote. “The University remains firmly committed to upholding all UNC System policies as well as federal and state laws, both in principle and in practice.”
Further, Hart wrote, “following a prompt review of the matter,” Pugh “is no longer employed by the university.”
According to her LinkedIn profile, Pugh had worked at UNCA since 2017, beginning in the former Office of Multicultural Affairs before becoming the university’s dean of students — first on an interim basis in 2021, then assuming the role full-time three years ago.
“The University will undertake a comprehensive review to reinforce expectations and ensure all employees are aligned with applicable laws and policies,” Hart wrote.
Targeting DEI in the UNC System
Across the system, nearly 60 DEI-related positions were eliminated and more than 130 jobs were “realigned” — or purged of their ties to DEI — as a result of the UNC System’s repeal last year. The policy change also resulted in universities closing their DEI offices or units with similar purposes or names.
For its part, UNCA closed its Office of Multicultural Affairs in response to the repeal. The university also realigned the position that directed that office, replacing it with an associate dean of students role that was not tied to DEI.
The UNC System’s targeting of DEI efforts has continued this year and has noticeably ramped up since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
In February, the system’s top lawyer informed campuses that they could no longer require students to take general-education courses related to DEI, a decision that he tied directly to an executive order signed by Trump almost immediately after he took office in January.
Just a handful of schools, including East Carolina University, UNC Asheville and NC State University, formerly required students to take such courses — mandates that no longer exist after the system’s crackdown. Some universities allowed major-specific DEI courses to remain in those programs’ curricula, as permitted by the February directive, according to reports submitted to the Board of Governors last month. In most cases, such courses were required by the programs’ accreditors and were in subject areas such as social work and nursing.
Universities across the system have also taken steps to scrub other references to DEI from their websites and other materials. NC State, for instance, removed references to DEI from its strategic plan and university mission, following UNC Charlotte taking similar steps last fall.
Megan Pugh undercover video not the only one
Accuracy in Media’s footage of Pugh is the latest — and likely not the last — video it has shared of UNC System schools.
The organization posted a similar video of a UNC Charlotte employee last week, in which the assistant director of the university’s Office of Leadership and Community Engagement nodded when an undercover interviewer asked if “equity work” was “still happening on campus.” UNC Charlotte released a statement saying the employee, Janique Sanders, was “no longer employed” by the university.
Adam Guillette, president of Accuracy in Media, posted last week that the organization has “more videos from a half dozen universities in North Carolina.”
Generally, it is considered unethical for journalists to report undercover. The Society of Professional Journalists, in its code of ethics, suggests reporters should “avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information unless traditional, open methods will not yield information vital to the public.”
