NC universities deleted Pride month posts. Five takeaways from our coverage

Two universities in the UNC System took down social media posts celebrating Pride month in early June after being directed to do so by the system office. Officials cited the university system’s Equality Policy, which requires institutional neutrality on political and social issues.

Here are key takeaways:

• UNC-Chapel Hill’s athletics account posted a graphic featuring the state of North Carolina in rainbow argyle with the caption “The Tar Heels are for everyone,” but the post was later deleted for violating the UNC System’s Equality Policy. UNC Greensboro’s athletics department also removed a Pride month post, and internal emails obtained by The News & Observer showed administrators were “directed, via the UNC System office, to not post in reference to Pride Month”.
• Woody White, a Wilmington lawyer and member of the UNC System’s Board of Governors, said on LinkedIn that “it took 48 hours, and a lot of heavy lifting” to get the Pride posts removed.
• The UNC System’s 2024 Equality Policy replaced diversity, equity and inclusion policies and requires campuses to avoid taking positions on matters of “social policy” or “political controversies of the day,” according to guidance sent to campuses.
• Conservative activist Margo Ackiss shared screenshots of both posts on X and called for the universities to be “fined and reprimanded” for what she described as flaunting resistance to system policies.
• Each UNC campus will file a compliance report with the Board of Governors later this summer, and those reports will be reviewed by the board’s Committee on University Governance at its September meeting.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists, including politics editor Jordan Schrader. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.