UNC Chancellor Scraps Secret Recording Policy

Two weeks after introducing a policy that allowed administrators to secretly record faculty members during class, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill chancellor Lee Roberts told faculty he would nix the rule. 

“The whole idea was to create clarity and reassurance,” Roberts said during a Faculty Senate meeting Friday. “That policy clearly has not achieved that aim.” 

Faculty members applauded at the news. During a Q&A, Roberts confirmed that no faculty members will be surreptitiously recorded until—and if—a new policy is put in place. Administrators will continue to evaluate whether the university needs such a policy, he said. 

In 2024, university officials opted not to renew economics instructor Larry Chavis’s contract after secretly recording several of his classes. Since then, “I have not heard of a single [other] instance—not [even] just a case where we debated surreptitious recording. It just hasn’t come up. So why go through this exercise that’s creating so much disquiet when this seems to be an extraordinarily rare type of occurrence?” Roberts said at Friday’s meeting. 

History professor Miguel La Serna commended the chancellor for his decision during the meeting, saying it “creates a sense of shared governance.” 

“Thank you for hearing from us and really considering the potential ramifications of that policy and how much anxiety that was giving faculty and students alike,” La Serna said. “I know we come here and ask tough questions a lot, but I also want to acknowledge a moment when the administration has made a decision, gotten feedback and listened to that feedback and tried to reconsider it.”