Oversight Project’s Statement on Total Victory against UNC System on Syllabi Transparency
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 12, 2025
Washington, D.C. – The Oversight Project applauds plans by the North Carolina University System to require the publication of course syllabi. Citing low trust in academic institutions, UNC System President Peter Hans announced, “public university syllabi should be public records, and that will be the official policy of the UNC System.”
The Oversight Project caused this massive change for syllabus transparency in North Carolina. We filed open records requests for syllabi from 74 courses at UNC Chapel Hill to determine whether the university continues to teach DEI in violation of President Trump’s Executive Order banning DEI.
Despite UNC Chapel Hill’s refusal to comply with our requests, we obtained syllabi from multiple whistleblowers, proving courses were littered with required DEI readings. Students in one specific course are assigned “Dear White Boss,” which the editors contend should be “required reading for white executives” and promotes DEI tenets like referencing the “subtle and often systemic racial biases that inhibit and alienate African Americans.” Students are also assigned “Why Diversity Programs Fail” which criticizes corporate DEI practices as not going far enough. Students in the class are also encouraged to listen to “How to Bust Bias at Work” which advocates for race-based promotion practices. And that’s all just in one class.
Radical leftist university professors allergic to transparency are throwing a tax-payer funded temper tantrum and are trying to stop the UNC Board of Governors from enacting this basic transparency measure.
Mike Howell, President of The Oversight Project, offered the following statement:
“Complete and total victory. The UNC Board of Governors has recognized that public universities—funded by your tax dollars—should be transparent in what they’re teaching to college students. Left wing professors claiming the sky is falling because they can no longer brainwash our children behind closed doors are simply wrong. The time has come to reclaim our institutions of higher education from the radical left. The public deserves to know how tax dollars are being used to indoctrinate students with radical principles. North Carolina is our first victory in this fight. We are just getting started. We are taking the fight national and putting all public institutions on notice. Stay tuned.”
Additional Coverage
UNC President: All course syllabi will be made public to promote transparency amid scrutiny
We Asked for a Syllabus. They Called us a Threat to Democracy – The Blaze
Yes, UNC Syllabi Are Public Records – The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal