AAUP NC

The UNC Board of Governors will soon vote to redefine academic freedom in North Carolina. Sign our petition now—before they codify these restrictions at their next full meeting on February 26.

A rewrite to academic freedom further limits what instructors can say inside and out of the classroom. We insist the Board of Governors reject these restrictive revisions and support genuine academic freedom.

Tell the Board of Governors:
Protect Academic Freedom,
Vote NO to Revising the UNC System Code

If you have ten seconds, sign the petition. 

If you have ten minutes, share our petition with colleagues, friends, family, and the wider community. 

If you have an hour, join us to deliver this petition the morning of February 26 in Raleigh, just before the full Board of Governors meeting when these revisions will come up for a vote.

Additional Resources

Current UNC Code Redefinition of Academic Freedom

• Boggs, B., & Allen, B. (2026, February 15). Academic freedom and an important favor. Frog Trouble Times.

• Quinn, R. (2026, January 29). UNC plans to define academic freedom—and its limits. Inside Higher Ed.

• Hinkle, C. (2026, January 29). UNC moves to define academic freedom: Members of the American Association of University Professors say definition is vague, problematic. NC Newsline.

• Dean, K. (2026, January 28). UNC System Board advances academic freedom despite pushback. The Assembly.

• Atkinson, B. (2026, January 28). Some NC professors dear new “academic freedom” policy will censor faculty. WUNC News.

Academic Freedom in NC Broadly

• Boggs, B. (2026, January 26). Why parents and students should care about academic freedom [Commentary]. NC Newsline.

• Kramer, L. (2025, October 14). Past rhymes with present times: Free speech, academic freedom, and the assault on expertise. Chapelboro.com.

• Denning, K. (2025, December 19). Culture of fear in places of learning. Faculty at NC colleges report anxiety over threats to academic freedom. Carolina Public Press.

Principles of Academic Freedom

• AAUP FAQs on Academic Freedom

• AAUP 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure

AAUP NC Guidance for UNC System Instructors:
Follow Our Draft Syllabus to Protect Your Courses

New UNC System policy regulation claiming ownership over all university syllabi goes into effect on January 15, 2026. While each UNC System campus may have different internal guidance on creating course plans for that university's courses, the new regulation mandates that only specific material be included in the university-owned syllabi. Rightwing activists from the James Martin Center and Carolina Partnership for Reform have already submitted public records requests for Spring 2026 syllabi. Update your syllabi to protect your classes from targeted harassment.

UNC System instructors: Only include the required information on the university-owned syllabi.

Follow the AAUP NC guidance detailed on this page. Review our draft example syllabus for complying with new regulations.

AAUP Condemns UNC System Policy That “Further Empowers Those Attempting to Censor Teaching and Learning”

On January 8, 2026, AAUP National issued the following statement condemning UNC System Policy:

UNC System President Peter Hans’ new policy reclassifying course descriptions and syllabi as public records and mandating the creation of an online database to house all course syllabi for a given semester poses a clear and unnecessary risk to North Carolina’s students, faculty, and communities. 

This policy will stifle academic freedom, chill free inquiry, and expose educators and students to politically motivated attacks and targeted harassment. At its core, this new directive is an effort to intimidate instructors whose research and teaching delves into subject matter that some politicians don’t want to see explored. Dark money–funded right-wing activists and their allies in the UNC System’s leadership are attempting to strangle critical thought and the free exchange of academic thought by harassing faculty, disrupting student learning, and threatening the pursuit of truth. Ultimately, Peter Hans’ regulation amounts to a doxxing database that will further empower those attempting to censor teaching and learning in the UNC System.

The UNC System now claims ownership over all course syllabi, even those containing copyrightable material, and those syllabi made before January 15. The hasty rollout of this policy, right as faculty and university administrators prepare for a new semester, wastes and will continue to waste significant resources and does not help students, who were already able to access detailed course descriptions prior to the new regulations. 

Faculty, students, and all North Carolinians must defend shared governance and academic freedom as the UNC System leaders seek to undermine critical inquiry in service of Project 2025 and the Trump–Vance administration’s assault on higher education.

In a recent editorial, System President Peter Hans acknowledged the “outright harassment” and “culture of digital surveillance” faced by university faculty and staff. Instead of a public database, Hans and his fellow leaders should create and invest in a robust antidoxxing policy to protect all faculty and students from threats and intimidation.

Join us in opposing the UNC System’s disastrous doxxing database policy by signing this petition from the North Carolina AAUP state conference.