Guidance for Syllabi

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AAUP NC Guidance on New Regulation Requiring North Carolina State Universities to Publicly Release Faculty Syllabi

January 5, 2026

Background

On December 19, 2025, the University of North Carolina system issued the Regulation on Publication of Academic Calendars, Grading Policies, and Related Materials that reclassifies faculty syllabi as the intellectual property of the university. The regulation specifies that all syllabi created within the UNC system, including syllabi from previous years, are subject to public records requests. It furthermore requires that syllabi be posted in a publicly searchable database one week before the beginning of classes. The new regulation also provides minimum state-level syllabus standards (see sample syllabus).

Implemented without faculty guidance, the regulation is liable to have several negative effects on faculty, teaching assistants, and university education:

1. The regulation usurps faculty’s intellectual property. Many faculty design their course syllabi in ways that reiterate their research. Faculty should have control over the dissemination of their own intellectual property.

2. The regulation invites new levels of digitally enhanced scrutiny of course content, furthering efforts to intimidate faculty whose teaching and research contradict government-approved knowledge. Faculty welcome such scrutiny from experts but not from politically motivated actors in the public or government seeking to stifle the free exchange of knowledge. This regulation threatens the integrity of courses in all disciplines, particularly courses that seek to educate students in areas (such as race, diversity, gender, sexuality, vaccines, climate change, and other politically controversial areas) that some government officials do not approve of and, in some cases, are seeking to ban from university education altogether. The chilling effect is liable to disproportionally affect vulnerable faculty who are non-tenured or foreign nationals.

3. The regulation exposes faculty and graduate teaching assistants to intimidation from bad actors in the public whose antipathy toward university faculty has at times reached dangerous levels, including death threats, doxing, threats to family, and other threatened violence and intimidation.

AAUP NC Response

AAUP NC has applied to the AAUP National Foundation for financial support to hire legal counsel to challenge this regulation. A legal strategy will prioritize faculty safety, preserve faculty intellectual property rights, and uphold principles of academic freedom.

How to Protect Your Intellectual Property and Keep Faculty and Teaching Assistants Safe

Since the UNC System Office is implementing this regulation quickly and without much guidance, AAUP’s response is evolving, but we suggest the following actions to protect yourself, teaching assistants, and students as the regulation is implemented. We will update you as circumstances change.

As a UNC faculty member, you will be required to comply with the new directive and submit your syllabi for dissemination. AAUP recommends that you do not over-comply with the directive. Some information that you typically include in syllabi, therefore, should be removed. A separate document, “Course Plans, Policies, and Schedule,” could include that information instead. In the syllabus that you submit to comply with the regulation, include only the minimum required information:

1. “Course name and prefix, along with the course description”. Use the catalogue description. Do not include your name or the names of teaching assistants in the document or in the title of the digital file. Do not include your office hours, office location, contact information, or any other identifying information.

2. “All goals, objectives, student learning outcomes, and/or student expectations for the course”;

3. “An explanation of how student performance will be assessed, including the grading scale, percentage breakdown of major assignments, and how attendance or participation will affect a student’s final grade.” We suggest providing a grading scale and simple grading table with generic assignment titles (paper 1, quizzes, etc.);

4. “List of all course materials (physical and/or electronic) that students are required to purchase.” Do not include entire reading lists, podcasts, movies, lectures, videos, webpages, policies, or other materials not required for purchase.

5. “A statement noting that the course engages diverse scholarly perspectives to develop critical thinking, analysis, and debate and inclusion of a reading does not imply endorsement.” You may want to add, “Course readings have been selected by faculty experts in their fields to reflect and guide students towards the current state of knowledge in their disciplines.”

Reference this sample syllabus for an example meeting minimum requirements.

Do not include copyrightable material in your syllabi. The regulation states, “if in response to a public records request, an instructor believes his or her syllabus for academic year 2025-26, or before, includes copyrightable materials for which he or she holds an ownership interest and objects to the production of the syllabus in response to the public records request, the instructor may submit a written position to the institution’s provost for review within a reasonable time period prescribed by the institution.” AAUP is formulating appropriate action for faculty who wish to protect syllabi from previous semesters that contain copyrightable materials—so stand by. If your university requests your past syllabi or demands more than the minimum requirements, immediately contact your AAUP chapter before complying.

If you wish to register your disagreement with this regulation, consider including the following statement in your submitted syllabus: 

“This syllabus is submitted in order to comply with a UNC System Office regulation that invites new levels of digitally enhanced scrutiny of course content, furthering efforts to intimidate faculty whose teaching and research contradict government-approved knowledge. The regulation hampers the exchange of knowledge free from government interference, usurps faculty intellectual property, disseminates faculty work without permission, and puts faculty, teaching assistants, and students at risk for intimidation from politically motivated actors in the public and government.”

Finally, consider increasing your AAUP membership level, which will provide needed funds for legal services to address these and other threats to academic freedom. If you are not already a dues-paying AAUP member, join now. Greater membership increases resources and provides strength in numbers. If you hear someone complain about the new regulation, encourage them to join AAUP NC at https://www.aaup.org/join.