North Carolina university caught changing DEI words in undercover video

FIRST ON FOX: Undercover video details how administrators at a University of North Carolina pursued diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts despite efforts to roll back state and federal policies.

“This shook things up a bit here, but luckily for us, this office isn’t actually under the DEI office, so we can move on. We kind of changed things, you know, changed the wording,” Pascha Miller, associate director of the Office of Intercultural Affairs at North Carolina A&T State University, says in a video obtained by Accuracy in Media.

The videos, shot in August and September 2024, come months after the University of North Carolina System Board of Regents voted to essentially ban DEI and focus on “institutional neutrality.” The Carolina Journal reported.

“We had to change the word ‘diversity,’ from saying ‘diversity,’ to competency,” Michael Eccles, office manager for the university’s Office of Intercultural Engagement, said in the video.

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“Yes,” Eccles said when asked if he could describe this process as “creative naming,” using the word “clever” to describe the method.

Austin Horne, deputy director of LGBTA Programs and Services in the Office of Intercultural Engagement, is also seen going a step further in the video.

“The Board passed legislation in May that attacked DEI work and restricted some of our language,” Horne said. “My reading of it is deliberately very vague. But actually I leave it up to each university to think about this in their own way and evaluate how much they want to open themselves up to litigation. But luckily, I think there is one position that has not been lost, it has just been changed here.”

The undercover journalist then pressured Horne.

“Just to make sure I understand, so at least for A&T you didn’t have to like it, you just changed the language or maybe got a little creative?” the journalist asked.

“Yes,” replied Horne.

“To get around the law?” the journalist asked.

“So it’s not even getting around the legislation, I mean what the legislation gives us, I want to say there are 11 rules about what we can and can’t say when we speak on behalf of the university, and some universities like Charlotte have taken that and said those positions can’t function with those rules in place, so we’re going to get rid of them. Every other public university has said they can operate, we’re just going to try to protect ourselves from lawsuits.”

The journalist asked: “Just to appease the politicians?” he replied.

WATCHDOG: HOW ARE UNIVERSITIES REBRANDING DEI IN ACCORDANCE WITH TRUMP?

Protesters hold signs during a rally for safe Center County public schools in Pennsylvania. (Getty Images)

“Yes, it’s very much, it’s very vague,” Horne said.

“It’s been a little challenging, but we’re still trying and trying to make sure people get what they need,” Eccles says in another clip.

“We don’t use DEI anymore, it’s kind of hard not to use the word ‘diversity,'” Miller says in another clip toward the end of the video, then laughs with the journalist and says, “You know, we try not to use it just to be safe.”

Fox News Digital has reported extensively this year on universities that appear to be rebranding their DEI efforts to avoid scrutiny from the Trump administration or state governments.

Earlier this year, UNC Asheville cut ties with the Dean of Students. Fox News Digital reported In a video that shows him boasting that DEI efforts are still ongoing, however, “you have to stay quiet.”

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Protesters in Michigan demonstrated against President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI policies, denouncing federal rollbacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. (Getty Images/Dominic Gwinn)

Fox News Digital has reached out to North Carolina A&T State University for comment.

“North Carolina universities have been taken over by law-breaking radicals and they need fundamental reforms,” Media Integrity President Adam Guillette told Fox News Digital.

“Any government employee caught circumventing the law should never be allowed to collect taxpayer pay again. And the legislature needs to enact a Kansas-style DEI ban that includes both a reporting mechanism and actual consequences for those who break the law.”