RALEIGH — An NC State staffer is no longer with the school following an undercover video by Accuracy In Media in which the employee boasted about getting around diversity, equity and inclusion prohibitions put in place by the UNC System.
In May 2024, the UNC System Board of Governors repealed its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and replaced them with a nondiscrimination and institutional neutrality policy.
The staffer caught on video, Jae Edwards, was the assistant director of the LGBTQ Pride Center at the school.
“We’re still able to do the things that we want to do, have these events and programs. We have to be a little more careful,” Edwards said in the video.
“As a marginalized group, we’re used to these things. And we’re used to going around them and finding ways around.”
Accuracy In Media’s blog post about the video encourages readers to “Go to SaveNCSchools.com and easily send a message to the Board of Governors to tell them how you feel about NC State blatantly ignoring the policy to continue DEI education.”
In a statement, NC State said it was “made aware of the video on Thursday, Feb. 5.”
“The individual seen in the video had no role in policy or compliance decisions and was not authorized to speak on behalf of the university,” NC State’s statement said. “The staff member no longer works at the university. NC State complies with both the spirit and letter of all applicable federal and state laws and UNC System policies, and any violation is taken very seriously.”
NCSU indicated Edwards was separated from the school on Feb. 6.
The video of Edwards is just one of several that Accuracy In Media has published in the past year.
The first video involved a now-former UNC Charlotte staffer describing how DEI was still being used at the school. Two other videos of UNC System school employees boasting about continued use of DEI followed: UNC Asheville’s Dean of Students Megan Pugh and Karen Price, the director of assessments at Western Carolina.
