Yet another UNC System employee has been terminated, this time from NC State University, as a result of a covertly recorded video from the conservative activist group Accuracy in Media.
A string of the undercover videos led to the firing of at least two other individuals from the UNC System last summer, one of whom is now suing their former employer, UNC-Charlotte, for discrimination. AIM says it records and publishes the videos to document what it views as ongoing diversity initiatives across universities despite the UNC System repealing its DEI policies in 2024.
The video shows the then-assistant director of the university’s LGBTQ Pride Center, Jae Edwards, saying to an unidentified person who was secretly recording for AIM, “As a marginalized group we’re used to these things, and we’re used to going around them and finding ways around. I think it’s so important, more than ever, to still uplift and celebrate our students.” Edwards did not respond to CPP’s request for comment.
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An NC State spokesperson confirmed Edwards’ termination, which has drawn criticism from students and faculty and a petition calling for his reinstatement, earlier this month. Edwards posted a GoFundMe last week to cover bills and expenses and has raised nearly double the amount he sought.
“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,” a university spokesperson 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.”
In a letter published by student newspapers Technician and The Nubian Message, faculty leaders and student representatives called on Chancellor Kevin Howell, Provost Warwick Arden and Dean for the Division of Academic and Student Affairs Doneka Scott to either provide more details on the university’s decision to terminate Edwards or to reinstate him due to “the absence of any clear evidence that Edwards violated university policies or the conditions of his employment.”
“As leaders of the NC State chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the North Carolina Conference of the AAUP, NCSU Graduate Workers Organizing Committee UE Local 150 and student government, we call on you to offer a full accounting of the processes that led to Edwards’ separation,” the letter read.
“We do not accept a system in which personnel decisions affecting people’s careers and livelihoods are made at the direction of online vigilantes and so-called journalists, whose methods would not be taught in our university or allowed at our university publications.”
A report from The Nubian Message included claims from one student who previously attended the center and can be seen in the background of the video that it was recorded sometime during the fall semester of 2024. President of AIM Adam Guillette told CPP the video was filmed during the 2024-2025 school year but was just released this year because of the volume of investigations the organization pursues and publishes.
“We have had so incredibly many of these investigations that unfortunately is challenging finding days in the week in which to release them,” he said. “Perhaps if some of these universities would start abiding by state laws and regulations, we could get all of our investigations out in a more timely manner.”
The video posted online contains several spliced clips of Edwards’ interaction with AIM’s undercover reporter, as do most of the organization’s undercover videos. NC State did not reach out to AIM to request the full, unedited footage, Guillette said, similarly to the other universities featured in last year’s videos.
AIM has not had any communication with NC State and has not received any feedback from the UNC System, although it has drawn the attention of state legislators, he said.
AIM’s undercover methods, while not illegal, are not considered ethical by most journalism organizations. Guillette defended AIM’s hidden camera journalism last year because it is “essential for when you’re going to expose people who are breaking rules and breaking laws.”
“Accuracy in Media’s conduct may be legally acceptable; it seems like it probably doesn’t violate the law, though you may see people arguing otherwise,” Evan Ringel, a communication law and journalism ethics professor at Appalachian State University, told CPP in June. “There is an argument that it violates traditional principles of journalism ethics.”
What’s legal may not necessarily be ethical and vice versa, Ringel said. He referred to the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, which gives four ethical principles for journalists to consider: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently and be accountable and transparent.
There could be an argument that AIM violated one or more of these principles, particularly considering the employees who lost their jobs as a result of the videos, he said.
The video of Edwards was the last one recorded in the organization’s first set of investigations in the state, Guillette said, but is not the last video from a North Carolina university that will be released.
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