HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — A national conservative education group has taken UNC-Chapel Hill to court, arguing the state’s flagship university broke North Carolina’s public records law by withholding classroom materials from 29 courses.
The suit, lodged in the past few days by Defending Education in the Superior Court for Orange County, says the organization sent the university two records requests in October, one on Oct. 16 covering 19 courses and another on Oct. 23 covering 10 more, all from the fall 2026 semester.
The targeted classes span five departments, among them history, sociology and African American studies, and include courses on Black feminism, feminist political theory, food studies and the university’s ties to slavery. The complaint does not say how the group chose them.
According to the lawsuit, the university closed both requests without turning over new documents and instead pointed the group to Simple Syllabus, the online system where faculty post course outlines. Defending Education argues that system leaves out much of what students actually receive, such as reading assignments, lesson plans, email handouts and files posted on Canvas, the campus learning platform, and that UNC never conducted a reasonable search.
North Carolina’s Public Records Act defines public records broadly, covering documents and electronic data in any physical form that a public agency makes or receives in its business. The law requires custodians to let any person inspect those records at reasonable times and to provide copies as promptly as possible.
In a statement, the group said taxpayers have a right to know what their money funds at public universities. The university had not responded publicly to the suit.
The case is the latest push by conservative organizations to examine what is taught on North Carolina campuses. Last year another group sought materials from 74 UNC-Chapel Hill classes dealing with diversity, race and gender, and the university refused, citing faculty intellectual property rights.
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