An assistant director at NC State’s LGBTQ Pride Center is no longer employed at the university after a conservative media watchdog published an undercover video in which he described “finding ways around” restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion programming in the UNC System.
The video, released Thursday by Accuracy in Media, shows Jae Edwards, then-assistant director of the Pride Center, saying staff have continued to support LGBTQ+ students and student organizations despite recent policy changes at the system level. On Friday afternoon, Mick Kulikowski, university spokesperson, confirmed to Technician that Edwards “no longer works at the university” and that NC State became aware of the recording on Thursday.
“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,” Kulikowski wrote. “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.”
Kulikowski did not answer Technician’s question about whether Edwards was found to be out of compliance with UNC System policy. Accuracy in Media also did not answer Technician’s questions about how or where its staff obtained the undercover video.
In the video, recorded on a hidden camera, Edwards tells Accuracy in Media investigators that the Pride Center continues to host “events and programs” but must be “a little more careful” in how it operates under the new systemwide policies.
“As a marginalized group, we’re used to these things,” Edwards said in the video. “And we’re used to going around them and finding ways around.”
Edwards also described shifting support toward student organizations, which are not subject to the same institutional neutrality rules as university offices.
“And the best thing about it is that we’re really trying to push our student organizations to [do] more and support our student organizations more ’cause they’re not affected by it,” Edwards said in the video.
On Friday, the Pride Center announced on Instagram that its lounge would be closed for the day and that its Colorful Connections event was canceled.
“We remain available for urgent or emergent needs,” the post read. “Please knock if you need assistance.”
Accuracy in Media, a national conservative nonprofit that conducts hidden-camera investigations on campuses and in government agencies, has released similar videos from UNC Charlotte, UNC Asheville, Western Carolina University, UNC Wilmington and North Carolina A&T over the past year. Edwards is at least the fourth UNC System employee whose employment has been terminated after appearing in the group’s recordings.
Accuracy in Media provided Technician with a statement from Adam Guilette, president of the organization.
“Accuracy in Media investigates universities across the country to see if they are in compliance with state laws and regulations. Unfortunately, some of the worst that we found are in the state of North Carolina,” Guilette wrote. “No government employee is so important that they should be allowed to thumb their nose at the rule of law and no taxpayer should be forced to subsidize such a radical. Higher education should focus on academics and not political activism.”
Accuracy in Media describes itself as a watchdog that exposes “radical activists,” but media researchers and observers have long characterized the group as a conservative organization. Founded in 1969 by economist Reed Irvine, the group has a history of campaigns against what it called liberal bias in mainstream outlets and has opposed the scientific consensus on climate change.
The video comes amid ongoing changes to how the UNC System regulates diversity-related work on its campuses. In May 2024, the UNC System Board of Governors repealed its “Policy on Diversity and Inclusion” and replaced it with a new “Equality Within the University of North Carolina” policy that emphasizes “institutional neutrality and nondiscrimination.” The policy bars university units from being organized or operated to advance “matters of contemporary political debate or social action” or from being prescribed videos of “social policy” and “political controversies of the day.”
Under that equality policy, student-led organizations remain exempt from some of the restrictions that apply to university offices. The policy explicitly allows student groups to use campus facilities and receive student activity funding even if their expressive activity would otherwise run against the institutional neutrality section, as long as they comply with campus rules for student organizations.
The Pride Center is one of several NC State offices and programs that have faced scrutiny as the UNC System and state leaders move away from DEI language in strategic plans, curricula and staffing. In Feb. 2025, NC State revised its Wolfpack 2030 strategic plan to remove explicit references to diversity, equity and inclusion and adopted new language aligned with the system’s equality policy.
This is a developing story.
