UNC Chapel Hill considers classroom surveillance policy after economics professor dismissal
After a recent controversy, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is forming a new policy that will clarify when professors’ classes can be recorded.
The News & Observer reported that work on the new policy was confirmed this week by Provost Chris Clemens after the Kenan-Flagler Business School this spring recorded several classes led by former economics professor Larry Chavis without his knowledge.
In a LinkedIn post in April, Chavis posted a letter he’d received from Christian Lundblad, senior associate dean for faculty, noting “some reports concerning class content and conduct within your class over the past few months.” Lundblad went on to say that administrators reviewed video footage of four April class sessions to verify the reports. The letter did not explain the nature of the complaints.
“We have chosen to conduct a video review to avoid disrupting the flow of your classes and to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of your teaching methods and content delivery,” the letter read. “This approach allows for a detailed assessment while minimizing interruptions to your class schedule.”
Lundblad also warned Chavis that contacting students or inquiring about the reports “could be construed as retaliation, which is prohibited by the university.”
“For the first time in my career, I’m pretty shaken,” Chavis wrote on LinkedIn. “Thousands of you have taken classes with me and you know I have a unique approach. I always try to speak the truth even if those truths are uncomfortable. Lessons grow out of those uncomfortable truths. I pray I’ll still have a job at the end of this process.”
The university did not renew Chavis’ teaching contract, which expired on June 30, The News & Observer reported.
Chavis told The Assembly that he didn’t know the university was allowed to review classroom footage.
That publication also reported that the business school’s IT guidelines state that class recordings can “be accessed and used only as directed by the faculty member(s) teaching the course.” The guidelines also stipulate that “[i]ndividual classes are only recorded with the expressed permission of Faculty.”
UNC Chapel Hill Faculty Chair Beth Moracco said a new policy on reviewing classroom video is important so as to avoid “a chilling effect” on free speech in classrooms.
