The American Association of University Professors is calling the recent firing of a UNC Charlotte employee wrong in a letter released this week. WFAE’s Gwendolyn Glenn reports on the backlash, which comes after the employee implied in a secret recording that the university’s diversity, equity and inclusion work is continuing under different names.
AAUP officer and UNC Charlotte associate education professor Dr. Susan Harden says the group is extremely concerned over the firing, and disappointed in how quickly the university moved.
"We feel like that’s a terrible way to treat an employee," Harden said. "There was supposed to be an investigation. We’ve received no information about that investigation. We just have a lot of questions on what grounds was she fired on."
Last week, the conservative Accuracy in Media organization published what appeared to be a secretly recorded video. In it, a university employee says her division continues to engage in DEI-related work, but under new names.
"They were leading her in ways from my perspective that I think was trickery. And so that we would fire someone and seemingly endorse these tactics is just wrong," Harden said.
In its letter, AAUP officials say AIM has used similar tactics at six other UNC System universities.
"We now know that a second employee was fired at UNC Asheville from a video released again by this organization that admits that it’s going in hiding and pretending to try to catch people saying things," said Harden.
UNC Charlotte officials declined to comment on the issue beyond last week’s statement in which they said the employee’s comments on the video were wrong and that the university is in full compliance with DEI rules and policies.
