As part of the UNC Board of Governors’ mandates, UNCW had to submit its annual certification report to ensure compliance with the equality policy. Passed in 2024, the policy “conveys commitment to equality of opportunity and employment across its member institutions.” The August 2026 report outlined changes to a general university course — and the way it handles private scholarships.
In the report, UNCW noted it had renamed its core university course requirement, “Living in Our Diverse Nation” to “Living in Our Changing Nation.” The requirement can be fulfilled by a range of approved courses, “that provide students with an understanding of the importance and implications of human diversity in the United States,” according to the University’s updated information page.
The Faculty Senate voted 52-13 in December 2025 to make the changes.
The certification report, signed by UNCW Chancellor Dr. Aswani Volety and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dr. Christine Reed Davis, stated that the word “diverse” might “create confusion, [but] the requirement itself does not compel students to adopt a particular ideology.”
According to a university spokesperson via email, “There was no evidence of confusion. The university wanted to ensure that the ‘Living in Our Diverse Nation’ requirement in University Studies and the university learning goal for ‘Diversity’ remained consistent with the guidance provided in UNC Policy 300.8.5 and avoid any mischaracterization as ‘programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws’ as per the federal executive order entitled Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity and the UNC System February 2025 Memorandum Regarding Federal Contracting Compliance.”
The documentation for the Faculty Senate motion for this change revealed more details about the requirement. Students are tasked with taking a course where they can “analyze and interpret the influence of ‘human differences’ on the history and present culture of the United States.” The Senate replaced “diversity” with “human differences.”
The Faculty Senate also replaced “diversity” with “human differences” in the description of the component that said students are to “evaluate theories and arguments related to the ways in which social phenomena involving human differences shaped, and continues to shape, identity and experience in the United States.”
The Faculty Senate also voted 58 to 3 to change the definition of diversity so that it’s “not synonymous with DEI.” The definition of diversity that UNCW has approved for this course is “Diversity means the ways in which individuals vary, including, but not limited to, backgrounds, beliefs, viewpoints, abilities, cultures, and traditions that distinguish one individual from another.”
The report also said the university was ensuring compliance with privately funded scholarships. UNCW found that 18 scholarships were “identified as potentially requiring revisions in order to avoid confusion.” The report said the university was in the “process of engaging the respective donors regarding these scholarships, and all identified matters are expected to be resolved before the next scholarship award cycle,” which is held in the spring semester for the next academic year.
Linda Upperman of UNCW’s Upperman African American Cultural Center told WHQR earlier this summer that, because of proposed language changes to her family’s scholarship, she would no longer offer it.
WHQR requested this equality compliance report on September 9. Though it was signed on August 31, UNCW officials didn’t provide it to WHQR until it was posted on the UNC System’s site on September 18. North Carolina public records law mandates that once a document is created, it becomes a public record unless it falls under one of the exemptions from release.
UNCW staff also had to take an annual ‘equality policy training module’ between August 2025 and July 2026. Faculty and staff had an 87% completion rate.
The course was essentially a series of PowerPoint slides outlining the Equality policy.
Some slides included the following: “Within their professional roles, faculty have different free expression rights than staff.”
Within the institutional neutrality policy, which falls under the equality policy, “Employees may not endorse or express opinions about contemporary political or social issues as a part of their professional roles on behalf of the university.”
The presentation also notes that academic freedom “does not mean faculty have the right to inject social or political discourse into courses outside of the course learning objectives.”
UNCW’s General Counsel John Scherer previously told WHQR that faculty can speak on controversial topics if it’s based on their research. The UNC System neutrality policy, though, would prevent deans and upper administrators from speaking on those topics in their official capacity, because their position implies they are speaking for a specific college or the university.
Some members of UNCW’s Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) previously said these guidelines are vague and that the policy has a chilling effect in the classroom. Students would essentially have to judge whether the professor adequately ties social and political discourse to the course material, adding some degree of subjectivity to whatever conclusion they make.
