UNC to create campus-wide policy about recording classes after faculty pressure

After a professor’s classes were recorded this spring without his consent, some members of the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty called on the university to create a policy regarding such recordings.

Now, the university is taking steps to create one.

Provost Chris Clemens said he supported developing a formal policy governing the secret recording of professors’ classes in a May 20 Faculty Executive Committee meeting. He confirmed plans to create such a policy in a statement to The News & Observer on Monday.

The demand comes after the Kenan-Flagler Business School recorded several of economics professor Larry Chavis’ classes unbeknownst to him, a move that has generated conversation in the media and among the university community.

In an April 22 letter that Chavis posted on LinkedIn , Christian Lundblad, senior associate dean for faculty and research at the business school, informed him of the recording and that the school was reviewing his “class content and conduct” following reports of concern.

Chavis’ teaching contract, which expired on June 30, was not renewed following the incident.

Faculty Chair Beth Moracco brought up Chavis’ situation to the Faculty Executive Committee on Thursday, saying the university needs to create an institutional policy on classroom surveillance “because there is no existing policy about these types of recordings.”

“This is a big concern,” Moracco said. “Not only a concern about privacy and freedom of expression, but about the chilling effect that would have in classrooms and on classroom discussion.”

Chavis shares Moracco’s sentiment. He told The N&O in April that he was more concerned about the lack of notice provided to students about the class recordings earlier this year than for himself.

“I don’t have the recordings. When doing a hybrid thing or recording for students, I could go into Canvas and see the recordings myself. But I actually can’t do that, I didn’t set them up, they’re not part of the course — the students don’t have access to them,” Chavis said at the time.

What is the university’s guidance on recording classes?

The university does not have a formal policy about filming in classes, though its media relations office said the institution follows “applicable laws.”

At the May 20 Faculty Executive Committee meeting, committee member and law professor Andy Hessick brought up North Carolina’s status as a one-party consent state, which means it is legal to record a conversation if one person within that conversation consents to it.

“I keep looking through North Carolina law, criminal and civil laws, on recording conversations and it’s just not obvious to me that it’s legal,” Hessick said. “It probably is, but it’s not obvious because it says you have to have one party to the conversation consent to the recording.”

While UNC does not have a formal policy, the university’s listed Best Practices for Recording Classes state that recordings of classes should only be available to students in the course. It also says that students cannot record a class unless they have an Accessibility Resources and Services accommodation or prior authorization from the university.

Additionally, students should be informed of any plans to record class before the recording occurs.

“A classroom recording should not be used for any purpose except to meet the educational objectives of that particular class,” the recommendations state.

The use of cameras in classrooms became commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic when professors shifted to remote tools and methods. While instructors would record lectures and post them for students during that time, classes are generally back in person now.

Clemens said in May that he told university deans to come to him if they think they “need to record someone without their knowledge” moving forward. He said he plans to address the problem in one-on-one meetings until a university-wide policy is created.

“When cameras started to appear everywhere, it probably should have occurred to us that we needed to think down this path,” Clemens said at the Faculty Executive Committee meeting. “No time like the present to do that and to make sure that we have adequate input from everyone concerned.”

What action has been taken and what are the next steps?

In a statement to The N&O, Clemens said he will work with faculty thoughtfully to develop a “transparent policy for the use of video cameras in classrooms.”

He initiated writing such a policy with the Division of Institutional Integrity and Risk Management, Moracco said on Thursday, but there was a delay due to reorganization in the office.

“It makes me nervous that we not only don’t have a policy but it doesn’t appear that we have a plan for creating a policy,” Moracco said.

The committee agreed Thursday that faculty and student input about the policy would be key to its creation.

Committee member Sue Estroff said she thinks more discussion about the surveillance of students is important, especially when it comes to “deciding who gets to make the rules.”

“I think this whole discussion about surveillance and who gets access to what is an important one that we might want to discuss with faculty,” Estroff said.