Comment from the Chair on institutional neutrality

 

By: John Bruce

August 25th, 2026

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On June 1, 2026, UNC Athletics published a graphic designed to celebrate Pride Month. It showed the outline of the state of North Carolina with UNC sports’ iconic argyle pattern. But instead of the diamonds of the argyle pattern being presented in the traditional Carolina blue and white, the graphic used multiple colors modeled after pride flags: purple, violet, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, and brown. Under the map, there was a ram emoji with a caption reading, “The Tar Heels are for everyone.”

 

The post was taken down. A UNC spokesman said: “The social post in question was taken down because it violated the UNC System’s Equality Policy, which requires neutrality on political and social issues.” Was that the right decision?

 

Many people and organizations observe June as LGBT Pride Month. It is observed with parades in some cities. Some professional sports teams recognize Pride Month with pregame or midgame on-field presentations. Some of these programs have been controversial, such as the Los Angeles Dodgers’ hosting of a presentation by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, which many regarded as mocking the Catholic faith.

 

 The LA Dodgers are a privately-owned corporation. As such, they are free to take sides on the issues of the day. The Dodgers were free to disregard the objections of their Catholic fans and others who thought the presentation was divisive and even vile. But UNC-Chapel Hill is not a private institution. It a public university, funded by the state and belonging to all the people of North Carolina. As U.S. Circuit Judge Barbara Logoa noted in a recent opinion, “To be clear, the First Amendment protects all viewpoints in the public square, whether they are conventional or controversial.  But it does not compel all viewpoints to be worthy of state-sponsored endorsement.”

 

The UNC system seeks to promote an atmosphere of free and open inquiry for its students and faculty. If the UNC administration takes sides on political and social issues, then the free expression of people with a contrary view may be chilled. Accordingly, UNC has adopted the principle of institutional neutrality. Faculty and students are free to speak and write their views on controversial topics, of course, but not as the official position of the University. The University itself is to avoid endorsing any “prescribed view of social policy” or taking positions on “political controversies of the day.”

 

UNC Athletics has an admirable record of keeping politics separate from sports. One of the benefits of scholastic sports is the unity of all elements of the school behind a common goal, i.e., the success of its sports teams.

 

Not everyone recognizes Pride Month. Presidents, Congress, governors, and other state actors have, from time to time, issued proclamations endorsing Pride Month, but it is not established in the law of the United States or North Carolina. This year, the Trump Administration announced that June would not be observed as LGBT-Pride Month. Rather, the U.S. Department of Education recognized June as “Title IX Month,” in honor of the 53rd anniversary of Title IX being enacted into law.

 

Celebrations of Pride Month are entangled with a political agenda. Particularly relevant is the ongoing debate over transgender policies. Americans are divided on issues like biological males on female sports teams, the efficacy and safety of surgeries and hormone treatments for young people, and whether people should be required to use pronouns that they don’t think comport with reality. Some insist that a “transgender woman is a woman,” while others believe strongly that people retain their biological sex as an immutable trait, no matter what gender they adopt. In the recent Supreme Court decision affirming the legality of state law bans on biological males in female sports, these two opposing views were on display. Justice Thomas said, “Men and boys with gender dysphoria are not women or girls, even if they believe they are.” But the dissenting justices referred to a biologically male plaintiff as a “transgender girl” and consistently referred to the biologically male plaintiffs using female pronouns.

 

Many supporters of Pride Month disagreed with the removal of the post. Writing in The News & Observer, UNC law professor Gene Nichol said it would result in “a bunch of terrified employees.” The Daily Tar Heel quoted a UNC graduate student as saying, “Deleting the post was also not a neutral act, if you will, because it looks like you’re caving into pressure from one side rather than staying neutral.” Note that the student is conceding that there are two sides to the debate. But the student doesn’t see UNC Athletics’ publishing an endorsement of Pride Month as taking a side.

 

Admittedly, these lines can sometimes be difficult to draw. What seems to some an anodyne expression of support can appear to others as clearly advocating a political viewpoint. But the University ultimately made the right decision here. Celebrations of Pride Month are steeped in politics. Most participants in them take strong stands on issues that are ripe for public debate. Let’s keep UNC Athletics as politics-free as possible.

 

Of course, supporters of Pride Month at UNC are free to stage their own observances. It they wish, they can copy the now-deleted multi-colored argyle graphic onto tee shirts. They can proclaim the message of unity that they think the post communicated. And they can advocate their positions on LGBT issues and criticize UNC’s institutional neutrality policy. When they do that, UNC AFSA will vigorously defend their rights of free expression.

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