Undercover video from Accuracy in Media shows North Carolina administrators discussing rebranding DEI. (Getty)
"Yes," Eccles said when asked if he would describe that process as "creative naming," using the word "cleverly" to describe the method.
Austin Horne, assistant director of LGBTA programs and services at the Office of Intercultural Engagement, is also seen in the video going a step further.
"The Board of Governors did a statute in May that is really like, attacking DEI jobs and restricting some of our language," Horne said. "It is very intentionally vague is what, you know, the way I read it. But it’s really leaving it up to you know each university to kind of think about it in their own way and consider how much they want to open themselves up to litigation. But, luckily I think there’s only been one position that wasn’t lost, it was just changed here."
The undercover journalist then pressed Horne.
"Just to make sure I understand, so for at least A&T, you’ve not had to like, you’ve just changed or maybe got creative, with some of the language?" the journalist asked.
"Yes," Horne responded.
"To get around the legislation?" the journalist asked.
"Well, it’s not even to get around the legislation, so what the legislation is, is it’s giving us, I want to say it’s 11 rules for what we can and cannot say when we are speaking on behalf of the university, and so some universities like Charlotte have taken that and said these positions can’t function with these rules in place so we’re just going to get rid of them. Every other public university has said they can function, we’re just going to try and shield ourselves from litigation."
The journalist responded, "Just to appease the politicians?"
WATCHDOG: HOW UNIVERSITIES ARE REBRANDING DEI TO SKIRT TRUMP'S CRACKDOWN
Protesters in Michigan rally against President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI policies. (Getty Images/Dominic Gwinn)
Fox News Digital reached out to North Carolina A&T State University for comment.
"North Carolina’s universities have been captured by lawbreaking radicals, and they require fundamental reform," Adam Guillette, president of Accuracy in Media, told Fox News Digital.
"Any government employee who is caught circumventing laws should never again be allowed to earn a paycheck from taxpayers. And the legislature needs to enact a Kansas-style DEI ban which includes both a reporting mechanism and actual consequences for those who flout the law."
Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/watch-hidden-camera-catches-red-state-university-admins-admitting-how-they-cleverly-disguised-dei-agenda