The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill finalized a policy allowing administrators to record classes without notifying instructors under narrowly defined conditions—chiefly when the provost and university counsel authorize recordings for investigations or other lawful purposes. The move follows a high-profile episode in which administrators secretly recorded sessions of a Kenan‑Flagler professor after student complaints and then fired him, sparking faculty outrage over academic freedom and student privacy. UNC’s policy requires notice for routine evaluations such as tenure reviews but exempts investigatory recordings, a distinction that faculty governance leaders have criticized as broad and opaque. The policy change is likely to trigger discussion at peer institutions about balanced procedures for handling complaints, FERPA implications for classroom recordings, and protections for instructors and students when sensitive topics are discussed in class.