What is the role of the Office of the General Counsel (OGC)?

The basic responsibility of the Office of General Counsel is to provide comprehensive legal advice and assistance to UNC Pembroke. The Office of General Counsel provides these services on University matters to the Board of Trustees of UNC Pembroke, the principal administrators of the University, and through them, to the faculty, staff, and student government of UNC Pembroke.

The Office of General Counsel advises the University concerning the legal implications of proposed policies and actions, counsels the University as to compliance with state and federal laws and administrative regulations, drafts or reviews University contracts, and coordinates legal aspects of the University’s real, personal, and intellectual property interests.

 

Does the Office of the General Counsel provide general guidance on legal issues related to the University and higher education?

Yes. OGC can provide general guidance for members of the University community on a number of legal issues, including:

• contracts
• copyright law
• FERPA
• insurance
• interview and search committee guidelines
• planning field trips
• UNCP policies and regulations
• public records and open meetings
• state competition with private business
• classroom policies and practices

Does the Office of the General Counsel work with other external agencies?

Yes. OGC represents the University to a variety of external regulatory and law enforcement agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. This function requires responding to inquiries, charges, or complaints registered by or with such organizations, usually through conducting internal investigations, marshaling evidence, and developing and articulating University positions and responses in consultation with appropriate University Administrators. The General Counsel is also the primary liaison between UNC Pembroke and the Office of the North Carolina Attorney General and the Division of Legal Affairs within the UNC Office of the President.

Will the General Counsel represent me on a personal matter?

No. The General Counsel is advisor to the Chancellor, administrators, and the Board of Trustees of UNC Pembroke on legal matters involving the University. The General Counsel does not advise administrators, faculty, staff, or students on any personal matters.

The UNC System Office regulates how long UNC Pembroke must retain records. The length of time a certain record must be retained depends on a few factors. To help you determine how long records must be retained before disposition is allowed, use this helpful website with a schedule:

 UNC System Office | Records Retention

For more information, please contact the Office of the General Counsel at 910.775.4593 or email us at legal@uncp.edu 

Free Speech is a cherished right for Americans. Our First Amendment right encourages open and honest dialogue which is a core feature of Higher Education and integral to the core values of UNCP, namely "the creation, exploration, evaluation, and articulation of ideas." Therefore, it is important to know the best way of using our First Amendment and the legal limitations a campus uses to govern expression. Here is a quick list of what a campus can and can't do:

A Campus can't...	A Campus can...
A campus can’t censor or punish speech merely because a person or group considers it offensive or hateful.	A campus can censor or punish speech that meets the legal criteria for harassment, true threats, or other speech acts unprotected by the First Amendment.
A campus can’t prevent protestors from having a meaningful opportunity to get their views across in an effective way.	A campus can impose time, place, and manner restrictions on protests for the purpose of preventing protestors from disrupting the normal work of the campus, including the educational environment and administrative operations.
A campus can’t impose content-based speech restrictions in dormitories.	A campus can impose content-neutral restrictions in dormitories designed to ensure a supportive living environment for students.
A campus can’t censor or punish some speakers, but not others, for putting up handbills, writing messages in chalk, or engaging in similar acts of expression.	A campus can create general content-neutral regulations governing on-campus expression.
A campus can’t engage in content-based discrimination against faculty, students, or other speakers or writers who seek to express themselves outside the professional educational context.	A campus can engage in content-based evaluation of faculty and students who are operating within the professional educational context, as long as this evaluation is based on professional standards or peer assessments of the quality of scholarship or teaching.
Colleges and universities should not impose requirements that faculty provide “trigger warnings” before presenting or assigning material that might be offensive or upsetting to students.	Faculty members may choose to provide students warnings before presenting material that might be offensive or upsetting to them.
Campuses can’t use the concept of “safe spaces” to censor the expression of ideas considered too offensive for students to hear.	Campuses can create “safe spaces” in educational settings that ensure that individuals feel free to express the widest array of viewpoints, and can support student efforts to self-organize in ways that reflect shared interests and experiences.
A campus can’t prohibit students or faculty from using words that some consider to be examples of “microaggressions.”	A campus can sensitize students and faculty to the impact that certain words may have, as part of an effort to create a respectful work and learning environment.
A campus cannot deny recognition to a student organization or impose sanctions against it for the views or ideas expressed by the organization, its members, or its speakers.	A campus can ensure that all student organizations, as a condition for recognition and receipt of funding, be open to all students, and can impose sanctions on student organizations for conduct if it is not protected by principles of freedom of speech.
Colleges and universities can’t punish speech over the internet on the ground that it is offensive.	Colleges and universities can punish speech over the internet and social media that otherwise is not protected, such as true threats and harassment or speech inconsistent with professional standards.
A campus should not expect university administrators to comment on or condemn every campus speech act that some person considers offensive.	A campus should expect university administrators to speak out against especially egregious speech acts and, most important, encourage the university community to make its own decisions about what speech acts deserve praise or condemnation.

Chemerinsky, Erwin and Howard Gillman. Free Speech on Campus. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017. (Chapter 5, “What Campuses Can and Can’t Do,” pp. 111-152) 

Surveys are helpful research tools that can be effectively used to collect feedback, opinions, and information from a large population. UNCP uses a surveying tool called Qualtrics to create, distribute, and analyze surveys. Although surveys are useful and UNCP provides tools for faculty, staff, and students to conduct survey research, there can be some drawbacks to surveys and procedural barriers that researchers must consider. It is always good to begin by asking experienced researchers where to begin. Also, UNCP has a guide: Guide for Administrating Surveys at UNCP.

Copyright Resources

Web Links

• Copyright Law Basics (from the U.S. Copyright Office)
• Copyright Clearance Center
• Copyright Law Materials - Cornell University

 

Federal Cases and Codes

• U.S. Supreme Court Opinions
• U.S. Courts of Appeals Opinions
• U.S. Code
• Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (U.S. Government Publishing Office)
• Federal Register

Federal Documents

• U.S. Constitution
• National Whistleblower Center
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Documents Center

Federal Government

• Federal Courts Homepage
• U.S. Congress
• U.S. Department of Education
  • Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
  • Office for Civil Rights
• U.S. Department of Justice
• U.S. Department of Labor
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
• U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Higher Education Organizations

• NCAA
• National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA)
• Directory of Higher Education Management Associations

North Carolina Law and Government

• NC Government (NC.gov)
• NC General Assembly
• NC General Statutes
• NC Court System
• NC Supreme Court Opinions
• NC Court of Appeals Opinions
• NC Office of Administrative Hearings (Administrative Codes) 
• Office of State Human Resources
• All Law NC Page
• NC State Ethics Commission

Other Links of Interest

• UNC General Administration
• The 17 Campuses of the University of North Carolina
• The Code of the University of North Carolina
• UNC General Records Retention and Disposition Schedule, January 2018