The Oversight Project, a spinoff of the Heritage Foundation the right-wing think tank that authored Project 2025, the blueprint for Donald Trumps second presidency has asked the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC Chapel Hill) to submit the syllabi and class materials for all 70 of its courses. The project seeks to identify any materials (including LGBTQ+-related ones) that contradict President Trumps executive orders seeking to defund and persecute institutions that pursue diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.The request occurs as the Trump Administration continues to target DEI and pro-Palestinian protests on college and university campuses. Last week, Trumps Education Secretary Linda McMahon admitted that the administrations persecution of schools over these issues represents a monumental victory for conservatives against elite campuses and their far left-leaning professors (rather than a victory in the Trump Administrations ostensible crusade to end discrimination in higher education). Related Edwin Feulner, Project 2025 author and Heritage Foundation founder, dies His organization has made life much worse for LGBTQ+ people and working class Americans of all sorts. Oversight Project President Mike Howell submitted his request to the university on July 2, specifically requesting any data on class materials using the following terms: gender identity, queer, sexuality, microaggressions, implicit bias, and numerous other terms related to social justice and DEI efforts, Inside Highed Ed reported.Howells request said that the university should pay for the administrative costs to pull the data because Disclosure of these records will contribute significantly to the publics understanding of university operations and student-facing programming, particularly considering ongoing public concern regarding institutional compliance with the presidents anti-DEI executive orders. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today [The records] will shed light on potential inconsistencies between internal practices and public representations made by officials in a matter of substantial national importance, he wrote.Its likely that if The Oversight Project detects any DEI-related keywords in the universitys course materials, it would report the school for investigation by the Department of Educations (DOE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The office has persecuted schools, threatening to revoke millions in federal funding unless they agree to remove all support for DEI initiatives and any policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in campus sports. The OCR claims that DEI and trans-inclusive policies violate federal anti-discrimination laws. UNC-Chapel Hill hasnt yet responded to the Oversight Projects request, but said that course materials remain the intellectual property of the professors who created them. As such, professors arent required to submit their course materials in response to information requests.One UNC-Chapel Hill professor, Chris Petsko, has said he wont hand over the course materials for his business management course which partially discusses the outcomes of stereotyping and prejudice in various workplace practices because he considers the projects ideology illegitimate and wholly beholden to the Trump administration.These very broad and vague requests for faculty academic records such as syllabi and faculty communications about their academic pursuits chill free speech by putting a large burden on the faculty members and revealing private academic information they use to teach their classes, said Zach Greenberg, a First Amendment attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. The DOEs OCR has persecuted several colleges and universities in pursuit of Trumps and the Heritage Foundations anti-DEI crusade. The DOE extorted $200 million out of Columbia University to restore the majority of funding that the Trump administration cut over allegations it violated anti-discrimination laws.When commenting on Columbias settlement, DOE Secretary Linda McMahon admitted, This is a monumental victory for conservatives who wanted to do things on these elite campuses for a long time because we had such far left-leaning professors. Her comment undermined the Trump administrations claims about protecting students from antisemitic and discriminatory harassment on campus.On July 29, the DOEs OCR announced that it would investigate Duke University in North Carolina for allegedly considering ethnic and racial factors in hiring, admissions, and scholarship decisions.Last year, the Oversight Project issued thousands of data requests to search all federal government workers communications that mentioned sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression. The requests were likely to help identify any career civil servants who oppose the foundations and the presidents anti-DEI views, the investigative news site ProPublica reported.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.