North Carolina State University, Office of the Provost, Office for Equal Opportunity and Equity Records 1964-2023

The Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Office oversaw all university activities related to compliance with federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, gender, and disability. In July of 2011, the office of Equal Opportunity, Equity, and Compliance became a unit under the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity. As of 2020, Equal Opportunity and Equity provides training, resources and assistance to address and end discrimination and harassment at NC State. Areas of focus include accommodations and accessibility, discrimination and harassment, Equal Employment Opportunity and affirmative action, pregnancy, and Title IX.

The position of affirmative action officer was created within the Office of the Provost in 1972. It carried the title assistant provost for affirmative action from 1974, and became associate provost in 1982. The Office for Equal Opportunity and Equity was established within the Provost's Office in 1999, under the direction of the vice provost for equal opportunity and equity (the successor to the associate provost for affirmative action).

The position of affirmative action officer was created within the Office of the Provost in 1972. Clauston L. Jenkins and William H. Simpson held the post successively until 1974, when Lawrence M. Clark was appointed. Clark carried the title assistant provost for affirmative action from that time until 1982, when he became associate provost.

In 1995, upon Clark's retirement, Joanne G. Woodard was named interim affirmative action officer. She was appointed assistant provost for equal opportunity two years later. The Office for Equal Opportunity and Equity was established within the Provost's Office in 1999, under the direction of the vice provost for equal opportunity and equity (the successor to the associate provost for affirmative action). Woodard was appointed to the position at that time, and still held it as of 2007.

The Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Office oversaw all activities at North Carolina State University related to compliance with federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, gender, and disability. In this capacity, it was responsible for developing and implementing the university's affirmative action/equal opportunity plans; providing education and training regarding non-discrimination and non-harassment policies and procedures; investigating and resolving complaints of discrimination and harassment; assisting in the recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, and students; and overseeing special programs for minorities, women, and the disabled, as well as advocating the civil rights of those groups. Beginning in 1989, the office also worked in cooperation with the Office of African American Affairs (which became the Office for Diversity and African American Affairs in 1999).

The Equal Opportunity Office began overseeing the Disability Services Office (then Disability Services for Students) in 1999. The latter was created within the Division of Student Affairs in 1985, and renamed Disability Services for Students in 1994. It became the Disability Services Office in 2005, at which time its director was made associate vice provost for equal opportunity and equity. Patricia D. Smith served as coordinator of Handicapped/Disability Services from 1985 to 2000. Cheryl R. Branker was then appointed director of Disability Services as Smith's successor.

The Handicapped/Disability Services Office coordinated all activities at N.C. State University involving compliance with federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability. In this role, it assisted students with physical, psychological, and learning disabilities, and facilitated equal access and opportunity for students, faculty, and staff.

As of 2020, the Disability Resource Office is a unit under the Division of Academic and Student Affairs.

The Office for Equal Opportunity and Equity Records contain correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, reports, publications, and other material related to the administrative functions of the Affirmative Action Office (later the Office for Equal Opportunity and Equity). The bulk of the material involves efforts by North Carolina State University to comply with federal statutory and regulatory requirements prohibiting discrimination. Also included are records of the Disability Services Office, which became part of the Office for Equal Opportunity in 1999. Most of the Disability Services material, comprising student records, is restricted, and will be deaccessioned according the disposition instructions for GU 323 (Services to Students with Disabilities) of the University of North Carolina (System) General Records Retention and Disposition Schedule. Records previously filed under UA 005.020-UA 005.024 and UA 0026-UA005.032, as well as UA 005.001 and UA 016.051, have been moved into UA 005.009.

This collection is arranged in thirteen series:

1. Correspondence and General Records 2. Affirmative Action Plans 3. Consent Decree 4. Athletics 5. Section 504 6. Title IX 7. Affirmative Action Recruitment Reports/Waivers 8. Mathematics and Science Education Network Pre-College Program 9. Race Awareness Seminars 10. Financial Records 11. Personnel Data 12. Disability Services Office Records 13. Lawrence Clark's Files

The NC State University Libraries generally claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. Libraries staff are unable to advise on copyright and other legal matters; the user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Helpful resources for assessing copyright include Cornell Libraries' "Copyright Services: Copyright Term and the Public Domain" and copyright.gov. This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information about identifiable living individuals, which may be protected under federal or state laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that there may be legal ramifications for disclosing this information.

The University Archives operates in accordance with the State Public Records Act, with unrestricted access to records not covered by state and federal statutes and regulations.

[Identification of item], North Carolina State University, Office of the Provost, Office for Equal Opportunity and Equity Records, UA 005.009, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

• Office for Diversity and African American Affairs Records (UA 005.014)
• Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Publications (UA 005.200)
• Nash N. Winstead, The Provost's Office, North Carolina State University: An Informal History, 1955-1993 (Raleigh: Special Collections Department, North Carolina State University Libraries, 1999)
• Records of the Legal Affairs Division of the University of North Carolina (System), University Archives and Records Service, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Office of the Provost, Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity Records (UA 005.019)

Transferred from the North Carolina State University Office for Equal Opportunity and Equity.

Processed by Will Andersen, 2007 September

Encoded by Will Andersen, 2007 October

Finding aid updated to reflect additions to collection by Todd Kosmerick, 2013 June

Large addition to the collection processed by: Katelyn Cuomo, 2022 May; Finding aid updated by Cathy Dorin-Black, 2022 May

Finding aid updated to reflect addition to the collection by Ella Mayfield, 2026 May.

Finding aid updated to reflect additions to the collection by Ella Mayfield, 2026 August.

Portions of this collection have been digitized as part of "Content, Context, and Capacity: A Collaborative Large-Scale Digitization Project on the Long Civil Rights Movement in North Carolina." The project was made possible by funding from the federal Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA), as administered by the State Library of North Carolina, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.