diff --git a/pagure/templates/settings.html b/pagure/templates/settings.html
index 7da9140..7b7d0de 100644
--- a/pagure/templates/settings.html
+++ b/pagure/templates/settings.html
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
               <input class="form-control" name="tags" value="{{ repo.tags_text |join(', ') if repo.tags else '' }}" />
               <small class="text-muted">tags for project (separated by commas)</small>
             </fieldset>
-            {% if config.get('PRIVATE_PROJECTS', False) %}
+            {% if config.get('PRIVATE_PROJECTS', False) and repo.private %}
                 <fieldset class="form-group">
                     <label class="c-input c-checkbox">Private</lable>
                     <input type="checkbox" value="private" name="private" {%
diff --git a/pagure/ui/repo.py b/pagure/ui/repo.py
index 5a2c3c7..edd6237 100644
--- a/pagure/ui/repo.py
+++ b/pagure/ui/repo.py
@@ -1145,7 +1145,8 @@ def update_project(repo, username=None, namespace=None):
             repo.description = form.description.data
             repo.avatar_email = form.avatar_email.data.strip()
             repo.url = form.url.data.strip()
-            repo.private = form.private.data
+            if repo.private:
+                repo.private = form.private.data
             pagure.lib.update_tags(
                 SESSION, repo,
                 tags=[t.strip() for t in form.tags.data.split(',')],