UNC releases records in football inquiry

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced Wednesday night that it would release phone records and parking tickets sought by The News & Observer and other media companies in the wake of an NCAA investigation of the UNC football program.

The university's decision came on the same day that the state Court of Appeals denied UNC's request to delay the release of those records as it appealed an April 19 Wake Superior Court ruling in the media organizations' favor by Judge Howard Manning.

Wednesday's ruling vacated a June 2 order in which the university had been granted a temporary reprieve from releasing the records, which UNC officials have maintained are private, citing federal student privacy protection laws.

The N&O and The Charlotte Observer, both McClatchy newspapers, joined in a lawsuit last year with the DTH Media Corp., which publishes the UNC-CH student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel; News 14 Carolina, a cable TV station operated by Time Warner Entertainment-Advance/Newhouse Partnership; WTVD Television; Capitol Broadcasting, which owns WRAL-TV; The Associated Press; and Media General Operations.

UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp, athletics director Dick Baddour, football coach Butch Davis and Jeff McCracken, head of the UNC-CH public safety department, were named as defendants in the suit, which sought all documents relating to investigations into the UNC football program.

The NCAA began investigating the program last July in an inquiry that initially focused on improper benefits that agents delivered to Tar Heels football players. The investigation eventually expanded to include possible academic violations involving a tutor.

NCAA wrapping up inquiry

Last week, UNC received a formal notice from the NCAA declaring that the NCAA intended to complete its investigation later this month.The Tar Heels entered last summer as a preseason favorite to dominate the Atlantic Coast Conference and contend for a Bowl Championship Series bid. As the investigation continued, however, associate head coach John Blake resigned, 14 Tar Heels players were held out for at least one game, and seven were sidelined for the entire 2010 season.

The Tar Heels finished 8-5, with a dramatic, double-overtime win over Tennessee in the Music City Bowl.

The News & Observer and other media organizations filed suit in October, arguing that records they sought are public under North Carolina law, which states that records, documents and other information generated by state agencies and institutions such as UNC-CH should be - with limited exceptions - made public.

The university cited FERPA - the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act - as justification for withholding phone records and parking tickets requested by The N&O.

In a statement after the suit was filed, Thorp said the university had a responsibility to protect the privacy rights of all its students, "whether they're on the football team, in the marching band or in a Chemistry 101 class."

"So this is really not about the football investigation," Thorp said. "If this ruling were to stand, it would put the privacy rights of all of our students at risk.

"We have provided more than 23,000 pages of documents in response to the plaintiffs' requests. That includes hundreds of pages of phone records in redacted form. We have even offered to provide the parking tickets with personally identifying information removed. We have done our best to comply with N.C. public records law and our federal obligation to protect student information at the same time."

Judge Manning ordered the university to hand over the documents in question last month, saying that university officials did not have to reveal the identities of student tutors working with athletes.

At 9:04 p.m., media lawyer Amanda Martin received an email from university counsel Leslie Strohm indicating that university parking tickets and phone records cited in the suit were available for pickup.

Staff writer Robbi Pickeral contributed to this report.