NC Supreme Court says UNC must release disciplinary records in sexual assault cases
UNC-Chapel Hill must release disciplinary records of students found responsible for sexual assaults on campus, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The case stemmed from a 2016 public records request made by four news organizations — The Daily Tar Heel campus newspaper, the Charlotte Observer, the Herald-Sun and Capitol Broadcasting, which owns WRAL. They requested the name, offense and punishment for any student found responsible for sexual misconduct, including rape and sexual assault, since 2007.
UNC-CH repeatedly denied the request and refused to hand over the records, arguing that they were protected by the federal student privacy law FERPA.
The court ruled that the university “does not have discretion to withhold the information sought here, which is authorized by, and specified in, the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as subject to release.”
UNC must comply with the North Carolina Public Records Act and give the news organization access to the name of the student, the violation committed and any sanction imposed by the UNC on that student in response to the records request, according to court documents.
Universities have the responsibility to report and handle complaints of sexual assaults and people have the right to know how they’re doing it, said Hugh Stevens, the attorney for the media companies.
“We think it’s important for students, prospective students and the public in general to be able to understand how the universities are handling those complaints or accusations,” Stevens said. “By withholding the information ... you can’t see how seriously [UNC] has taken these matters or how many people have actually been found responsible for these serious offenses.”
This ruling gives media and the public access to the information at UNC-Chapel Hill, and Stevens expects that to extend to all of the UNC System campuses to shed light on the issue of sexual assault on campus.
In October, a campus climate survey revealed that more than a third of all female undergraduate UNC students reported being sexually assaulted during their time in college.
Anna Pogarcic, incoming Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Tar Heel, said they filed this lawsuit to get a clearer picture of the real issue of sexual assault on the UNC campus.
“It’s a facet of life on this campus,” Pogarcic said. “Getting information like this can help us understand how to move forward, address the issue and start to heal.”
Pogarcic said access to these sexual assault documents will help reporters hold UNC more accountable and force the university to reckon with the issue, which affects the safety and health of students on this campus.
UNC Vice Chancellor of Communications Joel Curran said the university is deeply disappointed with the court’s decision.
“We respect the court’s deliberations and appreciate the opportunity to be heard during the appeals process,” Curran said in a statement. “We are carefully reviewing the decision.”
Student privacy vs. public information
This decision upholds the ruling made by the state Court of Appeals against former UNC Chancellor Carol Folt and public records director Gavin Young that required UNC to release the records.
The university filed petitions with the N.C. Supreme Court. A hearing was held in July 2019, which gave both sides another opportunity to discuss student privacy versus access to public information.
At the hearing, UNC argued that it was allowed to withhold the records to protect student privacy and that releasing student names would discourage victims and witnesses from coming forward, The News & Observer previously reported.
But Stevens said no one wants to identify victims and that the information is vital to hold UNC accountable in how it handles students who commit crimes, including sexual offenses.
North Carolina Public Records Law requires that information be released unless it is specifically made confidential by another statute. While FERPA makes most student records private, it makes an exception for alleged perpetrators of crimes of violence and non-forcible sex offenses, which Stevens argued would apply in this case.
With this decision, the court decided that FERPA does not preempt the Public Records Act and therefore UNC-CH is not prohibited from “disclosing the final results of any disciplinary proceeding as requested by plaintiffs.”
The court was split in its decision, with 3 justices dissenting. Those justices argued that UNC has the power to decide whether release of the records was appropriate.
Stevens said everything about the case indicates that the members of the court took this seriously and recognized just how important the issue is.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Stevens said. “But it’s very gratifying to win, even if it’s four to three.”
This story was originally published May 1, 2020 at 2:48 PM.
