"A new project led by the North Carolina Open Government Coalition aims to use state access laws to educate the public about the inner workings of UNC's public records system and to spur collaboration among journalists covering the state's flagship university.
"In partnership with a coalition of journalists, professors, and nonprofit organizations, the NC Open Government Coalition filed eight public records requests with UNC on Friday seeking records related to Nikole Hannah-Jones's hiring as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
"'We hope not only that these requests will help inform the public understanding of this particular case, but also help reporters and others understand UNC's policies and procedures for handling all public record requests in general,' said Ryan Thornburg, an associate professor of journalism in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media. 'This is a great real-world example of the kind of thing we teach our students every day.'
"UNC was embroiled in two high-profile lawsuits last year that raised government transparency issues. In February 2020, the Daily Tar Heel, an independent, student-led newspaper, favorably settled a lawsuit alleging that the UNC Board of Governors violated open meeting laws when it secretly agreed to transfer 'Silent Sam,' a Confederate monument that recently stood on UNC's campus, to the Sons of Confederate Veterans and pay $2.5 million toward the monument's preservation.
"In August 2020, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Daily Tar Heel in a public records case that required UNC to disclose records of honor court cases stemming from sexual assaults on campus. The university had argued that the records were confidential under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
"'Controversies are often perfect opportunities for public education,' said Brooks Fuller, Director of the NC Open Government Coalition. 'What's happened at UNC in recent months has captured the attention of journalists, educators, and politicians from all over the country. What better way to seize on a teachable moment about the public records laws than putting them to the test around such a newsworthy issue?'
"North Carolina law affirms that records of public business at the state's public colleges and universities are 'the property of the people.'"
