From SPLC.org (10/26/12): A two-year battle for documents detailing an investigation in NCAA violations is over, with public records being released to The Daily Tar Heel and other media organizations today and in the coming days.
The eight media outlets will receive the records after agreeing to a settlement with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which follows an earlier ruling this year by a North Carolina judge that found many parts of the documents in question to be public.
The documents set to be released include those used during an October 2011 hearing by the NCAA Committee of Infractions. These include statements-of-fact relating to individual football players’ NCAA violations, reinstatement requests and billing related to legal fees incurred by the university.
UNC had cited the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act as reason to not release the records. Judge Howard Manning said records related to NCAA rule violations are not protected by FERPA, but sided with the school in saying that records related to student-athlete academic issues and to employees do not have to be released.