In the wake of an exhaustive investigation into acjademic irregularities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chancellor Carol Folt said in October that nine employees would be disciplined or fired. When the university refused to identify the nine employees, in contravention of the Public Records Act and the State Personnel System Act, a coalition of 10 media outlets sued. On Wednesday, the university identified the four employees it is seeking to fire and agreed to identify the other five employees if disciplinary actions are upheld following administrative appeals.
In October, Chancellor Carol Folt announced that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill would discipline or fire nine employees in the wake of an exhaustive investigation conducted by former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein into academic irregularities in courses on the campus. Folt declined to identify the employees, as did other university officials in the days and weeks that followed.
The State Personnel System Act requires that certain information about employees be open to inspection, including the “date and type of each dismissal, suspension or demotion for disciplinary reasons.” Following Chancellor Folt’s announcement, the university refused to identify the employees arguing that disciplinary actions are not final until all administrative appeals have been exhausted.
In November a group of 10 media outlets, including N.C. Open Government Coalition members WRAL, the News & Observer, Charlotte Observer, Time Warner Cable News and The Daily Tar Heel, filed a lawsuit against the university over its refusal to identify the employees. Earlier in December, Judge Donald Stephens ordered the university and media outlets to attempt mediation to resolve the dispute. Stephens also noted that he was “troubled” that Folt had disclosed that nine employees would be disciplined or fired without providing additional information.
On Wednesday, the university publicly identified the four employees it is seeking to fire and agreed to later identify six employees it is seeking to discipline if the disciplinary actions are upheld in the university’s administrative appeals process.
This was the third public records lawsuit related to the academic-athletics scandal at the university since it began in 2010.
Read coverage of the university’s announcement from the News & Observer here, WRAL here and The Daily Tar Heel here.