UNC-Chapel Hill failed to disclose 11 court-ordered records detailing how sexual assault perpetrators on campus were reprimanded. The school previously said that they would be releasing the records by June 30, but that day came and went without any word on the status of the records.
A May ruling by the NC Supreme Court means that the names of students found responsible for sexual assault or misconduct would have to be available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. The lawsuit was spearheaded by The Daily Tar Heel, though the Charlotte Observer, the Durham Herald-Sun, and Capitol Broadcasting were also listed as plaintiffs in the case.
The university claims that they didn’t have enough time to gather the 11 requested records, per the News & Observer. In response to UNC, the lawyer representing the media organizations called the excuse “nothing short of outrageous.”
The failure to comply happened to take place on the same day that the U.S. Department of Education fined UNC-Chapel Hill $1.5 million for misrepresenting campus crime statistics, including ones related to sexual assault.
It is unclear what will happen to ensure UNC complies with the court order to release the records. The media outlets involved in the lawsuit are reportedly looking into their legal options.
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