The (Greensboro) News & Record, The Charlotte Observer and WRAL-TV are among news organizations that have filed suit against the University of North Carolina asking for employee records in a cheating scandal.
More than 3,000 students benefited from bogus classes and inflated grades for nearly two decades at UNC Chapel Hill’s African and Afro-American Studies department, an investigation found last month.
The news organizations are seeking records for 21 employees, nine of whom “were terminated or have faced disciplinary action,” Sarah Newell Williamson reports for the News & Record. State law requires that information about state employees, including “dismissal, suspension or demotion for disciplinary reasons,” be made public.
“They are withholding access to public records,” N&R Publisher Jeff Gauger told Williamson. “Someone has to stand up to them and make them follow the law. No one’s better situated to look after public records than news organizations.”
