Judge orders UNC to mediation in records dispute
In a lawsuit filed by SMVT on behalf of a coalition of 10 media organizations against UNC-Chapel Hill, Judge Judge Donald Stephens of Wake County Superior Court has ordered the parties to mediation.
The lawsuit seeks access to public records related to the discipline of several university employees following the release of the Wainstein Report on academic fraud at the University.
Selected media coverage of the order:
“One of the problems we’ve had in these circumstances,” [Mike] Tadych said, “rather than have a dialogue, we got, ‘Here’s what you get.’ ”
“I don’t see anything in (state law) that talks about finality; it talks about actions,” [Hugh] Stevens said. “When the chancellor fires somebody, then they’ve been dismissed.”
– WRAL
Judge Stephens was troubled by the fact that Chancellor Carol Folt was willing to announce that nine employees were going to face disciplinary action — including four employees who had already been terminated — without giving the names of those employees.
“It’s one thing to say a terrible thing has happened and heads will roll, but I’m not going to tell you what happened and whose heads,” he said.
http://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2014/12/lawsuit-1212