Ticket battle to hit court

The Student Supreme Court will open its chamber today for the first time in almost six years to begin wading through a dispute between an outspoken member of Student Congress and top officials of the Carolina Athletic Association.

Domenick Grasso — a member of Congress’ athletics committee, which has heavily scrutinized CAA throughout the year — has filed formal complaints against the association.

He claims that CAA leaders have egregiously violated the Student Code by keeping too many men’s basketball tickets for themselves.

CAA officials counter that Grasso has unfairly targeted the organization all year and that the Code is out of date. The defense plans to file a motion today to dismiss all charges.

Grasso filed his original complaint with the court Feb. 17 and followed it with an amended version Monday — adding the claim that CAA has not provided adequate documentation of where its tickets are going.

Student Solicitor General Matt Liles’ efforts to arbitrate the case failed, so a pretrial hearing will take place at 9 p.m. today in the Kenan Courtroom of the UNC School of Law.

Four justices will determine if, and how, the case will proceed. Drew Erteschik, presiding chief justice, said it’s impossible to forecast a trial timeline.

Grasso contends that CAA has continually failed to adhere to a section of the Code that requires CAA to hold no more than 40 men’s basketball tickets for any single game. The complaint references an article published in The Daily Tar Heel in which CAA officials admitted that the association retains 138 tickets.

The Code also states that CAA must make public a list of students who receive tickets not approved by Student Congress. Grasso claims that a request was made Feb. 15 for a list of all past and future ticket receipts, but it was ignored.

Because Grasso filed the complaint against CAA, officials and those involved in ticket distribution must stand as defendants. Seven members of CAA are listed in the case: Lindsay Strunk, president; Ginny Franks, treasurer; Lauren Thurau, secretary; Mary Joos, chief of staff; Charles Robinson, director of ticket distributions; and Nicole Wilson and Andrea McAfee, co-chairwomen of ticket distribution.

Grasso demands that defendants appear before Honor Court for knowingly violating the Code. He also wants to see a written statement accepting wrongdoing posted on CAA’s Web site and submitted to the DTH.

Student Attorney General Carolina Chavez will represent all CAA officials, as stipulated by the Code. She plans to file a motion to dismiss all charges against the defendants, arguing that the complaint was not filed within the required time period, among other factors.

Grasso filed a request for a summary judgment Wednesday night, arguing that the case relies only on the Code. A party typically files a summary judgment based on the belief that a case rests only on indisputable facts and needs no argument.

Erteschik said the court has yet to interpret the meaning of Grasso’s filing.

Strunk argues that the section of the Code in question isn’t consistent with the way CAA must function. “We have 100-and-some people who work beneath me,” she said. “They don’t receive tickets for nothing, that’s for sure.”

Officials have conducted a massive effort this year to reduce inconsistencies in the Code. While leaders have spent many hours discussing CAA, they’ve made few policy changes.

Strunk said other student government officials knew how many tickets CAA retains before the complaint was filed.

“It’s been known from the beginning, so to file this complaint this late — all (Grasso’s) trying to do is prove a moot point,” she said.

Grasso, who did not return several calls Wednesday, supported his position in an e-mail.

“The Student Government Code is the supreme law of student government and student organizations. … No individual, group or organization acting under its authority is above it,” he wrote.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.