The North Carolina Court of Appeals granted Thursday the University’s request to temporarily delay the release of records involving members of the UNC football team.
In May, Judge Howard Manning ordered the University to release certain records administrators claim are protected by the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
These records include unredacted phone records of UNC’s athletic director Dick Baddour, head football coach Butch Davis and former assistant coach John Blake, as well as parking tickets issued to 11 student-athletes.
On Wednesday, the University filed a petition for writ of supersedeas and a motion for stay, the granting of which will allow the Court of Appeals to hear the University’s appeal of Judge Manning’s decision.
The plaintiffs involved — including the Daily Tar Heel, the (Raleigh) News & Observer and other media outlets — in the suit have 10 days to respond.
Last year, the DTH submitted multiple records requests during an NCAA investigation of the UNC football team involving academic misconduct and improper relationships with agents.
University administrators blocked these requests, claiming that those records fell under the protection of FERPA.
In October, the DTH and seven other media outlets sued Chancellor Holden Thorp, Davis, Baddour and Director of Public Safety Jeff McCracken for the release of the records.
