Last month, the N.C. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case regarding the release of public records from private universities in the state.
Private institutions should be held to the same standard as public universities when their representatives are acting as agents of the law.
The case arose when a student reporter from Elon University was denied an incident report following a student’s arrest in 2010. The incident report would have been available at a public institution.
Private universities, such as Elon, argue they should be exempt from public disclosure laws that require the reports to be available.
While public policing at private institutions isn’t funded by taxpayers, officers still exercise a function of government and fall under the purview of the state attorney general.
Police are able to stonewall press by not making the reports available. Journalists and reporters, especially of the student variety, have to serve as watchdogs of the institutions.
By blocking the release of what should be public records, private universities are able to hide from journalists and activists.
However, before the Supreme Court’s ruling is released in the coming months, the N.C. General Assembly may make the result of the case irrelevant.
If the legislature passes N.C. House Bill 142, private universities will be required to disclose the same police records that public campuses must make available.
