Transparency in government is the backbone of the democratic process. If the public could not access public records unfettered, standards of accountability would plummet.
That is why it is disappointing that members of UNC’s Board of Trustees openly contemplated asking the North Carolina General Assembly to make records less accessible.
At last week’s meeting of UNC’s Board of Trustees, Joel Curran, UNC’s vice chancellor for communications and public affairs, presented about the costs of handing over records. Curran singled out a request made by both Dan Kane of The (Raleigh) News & Observer and Bradley Saacks of The Daily Tar Heel pertaining to records involved in UNC’s academic scandal.
In response to this presentation, trustee Ed McMahan suggested those who request public records should have to pay for access and that the NCGA should review its public records law. Trustee Charles Duckett agreed, indicating shortsightedness of the board.
North Carolina’s government has struggled with issues of transparency in the last few years, and making it more difficult for the public to access records (that taxpayers have already paid for) would show an abdication of responsibility on the part of state leaders.
If UNC’s trustees would like the University to pay less to hand over its public records, they should attempt to avoid future failures like the decades of fake classes UNC offered.
It’s important that UNC’s trustees and North Carolina’s legislators remember the accessibility of public records makes government work better.
