Settlement reached in alleged hazing incident

UNC said it won’t release information about a settlement between a former UNC football player and the University over an alleged hazing event.

News reports at the time reported the event, which occurred in August 2014, left then first-year football player Jackson Boyer with a concussion. Boyer transferred to the University of Southern California, where he is now a junior and playing football.

The News and Observer recently reported a settlement between the University and Boyer had been reached. According to their reports, Boyer had been awarded $795,000 to cover actual or potential personal injury claims, which could have included damages, attorney fees and litigation expenses.

UNC Spokesperson Jim Gregory said a copy of the settlement was dropped off at the News and Observer office.

“...(Andrew Carter) called me and sent it to me, sent me pictures and, you know, all I can do because of the situation was verify just if it seemed to be an authentic document,” Gregory said. “And so that’s what I verified, I said it appears to be authentic document. So I didn’t verify anything else, like the numbers…”

Although the News and Observer reported on the settlement, Gregory said the University could not release the documents because they were not public record. He said because the alleged incident involved a student it was an educational record.

“We’re prohibited to releasing educational records that are personally identifiable,” he said. “So if there is a record that we have reason to believe the requester knows the identity of the student,that’s where we wouldn’t be able to.”

“If we redacted it you would still know who it’s for.”

Jonathan Jones, director of the Sunshine Center of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition, said the lawsuit and the settlement are not educational records protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and therefore are public records.

“You can search high and low, and I don’t think that an assault is going to meet the definition of an education record, which is what FERPA protects,” Jones said.

Jones said FERPA is narrowly tailored to protect files related to education or disciplinary within a university.

“State law is very clear on that. It is spelled out in the statute,” Jones said. “Settlements between government agencies and people that have been involved in lawsuits are public record.”

In the weeks following the incident, football coach Larry Fedora suspended four players — Donnie Miles, Des Lawrence, Brian Walker and M.J. Stewart — from the first game of the 2014 season because the they did not “meet the high expectations we have for them as members of our program.”

Fedora referred to the incident as a violation of team policy.