UNC can keep private a $1.2M report into faculty complaints about civics school, judge says

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill doesn’t have to release any part of its report into the School of Civic Life and Leadership, an Orange County judge said in a memo Thursday.

2026-08-20

Multiple media outlets, including WRAL parent Capitol Broadcasting Co., sued the university, seeking the public release of parts or all of the $1.2-million, 400-plus page report that took seven months to complete.

Judge John M. Morris informed both sides in a memo Thursday that he reviewed the report privately and now intends to grant UNC’s motion for summary judgement in the case. 

“The court, having concluded the in-camera review of these documents referenced in the motion, having reviewed the court file, defendants’ motion, legal briefs in support of and in opposition to the motion, and after considering argument from counsel, grants defendants’ motion for summary judgment,” Morris wrote.

Morris didn’t write an order. Instead, he asked that UNC’s lawyers draft an order and share it with the lawyers for the media companies and submit it to the judge for review, which is a common practice.

"Judge Morris’ decision is the most inexplicable and unexpected decision that I have encountered in almost 50 years of litigating public records cases," said Hugh Stevens, a lawyer for the media companies and longtime general counsel for the North Carolina Press Association, in a statement. "Given the applicable law, it is unfathomable to me that every page, every line, and every word of a 400-page investigation that was conducted at significant public expense and that concerns a manifestly public matter – i.e., the establishment of a new and controversial school at our flagship university – is exempt from public disclosure.

"Judge Morris did not disclose why he believes that the SCiLL report is completely beyond the reach of the North Carolina Public Records Act. Since we, unlike both him and the University’s lawyers, have never had the opportunity to see the report, we cannot cogently comment on the rationale for his terse but sweeping secrecy ruling."

UNC declined to comment to WRAL on Thursday afternoon.

The School of Civic Life and Leadership was established in 2023, began holding classes in the fall of 2024 and has been under scrutiny by some university faculty members over the recruiting and retention of faculty. University leaders launched an independent investigation into claims against the university.

UNC said it commissioned the review in September 2025 because of those complaints, saying “those concerns included allegations that, if true, could give rise to claims against the university.”

UNC has only released statements about the report’s findings, saying it had “unwavering confidence in the comprehensiveness, integrity and objectivity of the review” and that it remained “fully confident in the continued strength and success” of the school under its dean, Jed Atkins.

In court, the school’s attorneys argued that the entire report is exempt from the state’s public records laws, citing exemptions for materials prepared for trial, attorney-client privilege, information covered by the state’s Human Resources Act and the desire to protect nonprofit donor information. The report was concluded in early 2026.

WRAL and the other media outlets asked the judge to examine the report to determine what parts, if any, should be released. Students and faculty, too, have called for its public release.

SCiLL, as the school has become known, began operating as an independent academic unit at the university this fall. It has hired more than 20 faculty members. The school educates students to “think critically, exercise judgement, lead wisely, deliberate across differences, and live with purpose in our pluralistic democracy,” according to UNC. 

The school was seen as a way to bring more conservative voices and offerings to a campus considered by some as too liberal. The Republican-led state legislature approved $5 million in recurring funds to support the school earlier this year.

Then-chairman of the UNC Board of Trustees Dave Boliek, who is now the state auditor, told Fox News in 2023 that there’s “no shortage of faculty with progressive left-wing views [at UNC], like many campuses across the nation. The same really can’t be said of right-of-center views. So this is an effort to try to remedy that with the School of Civic Life and Leadership, which will provide equal opportunity for both views to be taught at the university.”