UNC Football: Does Judge's Ruling Suggest More Significant NCAA Investigation?

Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning ruled Tuesday that personal records and information of UNC student-athletes should be released to the public. According to Judge Manning, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act "does not provide a student with an invisible cloak so that the student can remain hidden from public view while enrolled at UNC."

In so ruling, Judge Manning allowed media access to the records of football players and other athletes.

Manning has a very close relationship with UNC. He is the 2010 recipient of The Peabody Award, which he won due to his far-reaching impact on public school education in North Carolina. Manning earned his bachelor’s degree in history at Carolina and law degree from UNC’s School of Law.

While his background might be seen as potentially prejudicial, Judge Manning is also a very big supporter of education in North Carolina who could easily be troubled by what he has seen in this case.

Apparently, the various members of the media sought parking tickets and phone records of the athletes. Manning's ruling that these records cannot be protected could shortly bring very bad tidings.

The ruling is not unprecedented. A number of other cases have found that FERPA does not protect much other than the most central student records.

Many courts have defined student records fairly narrowly, finding that FERPA does not include many forms of records. Yet the ruling hits at the heart of who an athlete is, in particular the people he or she has relationships with—especially the portion that deals with phone records.

The parking tickets finding is far less intrusive. Although these records may normally not be disclosed to the public, one can easily follow Judge Manning's ruling. Parking tickets involve public violations, not private conversations.

The parking tickets provided another basis for finding that disclosure was appropriate. Automobiles themselves are very visible and obvious, another reason that this should be considered public information, at least in this situation.

From a WTVD report:

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Among the records the media is fighting for are unredacted phone records, player parking tickets and a full list of tutors including salaries.

The parking tickets would reveal the kinds of cars the players drive and if they received preferential treatment.

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It is reasonable to conclude that some or all of the media organizations involved intend to investigate the types of cars players drive and how those cars were obtained, though this doesn't necessarily mean they are acting on a specific tip of anything inappropriate in that department.

For the phone records, more care is clearly needed. It is one thing to allow inquiry into the records insofar as they show contacts between agents and Carolina players.

It is quite another to allow inquiry into telephone conversations with friends and family.

It's hard to say what will come out of this for the UNC football team or whether the NCAA will get involved once these local media outlets start publishing their findings. Time will tell, but this is a PR mess either way.