RALEIGH — Gov. Josh Stein on Tuesday signed the state budget that includes a provision changing North Carolina’s public‑records rules for disciplinary proceedings at public colleges and universities, effectively removing from public view the names and other identifying information of students found responsible for sexual misconduct.
What changed
The newly enacted language amends state public‑records law so that any university or community‑college record that reveals "personally identifiable information" about a student in disciplinary proceedings is exempt from disclosure. The move reverses a 2020 North Carolina Supreme Court decision that had allowed the public to obtain lists of students found responsible for sexual misconduct on public postsecondary campuses.
Under the prior practice, requests could return the name of the student found responsible, the date and a general description of the incident — for example, a listing such as "sexual penetration without consent." The budget provision now shields those names and other identifiers, including student identification numbers. The law does, however, permit release of nonidentifying material such as aggregated statistics and summaries.
"This allows for the release of information that somebody may want in knowing whether or not the campus is safe, and how many of these cases they have on campus, while also protecting survivors' identities," said Skye David, a lobbyist and staff attorney at North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
Stakeholders and concerns
Supporters say the exemption protects survivors and reduces the risk of re‑traumatizing complainants by broadly limiting disclosure of identifying details tied to sensitive disciplinary files. Opponents argue the change narrows the public’s right of access and could obscure campus accountability for behavior that, if prosecuted in criminal court, would be part of the public record.
- Protected: names, student IDs and other personally identifiable information in university and community‑college disciplinary records.
- Allowed: aggregated data, guidelines, instructions and summaries about campus disciplinary activity.
- Reversed: a 2020 state Supreme Court precedent that had permitted release of identifying information.
Practical impact
The change affects anyone who previously relied on public‑records requests to learn whether particular students had been found responsible for sexual misconduct, including reporters, community members and campus safety monitors. Colleges and universities across the state will now treat such disciplinary files as off‑limits for individual identification, while continuing to produce campus‑level statistics and policy information.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Names of students found responsible could be released | Names and other identifying details are exempt from disclosure |
| General incident descriptions sometimes provided | Aggregated descriptions and summaries allowed; identifying details withheld |
The provision was added to the budget after the standalone Protect Campus Survivors Act did not advance last year. By folding the measure into the budget, lawmakers enacted a lasting change to public‑records access for campus disciplinary matters that backers say balances transparency and survivor protection, and critics say diminishes public oversight.
As institutions adjust their records practices, observers in higher education, legal advocacy and journalism will be watching how colleges implement the new standard and what information remains publicly available for assessing campus safety and disciplinary outcomes.
