Former UNC-Chapel Hill Provost Chris Clemens, who served in the role for three years before stepping down in May, on Monday sued the university and its Board of Trustees over multiple alleged violations of North Carolina’s open-meetings and public-records laws.
The suit accuses the board of “systematically hiding matters of grave public concern behind closed doors” by meeting in closed session for reasons that are not permitted in state law; conducting deliberations over text messages without giving proper notice or access to the public; and “deliberately communicating” about public business on platforms that automatically delete messages in order to “evade records retention and public inspection.”
“The result is the same each time — less transparency, less accountability, erratic governance, and a steady erosion of public trust in the nation’s first public university,” the suit reads…