NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The Protect Campus Survivors Act — which seals personally identifiable information in all university disciplinary proceedings — has passed through the state budget after failing to make it past the state Senate in 2025. While some say it protects survivors of sexual assault, it also hides the identity of perpetrators; more so, it weakens public records access by overturning a court ruling.
The legislation solidifies student disciplinary proceedings from the UNC School System or community colleges are not public records. Currently, if a student is found responsible for violent crimes or a non-forcible sex offense the perpetrator’s name, policy they violated and punishment can all be made public. Under the new legislation no personally identifiable information can be released, even if it would be permissible under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
“What this provision does is it removes that disincentive and tells survivors that if you report what happened, the record of what happened to you is going to stay protected until you decide that you want to tell that information to the general public,” Sen. Michael Lee (R-New Hanover), one of the bill’s sponsors said to Port City Daily.
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Lee believes a 2020 court ruling took away survivor autonomy and choice, and therefore wanted to champion Protect Campus Survivors Act.
The act has been in the works for several years with advocates like the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault lobbying for the legislation. Prior to its addition to the state budget, the provision was first proposed as Senate Bill 196, filed in February 2025 and sent to the Committee on Rules and Operations on March 3, 2025.
The bill was included in the Senate’s budget proposal but saw no further action after the House failed to make a vote.
Senate Bill 195 specified confidentiality of disciplinary records, including a student’s name, the student’s parents or family members’ names, student or family address, birthdate or any information that would help a “reasonable person” identify the student.
The state budget’s iteration differs slightly, though. Specifications on what constitutes “personally identifiable information” was removed and replaced with regulations outlined in FERPA, or information outside of FERPA that may otherwise be used to identify the individual.
The provision also explicitly states that general information on sexual assault, such as data on university cases, summaries of disciplinary proceedings and instructions can be available to the public.
However, not everyone is on board with the new law.
“I’m disappointed the legislature would use this kind of sleight-of-hand approach. I mean, they put the provision in the budget that has nothing to do with spending money to overturn this court decision of the North Carolina Supreme Court,” a Raleigh attorney, Hugh Stevens, said.
Stevens says it overturns the 2020 precedent set by the North Carolina Supreme Court in DTH Media Corp. v. Folt, a case in which he represented the plaintiffs.
In 2016, media organizations — including the DTH Media Corporation, Capitol, Broadcasting Company Inc., The Charlotte Observer Publishing Company and The Durham Herald Company — requested names of students found responsible for rape and sexual assault as part of UNC’s internal proceedings since 2007. However, they were denied.
The media organizations collectively filed the lawsuit against former UNC chancellor Carol Folt and Senior Director of Special Projects & Public Records Gavin Young.
The plaintiffs claimed, by not providing disciplinary records of students that violated UNC’s sexual assault policy, their right to public records, via the North Carolina Public Records Act, had been infringed upon. Defendants said due to FERPA law, they were not required to release the requested information.
The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, noting FERPA did allow for the release of records pertaining to violent crimes and sexual offenses.
Supporters of the bill say it will protect sexual assault victims by shielding information that may reveal their identities.
“I strongly believe that when someone’s autonomy is taken from them, from that point on, they should be able to consent to every stage of the process that happens to them after that, because this incident took so much of their personal autonomy,” North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault attorney and lobbyist Skye David said.
David represents survivors across the state, including students who attend UNCW, and noted many times, they want information regarding their assault to remain private. In 2024, UNCW reported 14 on-campus rapes.
However, in addition to the law protecting survivors from unwanted publicity, it also hides the names of perpetrators of assault.
“I don’t believe that we should expose perpetrators at the risk of, you know, hurting survivors,” David said, noting that sometimes victims can be identified when a perpetrator’s name is released.
Not everyone is for the legislation, with Stevens criticizing the limits on public access to government information and the legislature’s control of public records.
Stevens does not believe the state bill passage will lead to litigation because the General Assembly is in control of the Public Records Act. The act, first passed in 1935, says that state and local government records should be publicly accessible, calling them “property of the people.”
In recent years parts of the act have been peeled back with the legislature exempting themselves from public records law in 2023.
“It’s a constant battle to try to keep the avenues of access open,” Stevens said, noting there is no constitutional guarantee to access government information. “When it comes to access to public records and information, we are always at the mercy of the General Assembly.”
Aside from overturning the precedent of a state Supreme Court case, Stevens also has concerns about the legislation’s potential to protect perpetrators of assault and making it more difficult to access information on assailants.
“I guess it’s up to each person’s points of view as to how important it is to know who has been, for example, permanently expelled from the university system for sexual misconduct,” Stevens said. “Obviously, there are some people who don’t want the public to know that.”
However, Lee said the act does not prevent universities from releasing information on perpetrators on their own, it just says that information is not something the public can request. Additionally, survivors can still disclose whatever information they so chose.
Lee also noted a caveat:While university disciplinary proceedings are not public record, if an individual is criminally charged with sexual misconduct those records are still public.
Some media outlets and public information advocates claim the law is permissive of misconduct and limits accountability.
“Providing North Carolina universities with yet another exemption to the public records law further erodes the public’s broad right of access and allows universities to discipline students — some accused of criminal misconduct — in darkness,” Director of North Carolina Open Government Coalition Pate McMichael, told Carolina Public Press.
PCD reached out to McMichael and the NCOGC but did not hear back by press.
“I think people misunderstand the point of the legislation,” Lee said. “The point of the legislation is really to protect those who’ve been victims of sexual assaults.”
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