Facing open meetings lawsuit, UNC board says it won't discuss athletics budget in closed session
Members of the UNC Board of Trustees said Monday they would discuss the school's athletic budget during closed session Thursday. But at its meeting, the chairman said that was never the case.
The chairman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Board of Trustees said it would not discuss the school's athletic budget in closed session Thursday despite saying it would do just that during a special meeting Monday.
The about-face came after a complaint was filed Wednesday afternoon in Orange County alleging that the board was in violation of the state's open meetings and public records act.
A judge granted a temporary restraining order to stop the board from going into closed session to discuss "UNC Athletics' financials, budgeting, deficit, or ongoing or future conference realignment and related strategic planning."
The board went into closed session Thursday morning, but not before saying it would not discuss athletics.
Near the beginning of Thursday's full board meeting, in open session, chairman John Preyer read a statement seeking "to correct and clarify" the board's intent.
"I want to clarify comments made during that meeting that made a suggestion that we planned a separate budget presentation for athletics in an upcoming closed session. We do not schedule budget presentations and discussions for closed session. And we did not do that this week," Preyer said.
He continued: "A lot of us are very passionate about our athletics program. Concerns about the future have been expressed. We are in an uncertain time regarding the future of college athletics. That future is fraught with substantial and intersecting legal risk. We did not speak with the precision or clarity that we should have on Monday, but no statement made or action taken during that meeting changed the board's plan for today's closed session, our commitment to respect the legal ground for closed session or the accuracy of our published agenda."
Members of the UNC Board of Trustees said Monday they would discuss the school's athletic budget during closed session Thursday. But at its meeting, the chairman said that was never the case.
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