A media lawyer suggests the UNC system may have violated public records laws when its search committee met secretly to recommend Erskine Bowles for system president.
The chairman of the search committee and the UNC Board of Governors insists the panel followed the law, even though meetings held earlier this week to interview candidates for the job were never publicly announced.
The search committee did tell the press and public of a meeting September 7th. Leslie Winner, vice president and general counsel of the UNC system, says Sunday's and Monday's sessions were a continuation of the earlier meeting and didn't require additional notice under the state's open meetings laws.
Amanda Martin, a lawyer with the North Carolina Press Association, says the intention of the statute is for the public to know when and where the meeting will resume. She says when the meeting recesses, there has to be a public announcement of where it's going to reconvene.
