Shel Swanson The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.)

A new lawsuit alleges UNC’s Board of Trustees approved the hiring of Bill Belichick in an illegal closed session in December, among other violations of North Carolina’s open-meetings and public-records laws.

Former UNC provost Chris Clemens filed the lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court. The lawsuit, which largely revolves around the issue of tenure deferral, outlines a “pattern and practice” by UNC’s trustees to systemically hide “matters of grave public concern behind closed doors.”

To bolster his argument, Clemens — and David McKenzie, his lawyer, cited multiple examples — many of which pertain to athletics.

In the case of Belichick’s hiring, the lawsuit alleges “substantive deliberation occurred in secret” during a Dec. 12, 2024 emergenc

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