## Facts

- Melissa Jennings, a former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student and women’s varsity soccer player, alleged sexual harassment by the team’s head coach and an assistant coach during the 1996–1998 period.
- The suit included claims under Title IX against the university, § 1983 claims against individual university employees and officials, and a state-law invasion-of-privacy claim against the head coach.
- During summary-judgment briefing, defendants moved to file certain supporting evidence under seal, including an affidavit from the university registrar attaching Jennings’s academic transcript and multiple deposition transcripts.
- Defendants asserted the transcript was an “education record” protected by FERPA and argued the depositions contained sensitive, potentially embarrassing information about the private and sexual lives of Jennings and other female students.
- Jennings did not oppose the sealing request.
- The court addressed only the sealing motion, not the merits of summary judgment.

## Issues

1. Whether a registrar affidavit and a student’s academic transcript submitted with a summary-judgment motion should be sealed based on FERPA.
2. Whether deposition transcripts submitted with a dispositive motion may be sealed to protect third-party student privacy where the testimony includes sensitive personal and sexual information.

## Decision

- The court denied the motion to submit evidence under seal in full.
- Because the materials were filed in connection with summary judgment, the First Amendment right of access applied, requiring a compelling interest and narrow tailoring.
- FERPA did not create an evidentiary privilege or automatic sealing mandate and, on these facts, did not supply a compelling interest sufficient to override public access.
- Generalized assertions of embarrassment and privacy harm to third parties did not justify sealing entire deposition transcripts, particularly where less restrictive alternatives (e.g., targeted redactions) were not proposed.

## Legal Principles

- Materials filed in connection with a dispositive motion are subject to a First Amendment right of access; sealing requires a compelling governmental interest and an order narrowly tailored to that interest, supported by specific findings and consideration of less restrictive alternatives.
- FERPA is a federal-funding statute that conditions institutional conduct; it does not create a private right of action, does not control admissibility, and does not establish a general privilege requiring court records to be sealed.
- Privacy interests, including those of nonparties, can be relevant to sealing, but generalized claims of embarrassment or reputational harm are insufficient to justify broad closure of judicial records tied to adjudication of substantive rights.

## Conclusion

The court refused to seal summary-judgment submissions, holding that neither FERPA nor asserted privacy concerns overcame the First Amendment presumption of access, especially absent narrowly tailored requests such as limited redactions and specific findings showing sealing was essential.


Jennings v. Univ. of N.C. at Chapel Hill, 340 F. Supp. 2d 679 (M.D.N.C. 2004)