Cooper Signs Bills Granting Universities Immunity Over COVID-19 Tutition Claims, UNC-CH Construction Funding

Governor Roy Cooper has been signing and vetoing bills from the North Carolina General Assembly’s most recent session this week. Two he recently approved protect universities from legal claims over coronavirus-related closures and give additional funding to UNC-Chapel Hill capital development projects.

Among the 24 bills ratified by the governor on Wednesday, Senate Bill 208 gives universities across the state immunity from any tuition claims submitted during this past spring semester. According to the bill, universities can be protected from claims aiming to get losses or damages from changes due to the coronavirus as long as the institution offered remote learning options during the spring and the alleged act or omission was done to protecting public health, safety or welfare in response to state orders regarding COVID-19. The protections do not apply if the damages resulted solely from a breach of contractual provision allocating liability or if the losses we caused by an act of bad faith of maliciousness by the university.

Students and their families filed lawsuits in April seeking reimbursements from the UNC System after it canceled in-person instruction in March following the outbreak of COVID-19 across the state.

With Cooper’s signature on Senate Bill 212, UNC-Chapel Hill will now receive funding in the 2020-2021 fiscal year to help pay for renovation to its School of Nursing and a planned expansion for the Kenan-Flagler Business School. The General Assembly allocated $7 million to the business school project and $2.5 million to the nursing school project.

UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz shared a release regarding the approval of funding for the capital improvement projects.

“We appreciate the important investment our state legislators and governor have made toward expanding the Kenan-Flagler Business School and renovating our UNC School of Nursing,” Guskiewicz wrote. “Demand for a business degree at Carolina far exceeds the available space and expansion will allow the school to increase the number of business professionals, alumni-created startups, and jobs in North Carolina. Likewise, much-needed renovations and safety improvements to our nation’s top-rated public School of Nursing will ensure those we entrust with keeping North Carolinians healthy can also learn and thrive in a safe environment.”

Kenen-Flagler Business School recently received a gift that will help expand its undergraduate business programs ahead of the school’s physical expansion. The university announced an $11 million gift from Steve and Jackie Bell in May, the largest single donation every to the business school.

Cooper also approved Senate Bill 817, which provides more than $29 million in funding for enrollment growth within the UNC System for the new fiscal year.

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