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The University of North Carolina academic-athletic scandal involved alleged
fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
and
academic dishonesty
Academic dishonesty, academic misconduct, academic fraud and academic integrity are related concepts that refer to various actions on the part of students that go against the expected norms of a school, university or other learning institution. D ...
committed at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
(UNC).
Following a
lesser scandal that began in 2010 involving academic fraud and improper benefits with the university's
football program, two hundred questionable classes offered by the university's African and Afro-American Studies department (commonly known as AFAM) came to light. As a result, the university was placed on probation by its accrediting agency.
An internal investigation by the university released in 2011 and another investigation commissioned by former North Carolina governor
Jim Martin in 2012 found numerous academic and ethical issues with the AFAM department, including unauthorized grade changes and faculty signatures, a disproportionate number of
independent study Independent study is a form of education offered by many high schools, colleges, and other educational institutions. It is sometimes referred to as ''directed study'', and is an educational activity undertaken by an individual with little to no supe ...
class offerings relative to other departments, and an over-representation of student-athletes enrolled in such classes. In 2014, a series of charges and counter-charges began between university officials and former learning specialist Mary Willingham, including disputes about statistics and methods of analysis by Willingham alleging that certain student-athletes were not academically qualified for college.
[ As a result of these revelations, the ]Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priv ...
placed the university on probation for one year, endangering the university's regional accreditation
Higher education accreditation in the United States is a peer review process by which the validity of degrees and credits awarded by higher education institutions is assured. It is coordinated by accreditation commissions made up of member ins ...
. Losing accreditation would have resulted in the loss of any federal funding or support.
The university introduced new standards, protocols and rules to prevent misadministration within academic departments in the future. As a result, UNC exited probation and regained full standing by June 2016. The National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
(NCAA) then completed its own investigation in October 2017, finding no violations of its rules, largely due to the fact that the NCAA does not have oversight authority for university academic programs.
The controversy sparked debate as to whether the university educated some of its student-athletes improperly and called into question the role of NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
athletics relative to the academic mission of NCAA-member colleges and universities.[July 9, 2014, News Observer, Dan Kane]
At US Senate hearing, NCAA's Emmert pledges to work for change
Accessed July 15, 2014, "... With several United States senators at a hearing Wednesday questioning whether the NCAA and its member schools care about the well-being of college athletes. ... "
Background
North Carolina football scandal
Greg Barnes of Inside Carolina initially broke the scandal with ESPN following closely behind. On July 15, 2010, ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
reported that the NCAA interviewed several North Carolina football players over alleged gifts, extra benefits, and sports agent involvement. Reportedly, the investigation began after North Carolina defensive tackle Marvin Austin
Marvin Austin Jr. (born January 10, 1989) is a former American football nose tackle. He played college football at North Carolina and was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. Austin also played for the Miami D ...
made a post on Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
on May 29, 2010, containing a reference to a nightclub in Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
in which a sports agent's party had taken place two months earlier. The university later suspended Austin and over ten other football players from the team. On October 11, 2010, Austin was dismissed from the football team, and the NCAA declared wide receiver Greg Little and defensive end Robert Quinn "permanently ineligible" due to receiving improper benefits.
On August 26, 2010, the NCAA began a separate investigation of North Carolina football that involved possible academic fraud involving a tutor in the university's academic support program. The tutor was later identified as Jennifer Wiley ( known as Jennifer Wiley Thompson due to marriage). Another source familiar with the investigation said that Wiley was accused of "inappropriate help on papers that football players were required to write for classes." However, Baddour said on September 24 that Wiley declined to cooperate with the NCAA.
Because the university felt that the NCAA investigation was extremely embarrassing to its reputation, North Carolina fired football head coach Butch Davis
Paul Hilton "Butch" Davis Jr. (born November 17, 1951) is an American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Florida International University. After graduating from the University of Arkansas, he became an assistant col ...
on July 27, 2011. The next day, athletic director Dick Baddour
Dick, Dicks, or Dick's may refer to:
Media
* Dicks (album), ''Dicks'' (album), a 2004 album by Fila Brazillia
* Dicks (band), a musical group
* Dick (film), ''Dick'' (film), a 1999 American comedy film
* Dick (song), "Dick" (song), a 2019 song ...
announced that he would resign and allow chancellor Holden Thorp
Herbert Holden Thorp (born August 16, 1964) is an American chemist, professor and entrepreneur. He was the tenth chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, assuming the position on July 1, 2008, succeeding James Moeser, and, a ...
to hire a new football head coach.
On March 12, 2012, the NCAA issued formal sanctions against North Carolina football: a postseason ban for the 2012 season, reductions of 15 scholarships, and 3 years of probation. The NCAA found North Carolina guilty of multiple infractions, including academic fraud and failure to monitor the football program. However, the NCAA did not find more serious violations amounting to what would constitute a lack of institutional control, explaining that the university "educated its tutors regarding academic improprieties and its coaches regarding outside athletically related income ... self-discovered the academic fraud and took decisive action ... cooperated fully, is not a repeat violator and ... exhibited appropriate control over its athletics program." In November 2013, the university sent a letter of disassociation to Austin, Little, and Quinn.
Academic irregularities and punishment
The crux of the alleged irregularities proceeded from the UNC Department of African and Afro-American Studies. Over approximately fifteen years, the department offered two hundred independent study Independent study is a form of education offered by many high schools, colleges, and other educational institutions. It is sometimes referred to as ''directed study'', and is an educational activity undertaken by an individual with little to no supe ...
courses, many without full adherence to University procedure for course provisioning or sufficient professorial oversight. The irregularities called into question the department's academic integrity and led to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priv ...
putting the university on academic probation for one year, a rare action against a major research university.
Overview
A basic charge by critics was that UNC did not live up to its end of the bargain by not sufficiently educating some of its student-athletes. Rebecca Schuman of ''Slate.com
''Slate'' is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former '' New Republic'' editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. In 2 ...
'' accused the university of "abjectly failing some of its students" by keeping them "functionally illiterate."
Gerald Gurney, president of the Drake Group for Academic Integrity in College Sport, called UNC "the mother of all academic fraud violations" because of "cooperation of friendly faculty and cover-up
A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence, or other embarrassing information. Research has distinguished personal cover-ups (covering up one's own misdeeds) from relational co ...
."[ Paul M. Barrett, in a cover story for the March 3, 2014 edition of '']Bloomberg Businessweek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'' magazine, wrote: "... rather than seriously investigate the connection between sports and classroom corruption, top university administrators used vague committee reports to obfuscate the issue."[ Reporter ]Dan Kane
Daniel Paul Kane (born 1961) is an American news reporter and investigative journalist for the Raleigh, North Carolina newspaper ''The News & Observer'', notable for uncovering and exposing the academics scandal at the University of North Caroli ...
of the ''News & Observer
''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...
'' was part of a three-person investigative team that exposed the scandal, causing UNC fans and some faculty to accuse Kane of conducting a witch hunt for a conspiracy that did not exist.
In a 2021 article about the scandal, journalist and UNC alum Andy Thomason concluded that no nefarious individuals could be blamed for the scandal, but instead the substandard classes were the result of a series of decisions by multiple people, mostly well-intentioned, operating for years under the powerful forces of money-making college athletics.
Initial accusations
Suspicions about the UNC Department of African and Afro-American Studies were raised as early as 2011. UNC defensive end Michael McAdoo
Michael McAdoo (born July 9, 1990) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels. ...
filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on July 1, 2011, seeking reinstatement to the football team. The NCAA declared McAdoo ineligible for accepting improper benefits and committing academic fraud, based on the UNC Undergraduate Honor Court finding that McAdoo committed academic dishonesty by having Jennifer Wiley complete a bibliography and works-cited section on a research paper for an AFAM class. From this lawsuit, McAdoo was forced to make public the paper; an analysis by Dan Kane of the Raleigh ''News & Observer'' found that the Honor Court failed to find multiple instances of plagiarism in McAdoo's paper. On July 13, a North Carolina Superior Court judge in Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
refused to grant an injunction against the NCAA, thus upholding ineligibility for McAdoo.
Then in August, Dan Kane reported that football player Marvin Austin
Marvin Austin Jr. (born January 10, 1989) is a former American football nose tackle. He played college football at North Carolina and was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. Austin also played for the Miami D ...
took a 400-level course in the department the summer before his freshman fall semester. According to an academic adviser at the university, "it is unusual for any freshman to begin his or her college education with a 400 level course." On September 1, 2011, just over a week after Kane's article about Austin's transcript was published, AFAM department chair Julius Nyang'oro resigned from his executive position but remained on faculty.
More controversy for AFAM came after the transcript of former North Carolina football and basketball player Julius Peppers
Julius Frazier Peppers (born January 18, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end and outside linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels, ...
was found under a University of North Carolina web address (www.unc.edu) by members of ''PackPride'', a Scout.com
Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...
community for fans of rival school NC State
North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...
. A university staffer originally posted the transcript with Peppers's identifying information removed on a secure UNC server as a test record in 2001. Six years later, another staffer mistakenly moved the test record to an unsecured server. The transcript showed a cumulative grade point average
Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...
of 1.82 from the summer 1998 to spring 2001 terms with 11 grades of D or F. Additionally, Peppers's grades for AFAM classes were on average higher than for non-AFAM classes, and Peppers was never academically ineligible for athletic competition despite his grades. Through his agent, Peppers confirmed that the transcript was his and stated that there was "no academic fraud." University chancellor Holden Thorp
Herbert Holden Thorp (born August 16, 1964) is an American chemist, professor and entrepreneur. He was the tenth chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, assuming the position on July 1, 2008, succeeding James Moeser, and, a ...
later apologized to Peppers.
Reviews of AFAM
On May 2, 2012, UNC released the results of an internal investigation into AFAM courses commissioned by Jonathan Hartlyn, senior associate dean for social sciences and global programs, and William L. Andrews, senior associate dean for fine arts and humanities. The report examined AFAM classes from the summer 2007 to summer 2011 sessions. Among the findings in the Hartlyn-Andrews report:
*Thirty-six percent of students enrolled in questionable AFAM classes were football players.
*There was no evidence showing that student-athletes who took AFAM classes received preferential treatment.
*AFAM administrator Deborah Crowder likely oversaw scheduling and grade rosters of questionable classes.
*Nearly nine classes lacked evidence that a professor taught course material and graded work. For one Swahili class, the syllabus listed AFAM chair Julius Nyang'oro as professor, but Nyang'oro told university investigators that he did not teach that class. For 40 other courses listing Nyang'oro as instructor, mostly during summer sessions, a professor was present during class but seldom taught.
Martin Report (2012)
On December 19, 2012, UNC released a report, commissioned by former North Carolina governor Jim Martin, in collaboration with accounting firm Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP. The report examined data back to the 1990s. Among its findings:
*Student-athletes were disproportionately enrolled in suspect classes.[
*From the 1990s through 2011, AFAM offered two hundred lecture courses that never took place, as well as offering dubious independent study programs that required little work to complete.] Also, some professors never showed up to teach classes. In some instances, the only course requirement of students was to submit a paper at the end of the class.[
* In "dozens of instances", eight professors "were unwittingly and indirectly compromised" when their signatures were forged by others on grade rosters. However, no evidence showed that any other faculty member than Julius Nyang'oro or Deborah Crowder was involved in wrongdoing.]
*Among grade changes for student-athletes, 106 were identified as "unauthorized", 454 as "potentially unauthorized", 373 were "inconclusive", and 203 were legitimate.[Martin Report, pp. 8-9.]
There were felony fraud charges brought against Nyang'oro for being paid $12,000 to teach a non-existent class, but these charges were dropped by the Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
district attorney based on recommendations from Kenneth Wainstein in exchange for Nyang'oro's cooperation.[Sara Ganim, CNN, July 3, 2014]
Charges dropped in University of North Carolina 'paper classes' case
Accessed July 15, 2014, "... ex-professor Julius Nyang'oro would no longer be facing a felony fraud charge ..."
Accusations by Mary Willingham
One of the academic tutors assigned to help student-athletes was Mary Willingham, who was hired by the university in 2003 to assist student-athletes with their academic work. Willingham's 2009 Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
thesis for the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG or UNC Greensboro) is a public research university in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. UNCG, like all members of the UNC system, is a stand-al ...
was titled ''Academics & athletics - a clash of cultures: Division I football programs'' and asserted in part: "While admission standards are on the rise at major public universities, many under-prepared student-athletes (football) are admitted each year because they are the 'best' player in the state/country, creating academic disparities." In a November 2012 interview with Dan Kane of ''The News & Observer
''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...
'', Willingham made her initial claims about the university helping student-athletes stay eligible via improper assistance. In 2013, the Drake Group
The Drake Group is a network of American academics who believe that college athletics has become too dominant a force on university campuses. It was established after a 1999 meeting at Drake University in Iowa by Drake University Provost, Dr. Jon E ...
gave Willingham the Robert Maynard Hutchins
Robert Maynard Hutchins (January 17, 1899 – May 14, 1977) was an American educational philosopher. He was president (1929–1945) and chancellor (1945–1951) of the University of Chicago, and earlier dean of Yale Law School (1927–1929). His& ...
Award for being "a university faculty or staff member who defends the institution's academic integrity in the face of college athletics."[
][Schere, Daniel, January 29, 2014, Daily Tarheel]
Mary Willingham’s passion was shaped by her roots
Accessed July 15, 2014, "..She was awarded the 2013 Robert Maynard Hutchins award, ... stands up for academic integrity and often risks losing their job. ... "
In early 2014, Willingham approached national media to express her concerns about the university. In interviews with Sara Ganim
Sara Elizabeth Ganim (born September 9, 1987) is an American journalist, now a correspondent for CNN. Previously she was a reporter for ''The Patriot-News'', a daily newspaper in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. There she broke the story that featured ...
of CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
in January and Paul M. Barrett of ''Bloomberg Businessweek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
'' in March, Willingham alleged:
*Students accessed a team-maintained computer hard drive which contained a database of previous papers, and submitted recycled documents with cosmetic changes.[
* Some student-athletes reading below college levels. In an interview with ]CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
, Willingham claimed that 60% of 183 UNC football and basketball players, which she analyzed from 2004 to 2012, were reading at fourth- to eighth-grade levels, and that 10% read below a third-grade level.[
* She steered academically disadvantaged student-athletes towards enrolling in sham AFAM lecture courses.][
* The university was playing a "shell game" to prevent student-athletes from having to do any serious studying.][
In response to Willingham's claims about student-athlete literacy, UNC released another report by a board of educational experts outside the university that examined data between 2004 and 2012. That report found that there were 341 men's and women's basketball players and football players during these years; of this group, 34 students did not meet CNN's threshold of being "college literate", which meant a minimum ]SAT
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
reading score of 400 or an ACT score of 16; essentially, the university suggested that of its athletes, ten percent had academic issues.[ This is in contrast with the allegation by Mary Willingham, based on her personal investigations, that 60% of college athletes were not "college literate".][ In another of her analyses, she found that 150 to 200 of 400 student-athletes were "underperforming", some "badly underperforming", with the last group being mostly made of men's and women's players of basketball and football.][ One view suggested that the university's response to these and other allegations was to try to change the focus away from wrongdoing, in part by challenging Willingham's assertions and research.] The review board disputed her findings on the grounds that her methodology was not appropriate.
Willingham was also interviewed by Bernard Goldberg
Bernard Richard Goldberg (born May 31, 1945) is an American author, journalist, and political pundit. Goldberg has won fourteen Emmy Awards and was a producer, reporter and correspondent for CBS News for twenty-eight years (1972–2000) and a p ...
in a report for HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
's ''Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
''Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel'' is a monthly sports news magazine on HBO. Since its debut on April 2, 1995, the program has been presented by television journalist and sportscaster Bryant Gumbel.
Overview
Format
Each episode consists of fou ...
'' that was broadcast on March 25, 2014. The report was a general look at how some top NCAA Division I schools hire learning specialists like Willingham to help keep student-athletes eligible. A representative for UNC stated in response that HBO reported on "information that has previously been reported and discussed."
A segment by ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
's ''Outside the Lines
''Outside the Lines'', or also referred to as ''OTL'', is an American television program on ESPN that looks "outside the lines" and examines critical issues in mostly American sports on and off the field of play.
The primary host of the show is ...
'' from March 25, 2014 drew attention because Willingham showed a 146-word essay about Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the ...
and claimed that an unnamed student-athlete at UNC earned an A-minus in an AFAM class for turning that essay in. However, according to ''Slate.com
''Slate'' is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former '' New Republic'' editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. In 2 ...
'', the paper shown by Willingham "was most likely a draft of one piece of a take-home final for a legitimate introductory course." ''The News & Observer'' stated in a clarification note to a story that mentioned that essay: "It is unclear what grade the student received for the essay. Willingham said it was a class that met, and had other assignments."
In April 2014, Willingham announced her resignation. In June 2014, Willingham filed a lawsuit
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
against UNC.
In August 2014, citing posts in the Scout.com
Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...
UNC message board ''Inside Carolina'', Dan Kane reported in ''The News & Observer'' that passages in Willingham's 2009 master's thesis appeared to be plagiarized.
Accusations by Rashad McCants
On June 6, 2014, the ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
program ''Outside the Lines
''Outside the Lines'', or also referred to as ''OTL'', is an American television program on ESPN that looks "outside the lines" and examines critical issues in mostly American sports on and off the field of play.
The primary host of the show is ...
'' broadcast an interview with Rashad McCants
Rashad Dion McCants (born September 25, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player who has played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as well as overseas. He played for Trilogy in the BIG3 three-on-three league.
High schoo ...
, who was a starter on the North Carolina basketball team that won the 2005 NCAA championship, in which McCants claimed to have taken phony classes and had tutors write his classwork. However, all sixteen other members of the 2005 team released a statement which disputed McCants's account. Additionally, coach Roy Williams, separately interviewed by the same program, disputed McCants's claims. In contrast, in a noted 2004 interview with television station WRAL, McCants compared attending UNC with being in jail.[ Original AP wire title: "McCants Says He Likes Being at Carolina"]
Interviewed again on ''Outside the Lines'' on June 11, McCants stood by his claims about his academic experience at North Carolina. He also called on his fellow members of the 2004–05 basketball team to release their university transcripts because, in his opinion, "the truth is there in the transcripts" regarding bogus classes.
University officials contacted McCants via mail and text message in the days following ESPN's initial interview with McCants, because McCants expressed "knowledge of potential NCAA rule violations involving the University of North Carolina," according to a letter signed by the athletics director of compliance. However, McCants had not responded as of July 7, nor had he discussed his claims with the NCAA, according to the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
.
Actions by the university
Wainstein Report (2014)
In February 2014, the university hired Kenneth L. Wainstein, a former official in the United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
, to conduct an independent investigation.[Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY, June 30, 2014]
NCAA reopens investigation of North Carolina athletics
Accessed July 15, 2014, "... The NCAA notified the University of North Carolina it will reopen its 2011 investigation of academic irregularities, ..."
On October 22, 2014, the report was released reporting that for 18 years, at least 3,100 students took "nonexistent" classes, saying, "These counselors saw the paper classes and the artificially high grades they yielded as key to helping some student-athletes remain eligible." The report named both Julius Nyang'oro and Debbie Crowder as facilitators of the practice.[
]
Reforms
More than 70 reforms have been instituted. These included better governance standards, more accountability for support programs for student-athletes, new department structures, and more classroom audits and oversight of courses, according to a university source. Employees called ''checkers'' were sent to classes to see whether, in fact, they were being held, as part of an improved auditing system. Further, university officials made statements which affirmed that they were proud of the accomplishments of their sports programs and varsity teams. An athletics director spoke highly of the university's scholarship program; one said most of their student-athletes graduate and have successful careers. Some officials criticized the allegations; for example, a basketball coach objected that the allegations had slandered the "moral character of his players."
Conclusion
On October 13, 2017, the NCAA announced it would not levy penalties against North Carolina, saying it "could not conclude that the University of North Carolina violated N.C.A.A. academic rules." In their defense, North Carolina cited cases where Auburn and Michigan had similar misconduct and the NCAA did not act. It was ultimately concluded by the panel that the courses were for the entire student body, not just the student-athletes. The panel did conclude that since Nyang'oro did not cooperate with the investigation he was issued a five-year show-cause period as punishment for him, "any NCAA member school employing the yang'oromust show cause why he should not have restrictions on athletically related activity."
Committee on Infractions head for the NCAA, Greg Sankey, stated "While student-athletes likely benefited from the so-called 'paper courses' offered by North Carolina, the information available in the record did not establish that the courses were solely created, offered and maintained as an orchestrated effort to benefit student-athletes." North Carolina chancellor Carol Folt commented on the resolution of the case when she said "I believe we have done everything possible to correct and move beyond the past academic irregularities and have established very robust processes to prevent them from recurring." Tyrone P. Thomas, a lawyer for Mintz Levin and does work with colleges and universities, felt the ruling was "... a massive loophole, and from the P.R. side it looks horrible — these athletes can do what they do, and it looks horrible. But guess what? Maybe that's not the N.C.A.A.'s job. This is something the schools have always self-regulated."
See also
* List of sporting scandals
This is a list of major sports scandals.
American football scandals
* Minnesota Vikings boat party scandal (2005) – a sex party involving several members of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL)
* National Football Lea ...
References
External links
UNC Scandal
Ongoing coverage by ''The News & Observer
''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...
''
Martin Report
on academic anomalies at UNC
Mary Willingham Archive at the University of South Carolina
{{North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball navbox
North Carolina at Chapel Hill academics-athletics scandal
North Carolina at Chapel Hill academics-athletics scandal
Academics-athletics scandal
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Whistleblowing in the United States
North Carolina at Chapel Hill academics-athletics scandal
2011 scandals
North Carolina at Chapel Hill academics-athletics scandal
North Carolina at Chapel Hill academics-athletics scandal
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Academic scandals