The Tar Heels appear to have something of a major and growing problem on their hands. Turns out, at least according to several recent investigations and reports, UNC has all but admitted it has covered up an academic scandal that appears to be far-reaching in scope.
UNC's own internal investigation revealed the school has been offering 54 courses that were apparently set up specifically for athletes and were bogus classes that required no attendance, taught by African-American studies professor Julius Nyang'oro.
The kicker with this is it's immediately after Mark Emmert's stand against PSU's "culture of athletics" and how that culture rode roughshod over academics, doing the right thing, etc. One could argue UNC might be enthralled in something that's not any different in theory. So, what happens from here?
The Raleigh News & Observer has been doing a good job with their own investigative reporting, and yesterday published a fairly damning commentary that Julius Peppers' fraudulent duplicate transcript might be just the tip of the iceberg. From that story:
Matt Haynes over at Sporting News has a pretty good read on this whole situation regarding Mark Emmert and the NCAA.
UNC's own internal investigation revealed the school has been offering 54 courses that were apparently set up specifically for athletes and were bogus classes that required no attendance, taught by African-American studies professor Julius Nyang'oro.
The kicker with this is it's immediately after Mark Emmert's stand against PSU's "culture of athletics" and how that culture rode roughshod over academics, doing the right thing, etc. One could argue UNC might be enthralled in something that's not any different in theory. So, what happens from here?
The Raleigh News & Observer has been doing a good job with their own investigative reporting, and yesterday published a fairly damning commentary that Julius Peppers' fraudulent duplicate transcript might be just the tip of the iceberg. From that story:
A UNC faculty committee investigated UNC's own claim and has asked for more independent investigations.A transcript bearing Peppers’ name, found over the weekend in an odd portal on a UNC website, shows a subpar academic record: a 1.82 grade point average and 11 grades of D or F. It also suggests that the academic fraud already confirmed by the university in the African studies department goes much further back than it had previously been able to confirm.
Peppers’ transcript, and a second one that practically mirrors it, show he received grades of B or better in seven classes within the department, offerings found in later years to be academically suspect. Without those grades, it’s unlikely Peppers would have kept his GPA high enough to play sports. UNC records show Nyang’oro taught or supervised at least three of those classes.
Despite all these things, the NCAA hasn't said much at all about UNC and the academic scandal, and has implied it doesn't have any immediate plans to investigate.A report by a special faculty committee at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is calling for an independent commission of outside experts in higher education to review athletics and academics at the university.
The report, released Thursday, also states staffers in the school's Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes referred players to classes in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies (AFAM). In May, the university outlined fraud and poor oversight in 54 AFAM classes between 2007 and 2011, including classes that met irregularly if at all.
That included a class last summer with 18 current football players and one former player.
Matt Haynes over at Sporting News has a pretty good read on this whole situation regarding Mark Emmert and the NCAA.
Anyone have any thoughts on what the NCAA should do here?When Mark Emmert made his grandiose statement last month, when he stood up and showed everyone at Penn State and intercollegiate athletics who was boss, you just knew this day was coming.
As fate would have it, it’s worse than anything Mr. Big Stick could have imagined.
“This,” one BCS athletic director told me Monday, “is Pandora’s Box.”
And an ironic kick in the rear for the man who talked tough while his kingdom was crumbling around him. Guess what, Mr. Emmert?
You’re gonna need a bigger stick.