Quote :

"On Monday, Tom Ross, the UNC system president, said in a statement that he saw no need to look further into the academic improprieties. “I believe that this was an isolated situation and that the campus has taken appropriate steps to correct problems and put additional safeguards in place,” Ross said."

wut.

they can't explain half the shit that happened, but "we don't need to investigate this anymore"



[Edited on May 7, 2012 at 9:12 PM. Reason : i mean they don't even know who taught 9 classes!]

5/7/2012 9:09:23 PM

Quote :

"On Monday, Tom Ross, the UNC system president, said in a statement that he saw no need to look further into the academic improprieties"

Unfucking believable

5/7/2012 9:15:26 PM

For page 215

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/07/2050241/unc-football-basketball-players.html

Quote :

"Football and basketball players accounted for nearly four out of every 10 students enrolled in 54 classes at the heart of an academic fraud investigation at UNC-Chapel Hill, according to figures released Monday. The classes were all within UNC’s Department of African and Afro-American studies. An internal probe released Friday produced evidence of unauthorized grade changes and little or no instruction by professors. Forty-five of the classes listed the department’s chairman, Julius Nyang’oro, as the professor. Investigators could not determine who was the instructor for the remaining nine. University officials say they found no evidence that the suspect classes were part of a plan between Nyang’oro and the athletic department to create classes that student-athletes could pass so they could maintain their eligibility. They said student athletes were treated no differently in the classes than students who were not athletes. But the high percentages of student athletes in the classes suggest to some that academic advisers and others may have guided them to the classes. “These kids are putting in enormous amounts of time, and in at least some of the sports that are very physically demanding, they are missing a number of classes because of conflicts, and then if they are a marginal student to begin with, you’ve got to send them to Professor Nyang’oro’s class,” said former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr. “I think the academic counselors realized that and the tutors recognized it and frankly the folks up the food chain for the most part recognized it. But nobody wants to rock the boat because it’s big money.” Orr helped restore a UNC football player’s eligibility to play amid the NCAA’s probe into impermissible financial and academic benefits to members of the football team. The internal academic probe is an offshoot of that investigation. There were 686 enrollments for the 54 suspect classes. Of those, football players accounted for 246 of the enrollments, or 36 percent, while basketball players accounted for 23 of the enrollments, or three percent, according to UNC. All told football and basketball players accounted for 39 percent of the enrollments. Football and basketball players account for less than one percent of the total undergraduate enrollment – around 120 of the more than 18,500 undergraduate students on campus. On the other hand, many of the suspect classes were held in the summer, a time when many football players are on campus. UNC-CH has spent millions of dollars beefing up academic support for student athletes. The athletic department has its own advisers who help choose classes for athletes and monitor their performance. The department also has tutors for the student athletes. John Blanchard, who heads up academic support in the athletic department, could not be reached for comment. The internal investigation started after The News & Observer obtained a transcript of former football player Marvin Austin, who was kicked off the team after the NCAA probe found he had received improper financial benefits from a sports agent. Austin’s transcript showed he had been placed in an upper-level African studies class taught by Nyang’oro in the summer of 2007. At that point, Austin had yet to begin his first full semester as a freshman, nor had he taken a required remedial writing class. Nyang’oro gave Austin a B-plus in the 400 level class. The university has been unable to explain how Austin ended up in the class. He could not be reached for comment. UNC’s investigation determined it was one of the suspect classes in which there was little evidence that the instructor did much if any teaching. Questions regarding Nyang’oro’s instruction started after another football player kicked off the team, Michael McAdoo, had made public a class paper that got him in trouble. N.C. State University fans found several plagiarized passages that the university and the NCAA did not catch. The investigation covered courses offered within the department from the summer of 2007 to the summer of 2011, though all but two of the classes were offered from 2007 to 2009. UNC officials said the only two people within the department who appear to have been responsible for the suspect classes are Nyang’oro and his administrative secretary, Deborah Crowder. Some professors interviewed for the probe said they did not authorize grade changes that students taking the classes had received and said their names had been forged on academic records. Crowder retired in September 2009 and declined requests for interviews by the investigators. Nyang’oro stepped down as chairman in September when the investigation was in its early stages. He is retiring July 1. Investigators found no evidence showing Nyang’oro or Crowder received any financial benefit from offering the suspect classes or for unauthorized grade changes that students received. Neither Nyang’oro nor Crowder has publicly commented on the report. On Friday, university officials couldn’t say why no one brought the suspect classes to their attention before last summer. The two UNC academic officials who conducted the probe, Jonathan Hartlyn and William Andrews, did not interview students for the report, but Nancy Davis, a university spokeswoman, said the university’s counsel, Leslie Strohm, and its former faculty athletics representative, Jack Evans, did talk to students. Those interviews were not reflected in the report. On Monday, Tom Ross, the UNC system president, said in a statement that he saw no need to look further into the academic improprieties. “I believe that this was an isolated situation and that the campus has taken appropriate steps to correct problems and put additional safeguards in place,” Ross said. Hannah Gage, chairman of the UNC system’s Board of Governors, said she would not know if the board would be seeking more information until she had talked to others on the board. "

5/7/2012 9:18:34 PM

5/7/2012 9:20:10 PM

Quote :

"Nyang’oro or Crowder received any financial benefit from offering the suspect classes or for unauthorized grade changes that students received."

WRONG. for $160k/year i too would make up classes for football and basketball players and sit at home and watch springer.

5/7/2012 9:20:48 PM

-tom ross, unc system president

5/7/2012 9:23:32 PM

Quote :

"They said student athletes were treated no differently in the classes than students who were not athletes."

that's because they gave EVERYONE A's. i mean, shit, when everyone is being handed a free 4pts on their GPA, how can you tell if anyone is being given preferential treatment?

Seriously, though, 40% of the "students" enrolled were athletes on a campus where those programs make up only 1% of the population? And that's not enough to raise a few eyebrows?

5/7/2012 10:03:24 PM

WTF

5/7/2012 10:09:05 PM

I can't believe this is still going lol

5/7/2012 10:29:08 PM

you think this is bad, wait for the 216 records

wonder how they'll try to spin that one

[Edited on May 7, 2012 at 10:33 PM. Reason : .]

5/7/2012 10:31:37 PM

this pisses me off way more than cheating in football. i'm a big academic integrity guy and this is starting to reek of institutionalized academic fraud.

-the two people who perpetrated this, nyang'oro and crowder, are allowed to retire (presumably with full benefits) instead of being fired.
-their bosses (dean and assistant/associate deans) aren't punished for this
-the university has no record of who taught classes
-the university system president doesn't think that any of this (forging other professors signatures, changing grades, etc.) needs to be investigated any more thoroughly

a lot of people should be fired for this shit. i would say the same thing if this happened at state. it's all kinds of fucked up.

5/7/2012 11:06:50 PM

^+1

5/7/2012 11:26:56 PM

CONSPIRACY!!! LOUD NOISES!!!

5/7/2012 11:43:53 PM

Quote :

""Football and basketball players accounted for nearly four out of every 10 students enrolled in 54 classes at the heart of an academic fraud investigation at UNC-Chapel Hill, according to figures released Monday. The classes were all within UNC’s Department of African and Afro-American studies. An internal probe released Friday produced evidence of unauthorized grade changes and little or no instruction by professors. Forty-five of the classes listed the department’s chairman, Julius Nyang’oro, as the professor. Investigators could not determine who was the instructor for the remaining nine. ... "

Holy shit, this does keep going. I still think that very little will come of it (reinforced by the football team's "punishment"), but this is really damning, isn't it?

5/7/2012 11:44:30 PM

John Swofford needs to come in and impose more penalties, and if not Debbie needs to get together with the other ADs, I'm sure Clemson would be happy to attend a meeting on the matter .

5/7/2012 11:47:05 PM

I'd be embarrassed to the point of even considering retaking any related classes at a different university if this type of thing were to come out about State just to save whatever shred of dignity my degree had left. Shouldn't all these UNCCH graduates out there be calling for a full investigation, if for nothing else than to validate the rest of the university's courses (and thus their own degrees)?

5/7/2012 11:57:43 PM

^None of them want to expose how easy it is to get a unc degree

[Edited on May 8, 2012 at 12:01 AM. Reason : ]

5/8/2012 12:00:51 AM

Also we need to find out how many from other sports were in these classes. Maybe you add in all the non revenues and it jumps to over 50%

5/8/2012 12:50:16 AM

Is there any possibility this brings the NCAA back to campus to investigate the basketball program?

5/8/2012 8:26:15 AM

No.

5/8/2012 8:27:34 AM

What are they going to do? Find a body under the floorboards in the Dean Dome then revoke dessert privileges for two meals?

5/8/2012 8:28:55 AM

Quote :

"Is there any possibility this brings the NCAA back to campus to investigate the basketball program?"

Quote :

"No."

i don't know, dude. this is pretty serious shit.
honestly the UNC BOG should be doing an investigation. And honestly Thorp probably needs to get fired.

5/8/2012 9:29:38 AM

At this point the only thing left is to wait and see if the folks in charge of the UNC system figure out that not punishing Chapel Hill's arrogance and lack of accountibility makes the entire UNC system look bad.

It would especially impact those schools who had to change their names to UNC-__________ by mere name association.

Not that anything will happen of course. Chapel Hill is probably just glad that nobody sold any shoes.

5/8/2012 9:29:57 AM

The BOG only drops the hammer when the NCAA finds no major violations.

5/8/2012 9:49:17 AM

IT STARTED WITH A TWITTER

5/8/2012 10:08:52 AM

Not that it matters all that much but just about the entire women's basketball team at one point recently was majoring in AA studies, MAJORING in it.

I just can't believe, and I know we're dealing with UNC homerism here, but I just can't believe the BOT/BOG think this is "isolated" and "doesn't need further investigation". Then again, this is UNC we're talking about and from the outer banks to boone there'd be lots of butt-hurt tarhole fans who don't want ANYthing investigated about UNC.

5/8/2012 10:19:14 AM

Fuckin boone man. They are so in love with UNC that all of the Watauga High Jerseys and uniforms are in Carolina Blue.

Srsly? You are just 10 blocks from ASU and you are suckin UNC off?

[Edited on May 8, 2012 at 10:41 AM. Reason : V fify]

5/8/2012 10:34:39 AM

wat

5/8/2012 10:40:37 AM

Quote :

"IT STARTED WITH A TWITTER"

win

5/8/2012 12:07:33 PM

^yeah i lol'd very hard at that.

5/8/2012 12:18:30 PM

Quote :

"while basketball players accounted for 23 of the enrollments, or three percent, according to UNC."

as much as i'd love for their bball program to get investigated, the 3% of bball players that took the "classes" doesn't really scream corruption like the 36% of football players

5/8/2012 12:36:28 PM

But there are about 6 times as many football players as basketball players. There were enough basketball players taking those classes for it to be a big deal.

5/8/2012 12:37:54 PM

Yeah, the question is how many players were on the team during those five years? 50? So 1/2 of the basketball team took the class? That's a big deal.

5/8/2012 12:43:25 PM

its not 3% of BB players took the classes, 3% of the class takers were BB players.

5/8/2012 12:44:53 PM

how many basketball players did they have over that time period? and does 23 enrollments include walk-ons or just scholarship players?

[Edited on May 8, 2012 at 12:46 PM. Reason : frff]

5/8/2012 12:45:06 PM

yeah i guess there really arent that many bball players...what, 15 a year? and that obviously would overlap from year to year since they're not all one and dones

wish we could see which players took the class...i just kinda doubt somebody like Zeller was taking tons of courses in that major

5/8/2012 12:50:54 PM

Quote :

"On Monday, Tom Ross, the UNC system president, said in a statement that he saw no need to look further into the academic improprieties. “I believe that this was an isolated situation and that the campus has taken appropriate steps to correct problems and put additional safeguards in place,” Ross said."

This is horse shit. It's not like you're a small business owner and you happen to maybe educate people on the side. Mother fucker, education is your primary reason for existing on this planet. That would be like if BP had said the Gulf Oil spill was an "isolated situation"... granted, that may not happen all the time, but when it does, it's a pretty big deal and it puts your livelihood on the line...

5/8/2012 12:52:37 PM

actually, that oil spill was an isolated incident.

it's not like they had 50 oil rigs explode.

5/8/2012 1:19:28 PM

Dan Kane, tar heel destroyer and N&O writer, coming up on smokey after the break

5/8/2012 1:20:42 PM

Quote :

"how many basketball players did they have over that time period? and does 23 enrollments include walk-ons or just scholarship players?"

it doesnt specify that it is mens basketball only and it is talking about enrollment in classes. Players would most likely be enrolled in multiple AA studies classes per semester.

I would be interested to see what the total athlete(not just FB and BB) enrollment in these courses was. I bet it approaches 80%-90% and im guessing that most of these are scholarship athletes as well. What a great use of scholarships for the academic advancement of these athletes.

Gotta love "The Carolina Way" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tCrL8HzSBQ

5/8/2012 1:21:24 PM

I can't help but think that we are guilty of some of this same shit.

5/8/2012 1:23:39 PM

^TOB himself said that every class our student athletes take has a syllabus and an instructor.

He's already taken people off the field for failing to keep their grades up.

I would hold off on the "we all do it" excuse, if I was you. There's no evidence that anyone is as horribly complicit in academic fraud as the staff at UNC.

5/8/2012 1:30:38 PM

Quote :

"I can't help but think that we are guilty of some of this same shit."

We have our crip classes...every school does. I know my Bees and Beekeeping class was full of football players and cheerleaders...as was my Bio 101.

But this is pushing it way too far. They are essentially making up classes. The kids don't have to attend and they are given a grade for doing absolutely nothing. I'd be surprised if this is common at other schools. It might happen at a few...but this is about as bad as it gets.

5/8/2012 1:36:41 PM

My biggest question is this:


Why only go back to 2007? How long has this shit been going on? If they go all the way back to 2000, are they going to double the number of make believe classes they've been handing out grades for?

5/8/2012 1:40:14 PM

Quote :

"I can't help but think that we are guilty of some of this same shit."

you know, i don't know of any classes you didn't have to attend and do no work to pass.

that's what it was at UNC. i doubt this happens anywhere else.

5/8/2012 1:41:34 PM

Quote :

"that's what it was at UNC. i doubt this happens anywhere else. "

I would wager money that this happens at most schools with major athletic programs

5/8/2012 1:46:43 PM

Cameron "Bees" Bennerman loved Bees and Beekeeping

5/8/2012 2:02:18 PM

Quote :

" I would wager money that this happens at most schools with major athletic programs"

you wager that most schools have department heads who change other professors grades, have classes that no one knows who taught them, allows first semester freshmen who need remedial english into senior/graduate level classes, etc.?

i don't. i do believe every school has majors that are easier and professors who are sympathetic to athletes, but i don't think most schools go this far.

i mean look at state, a lot of athletes are in PRT. i took a couple of classes in that and there were quite a few football players and such in them. they were easy classes, but we still had real work to do and tests to take and had to go to class. i have friends that have that major and are in classes with all these athletes. these are real classes. the same cannot be said for unc.

[Edited on May 8, 2012 at 2:10 PM. Reason : the academic side of most universities isn't going to stand for the shit that is happening at unc.]

5/8/2012 2:09:03 PM

If a department head has officially taught 43 classes in three years, that is just about the biggest, reddest red flag imaginable.

5/8/2012 2:09:13 PM

Quote :

"I would wager money that this happens at most schools with major athletic programs"

I don't doubt that there are a few Jim Harrick Jr. PE Classes (how many halves are in a basketball game) at every major school with a big-time athletic program. And those are bad in their own right...but they happen when you have Andy Katzenmoyers admitted to college.

I just can't imagine there are full academic programs where there are 50+ classes where you don't have to even attend class, teachers signatures are forged because they don't even teach (or know about) the classes that they are assigned, and grades are changed just cause.

5/8/2012 2:10:41 PM