UNC report finds 18 years of academic fraud to keep athletes playing

[Greg Bernhardt]

UNC report finds 18 years of academic fraud to keep athletes playing
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/22/us/unc-report-academic-fraud/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

For 18 years, thousands of students at the prestigious University of North Carolina took fake "paper classes," and advisers funneled athletes into the program to keep them eligible, according to a scathing independent report released Wednesday.

"These counselors saw the paper classes and the artificially high grades they yielded as key to helping some student-athletes remain eligible," Kenneth Wainstein wrote in his report. He conducted an eight-month investigation into the scandal, which has plagued the university for nearly five years.

Pardon my phrase, but heads need to roll on this. The sad thing is that this is likely a common story in many big sport universities. A total sham.

 

[Vanadium 50]

And there will be a resignation or two, and maybe a suspension for a year, and it will be back to business as usual. If the NCAA and UNC were serious (and I don't believe they are - the goal of both institutions is to get back to "normal" as quickly as possible) they would:

• Vacate every UNC victory in the last 18 years.
• Rescind the degrees of everyone who fulfilled a degree requirement with a fake class.
• Change the culture: Five years of no sports, followed by five years in Division 3.

I would also suggest disbanding the Department of African and Afro-American Studies, which was the source of the fake classes. I expect that there will be misguided outrage at this, but at the root, the Department promised to educate these students and deliberately failed to do this.

 

[mheslep]

If I were an alumnus of or a student at UNC, it seems to me V50's recommendations would be something I want to help restore the validity of my own diploma. Times ten if I'm a student athlete there.

 

[Dr.D]

1. There is a fundamental conflict between high-dollar revenue sports and true university education, and anyone who thinks it can be avoided is kidding themselves.
2. This is clear evidence that Americans, taken as a whole, are not serious about education. They see "bread and circuses" as more important than hard work.
3. I attended on of these large state universities with a big football program over half a century ago, and the corrupting influence was evident even then. It has gotten vastly worse now.

 

[StatGuy2000]

I think the bigger question is why in the US colleges/universities are allowed to offer scholarships to students based solely or primarily on athletic ability to begin with. In Canada, where I live, universities are prohibited from doing so, and all student athletes are simply students who compete in athletics in their spare time (although it is not uncommon for Canadian students to win athletic scholarships to the US -- a number of NHL hockey players had started out playing for collegiate hockey teams).

The primary purpose of a college/university is to educate its students, so the focus should be to do so, and athletics should strictly be an extracurricular activity. That's the stance that the University of Chicago takes, for example, and more schools should follow their lead.

 

[Dr.D]

StatGuy2000 said, "The primary purpose of a college/university is to educate its students, ..." Sadly, this is no longer true. It once was, but with the general corruption of western culture, this has ceased to be the case in the USA. Now, American universities are big businesses whose first objective is to maximize their own status/income. They do this, in large part, by offering fluff degrees at exorbitant prices while pandering to the political correctness of the masses who will not tolerate true intellectual inquiry on most topics.

Big league sports are one of the ways to keep money coming from alumni long after they have left the school. For incomprehensible reasons, alumni are often proud of their schools sports teams while caring not one whit about their schools academic programs.

 

[StatGuy2000]

StatGuy2000 said, "The primary purpose of a college/university is to educate its students, ..." Sadly, this is no longer true. It once was, but with the general corruption of western culture, this has ceased to be the case in the USA. Now, American universities are big businesses whose first objective is to maximize their own status/income. They do this, in large part, by offering fluff degrees at exorbitant prices while pandering to the political correctness of the masses who will not tolerate true intellectual inquiry on most topics.

Big league sports are one of the ways to keep money coming from alumni long after they have left the school. For incomprehensible reasons, alumni are often proud of their schools sports teams while caring not one whit about their schools academic programs.

While there are strong elements of truth in what you state above, I feel that you are overstating your case above. There are still many colleges/universities in the US that do a solid job of fulfilling its mandate of educating its students. And the alumni in these schools do recognize this and provide funding accordingly.

Unfortunately, there are also too many cases where colleges/universities are far too concerned about their status with respect to athletic prowess and the so-called glory associated with it, which have led to the scandal at UNC.

 

[OldEngr63]

I just calls 'em as I sees 'em. I have been a part of the academic world for a long, long time, and I know that what is being taught today is far less rigorous than it was 50 years ago, even though there is much more content to cover.

 

[Borek]

Nothing surprises me since I have seen comparison of salaries of coaches and chancellors.

edit:

 

[jtbell]

The NFL and NBA should run their own systems of minor-league football and basketball "farm teams" like major-league baseball and hockey do. However, they have no incentive to do it, when universities are willing to provide this service for them.

 

[OldEngr63]

Very interesting graphic, Borek, but not in the least bit surprising.

To quote Holy Scripture, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

 

[BobG]

UNC report finds 18 years of academic fraud to keep athletes playing
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/22/us/unc-report-academic-fraud/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Pardon my phrase, but heads need to roll on this. The sad thing is that this is likely a common story in many big sport universities. A total sham.

Not to dispute the fact that the academic department took heavy advantage of these classes to keep their athletes eligible, but that's not quite the same as the classes being created to keep athletes eligible. Athletes made up just under half the students in these classes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/s...-shadow-curriculum-to-help-athletes.html?_r=0

More than 3,100 students, 47.6 percent of them athletes, were enrolled in and received credit for the phantom classes, most of which were created and graded solely by a single employee, Deborah Crowder. Ms. Crowder was a nonacademic who worked as the African studies department’s administrator and who told Mr. Wainstein that she had been motivated by a desire to help struggling athletes.

Her "motivation" could be true or just her perception that keeping struggling athletes eligible would soften opinions of her. Some of the other examples she's given in other sources were steering female victims of assault towards easy classes to give them time to get over the trauma, etc. I wouldn't necessarily take any of her statements at face value. They might be true - they might not.

 

[Vanadium 50]

http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/11/07/class-action-claims-unc-cheated-athletes.htm.

If it were my decision, I'd make UNC refund their tuition - and rescind their degrees.

 

[russ_watters]

http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/11/07/class-action-claims-unc-cheated-athletes.htm.

If it were my decision, I'd make UNC refund their tuition - and rescind their degrees.

High-end student athletes don't pay tuition...

So perhaps it is already fair trade?

 

[Catria]

I think the bigger question is why in the US colleges/universities are allowed to offer scholarships to students based solely or primarily on athletic ability to begin with. In Canada, where I live, universities are prohibited from doing so, and all student athletes are simply students who compete in athletics in their spare time (although it is not uncommon for Canadian students to win athletic scholarships to the US -- a number of NHL hockey players had started out playing for collegiate hockey teams).

That's true of most European universities also...