North Carolina Academic Fraud Investigation

[1stspringfield]

What's most interesting about this story is the lack of coverage by ESPN. I don't know for certain but it is pretty likely that this is by design. I am pretty confident that if this was a big ten school or a Texas school they would be vilified. Some of the commentary by hbo and Bloomberg have been pretty damning. Not sure how ncaa can't find a lack of institutional control or worse yet ( the institution was in complete control) a coverup.

 

[Joel Goodson]

What's most interesting about this story is the lack of coverage by ESPN. I don't know for certain but it is pretty likely that this is by design. I am pretty confident that if this was a big ten school or a Texas school they would be vilified. Some of the commentary by hbo and Bloomberg have been pretty damning. Not sure how ncaa can't find a lack of institutional control or worse yet ( the institution was in complete control) a coverup.

C'mon. This is the NCAA (beholden to no one) we're talking about.

If they can find lack of institutional control where there isn't, surely they can miss a boatload of serious infractions, especially when the offending institution is one of the bluest of the blue bloods.

 

[hooraybeer]

What's most interesting about this story is the lack of coverage by ESPN. I don't know for certain but it is pretty likely that this is by design. I am pretty confident that if this was a big ten school or a Texas school they would be vilified. Some of the commentary by hbo and Bloomberg have been pretty damning. Not sure how ncaa can't find a lack of institutional control or worse yet ( the institution was in complete control) a coverup.

ESPN has a big contract with the ACC, no? sanctions for UNC would mean a weaker product for ESPN, so why would they want to help condemn them? As far as your B1G or Texas school comment, that might be true for the same reason. Weaker B1G product or Texas product=stronger ACC/ESPN product.

Edit: answered my own question. Yes, ESPN does have a LARGE financial interest in the ACC. $3,600,000,000
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/05/10/2054760/acc-espn-agree-on-36-billion-tv.html

 

[illinicb]

What's most interesting about this story is the lack of coverage by ESPN. I don't know for certain but it is pretty likely that this is by design. I am pretty confident that if this was a big ten school or a Texas school they would be vilified. Some of the commentary by hbo and Bloomberg have been pretty damning. Not sure how ncaa can't find a lack of institutional control or worse yet ( the institution was in complete control) a coverup.

The leaders in covering this story and keeping it alive has been Outside The Lines which is an ESPN show. Without it, the story would have died a long time ago.

I am no fan of ESPN in general, but to suggest that ESPN has not covered this story is factually wrong.

 

[1stspringfield]

The leaders in covering this story and keeping it alive has been Outside The Lines which is an ESPN show. Without it, the story would have died a long time ago.

I am no fan of ESPN in general, but to suggest that ESPN has not covered this story is factually wrong.

My bad. You are correct the "outside the lines" stuff is ESPN but you see very little on this on the website. As previous poster pointed out, it is not in ESPN interests to condemn their product. Would be like B1G network condemning on of its own. The difference is that the B1G network does not try and promote itself as anything but sports coverage and propaganda for the B1G. ESPN? They blur the lines with journalistic leanings. Those leanings become propaganda when they involve teams not beholden to their primary contracts.

 

[illinicb]

My bad. You are correct the "outside the lines" stuff is ESPN but you see very little on this on the website. As previous poster pointed out, it is not in ESPN interests to condemn their product. Would be like B1G network condemning on of its own. The difference is that the B1G network does not try and promote itself as anything but sports coverage and propaganda for the B1G. ESPN? They blur the lines with journalistic leanings. Those leanings become propaganda when they involve teams not beholden to their primary contracts.

I follow OTL via podcast, so I don't know how the show is promoted, but I'm guessing you are correct that there is little/no promotion of a show with some substance. The 30/30 films have been very good as well for the most part and those have been promoted.

 

[urbanite]

The findings of the independent investigation have been released:
http://unc.edu/spotlight/wainsteins-report-into-irregular-classes-released/

An excerpt from the summary:

Between 1993 and 2011, Crowder and Nyang’oro developed and ran a “shadow curriculum” within the AFAM Department that provided students with academically flawed instruction through the offering of “paper classes.” These were classes that involved no interaction with a faculty member, required no class attendance or course work other than a single paper, and resulted in consistently high grades that Crowder awarded without reading the papers or otherwise evaluating their true quality.

Some of the exhibits are entertaining, e.g. this e-mail discussion:

Hi Debby,
Yes, a D will be fine; that's all she needs. I didn't look at the paper
but figured it was a recycled one as well, but I couldn't figure from where!

Thanks for whatever you can do.

Jan

Deborah Crowder wrote:
> I am so sorry you are sick. That must be miserable. A bunch of folks
> are sick, but more with respiratory stuff than stomach stuff! Rest up,
> please! No worries. As long as I am here I will try to accommodate as
> many favors as possible. Did you say a D will do for (redacted)? I'm
> only asking that because 1. no sources, 2, it has absolutely nothing to
> do with the assignments for that class and 3. it seems to me to be a
> recycled paper. She took AFRI in spring of 2007 and that was likely
> for that class. dc

There is also info on enrollments in the "paper classes" broken down by revenue sports and semester. In the fall of 2004, there were as many as four players from the men's basketball team enrolled in one class, with a total of nine enrollments in such classes. In the spring of 2005, there were as many as six enrolled in one class, with a total of twenty enrollments in such classes.

 

[-josh-]

The findings of the independent investigation have been released:
http://unc.edu/spotlight/wainsteins-report-into-irregular-classes-released/

An excerpt from the summary:
Some of the exhibits are entertaining, e.g. this e-mail discussion:

Hi Debby,
Yes, a D will be fine; that's all she needs. I didn't look at the paper
but figured it was a recycled one as well, but I couldn't figure from where!

Thanks for whatever you can do.

Jan

Deborah Crowder wrote:
> I am so sorry you are sick. That must be miserable. A bunch of folks
> are sick, but more with respiratory stuff than stomach stuff! Rest up,
> please! No worries. As long as I am here I will try to accommodate as
> many favors as possible. Did you say a D will do for (redacted)? I'm
> only asking that because 1. no sources, 2, it has absolutely nothing to
> do with the assignments for that class and 3. it seems to me to be a
> recycled paper. She took AFRI in spring of 2007 and that was likely
> for that class. dc

There is also info on enrollments in the "paper classes" broken down by revenue sports and semester. In the fall of 2004, there were as many as four players from the men's basketball team enrolled in one class, with a total of nine enrollments in such classes. In the spring of 2005, there were as many as six enrolled in one class, with a total of twenty enrollments in such classes.

Nothing will be done, if anything is done it won't be enough and then if there is sanctions they'll be lifted after a few years when UNC proves they're better at hiding evidence. The college world marches on.

 

[Joel Goodson]

NCAA will trot out the STERN FACES, who will state (with straight faces, no less) that they are APPALLED. Gobsmacked, even! Upon completion of the requisite kabuki, they will mete out a slap on the wrist. And the beat goes on...

 

[drillini]

I have to laugh at reading the article on the report. Basically a couple people are to blame, tossed under the bus, but they can't find any evidence to say any coaches, any other administrators, anyone else period, had knowledge of this going on. Just brutal.

So our program gets hammered for buying a pizza, for having no other proven facts (jeez, just look at the email discussion above! Talk about facts!)....and we get hammered by the NCAA for lack of institutional control. I would say this at UNC is all about lack of institutional control, but I doubt much if anything at all is done in terms of sanctions. The NCAA is a joke, but I am not saying anything that we all don't know already.

 

[hooraybeer]

The findings of the independent investigation have been released:
http://unc.edu/spotlight/wainsteins-report-into-irregular-classes-released/

An excerpt from the summary:
Some of the exhibits are entertaining, e.g. this e-mail discussion:

Hi Debby,
Yes, a D will be fine; that's all she needs. I didn't look at the paper
but figured it was a recycled one as well, but I couldn't figure from where!

Thanks for whatever you can do.

Jan

Deborah Crowder wrote:
> I am so sorry you are sick. That must be miserable. A bunch of folks
> are sick, but more with respiratory stuff than stomach stuff! Rest up,
> please! No worries. As long as I am here I will try to accommodate as
> many favors as possible. Did you say a D will do for (redacted)? I'm
> only asking that because 1. no sources, [B]2, it has absolutely nothing to
> do with the assignments for that class and [/B]3. it seems to me to be a
> recycled paper. She took AFRI in spring of 2007 and that was likely
> for that class. dc

There is also info on enrollments in the "paper classes" broken down by revenue sports and semester. In the fall of 2004, there were as many as four players from the men's basketball team enrolled in one class, with a total of nine enrollments in such classes. In the spring of 2005, there were as many as six enrolled in one class, with a total of twenty enrollments in such classes.

this part made me LOL..... "I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul"

 

[clemente]

Yeah , these 2 people are the only ones involved. Nobody else knew nothing!

 

[whovous]

Amazing how much mischief two people can do, when they put their minds to it. I am sure the powers-that-be at UNC are appalled.

 

[Mike]

Just saw that Drudge linked to a Reuters North Carolina academic fraud article...over 3000 students over 18 years got bogus credits. Damning to say the least. That is academic fraud right? Wonder if they can be sucessfully sued. They are obviosly lying about it even now claiming only a few people were involved. Wow.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0IB2D520141022?irpc=932

 

[Berg88]

"the 2005 national title team alone had 10 AFAM majors" :frustrated:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/unc-academic-fraud-report-forces-school-to-face-truth-about-its-culture-of-cheating-213657979-ncaaf.html

 

[AzIlliniFan]

You know what? It doesn't (or shouldn't) matter that Williams or Davis knew about it. It HAPPENED! The school is culpable!!!! The NCAA is a shell of what it should/could have been. I personally don't know when this started, the Deon Thomas affair readily comes to mind as an Illini fan, but the second they sidestepped the actual results and instead opted to 'favoring' one school over another was their death knell. The NCAA is a dying entity.

This new Power 5 ruling granting more autonomy to those conferences is just another step in the process of eliminating the NCAA entirely. The NCAA is still a strong entity as far as the basketball tourney is concerned. But thats even going to be in dispute\jeopardy within the decade I believe.

It's crazy, I really have no idea where things end up. I hope Groce is enough of a visionary to see where things are headed and can build our roster accordingly. I have faith that he can plan ahead. The next 5 years is going to be crazier then we all think when you factor in the recruiting/rule changes.

 

[ShaneoIllini]

You know what? It doesn't (or shouldn't) matter that Williams or Davis knew about it. It HAPPENED! The school is culpable!!!! The NCAA is a shell of what it should/could have been. I personally don't know when this started, the Deon Thomas affair readily comes to mind as an Illini fan, but the second they sidestepped the actual results and instead opted to 'favoring' one school over another was their death knell. The NCAA is a dying entity.

This new Power 5 ruling granting more autonomy to those conferences is just another step in the process of eliminating the NCAA entirely. The NCAA is still a strong entity as far as the basketball tourney is concerned. But thats even going to be in dispute\jeopardy within the decade I believe.

It's crazy, I really have no idea where things end up. I hope Groce is enough of a visionary to see where things are headed and can build our roster accordingly. I have faith that he can plan ahead. The next 5 years is going to be crazier then we all think when you factor in the recruiting/rule changes.

I was going to post this last night, but you took the words right out of my mouth :thumb:. The NCAA could do something, but them being on their dying legs there's no way anything happens. With the Power 5 autonomy it's less about the conferences needing the NCAA and more the NCAA needing the Power 5. The sad thing is greedy coaches and recruiters know this and if people thought the game was shady before wait until they see what happens when there's little to no consequence for tipping the table in their favor.

 

[Deleted member 29907]

Soon to be discovered - the 2005 National Championship game refs were honorary essay ghost writers for the team.

 

[skyIdub]

Getting lost in all this hyperbole is how serious underwater fire prevention really is.

 

[-josh-]

I was going to post this last night, but you took the words right out of my mouth :thumb:. The NCAA could do something, but them being on their dying legs there's no way anything happens. With the Power 5 autonomy it's less about the conferences needing the NCAA and more the NCAA needing the Power 5. The sad thing is greedy coaches and recruiters know this and if people thought the game was shady before wait until they see what happens when there's little to no consequence for tipping the table in their favor.

So basically, schools with billionaire donors will have a leg up? I like our odds.

 

[Joel Goodson]

So basically, schools with billionaire donors will have a leg up? I like our odds.

I don't find this scandal amusing in the least. With a comment like that, I wonder, do you?

Furthermore, intimation that we have a leg up on academic cheating for athletes because of our billionaire donors is beyond the pale. I truly hope I'm interpreting your post incorrectly.

 

[Calvin]

The people who should be outraged are the college students, especially those who participated in sports and actually did the work.

Getting a degree while being an athlete = impressive.

UNC just made every resume, at least from UNC, highly suspect. I know of one manger who simply won't hire from schools with egregious behavior like this. Currently PSU and NC are blacklisted.

UNC lists its cost for one year as $24k in-state, and $51k out of state. So you're paying roughly $100k+ for that degree, assuming you make it through 4+ years to the end.

Definitely affects perception of the school.

 

[Mike]

I think most of us realize certain majors and classes are harder than others.

I remember one semester I almost broke my brain getting through a quantum mechanics physics class, but then sailed through an elective class (camping) that was both fun and basically just a participation class. I didn't feel cheated. I knew the class was cake, and I needed a break. My would be wife busted her backside getting a first class business degree from UI. During her final semester however, she took it easy and enrolled in tennis & flower arranging classes. Every school has crib classes. They are fine because everyone knows what they are.

Granting degrees largely comprised of fake classes however, is fraud plain and simple. North Carolina committed fraud over 3000 times to be exact. If money was the root cause for North Carolina's particular behavior, then money (lawsuits) would also be the solution that helps the school learn some integrity. Anyone negatively affected monetarily by NC's shenanigans would have a case I would imagine.

 

[Mike]

The people who should be outraged are the college students, especially those who participated in sports and actually did the work.

Getting a degree while being an athlete = impressive.

UNC just made every resume, at least from UNC, highly suspect. I know of one manger who simply won't hire from schools with egregious behavior like this. Currently PSU and NC are blacklisted.

UNC lists its cost for one year as $24k in-state, and $51k out of state. So you're paying roughly $100k+ for that degree, assuming you make it through 4+ years to the end.

Definitely affects perception of the school.

+1
Not to diminish what happened at Penn State, but I really agree that there are many similarities. This is just another example of an institution making dumb choices that helps themselves in the short term but are a detriment to others.
If I had a degree from NC I would be...

 

[GreekIllini]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/22/us/unc-report-academic-fraud/index.html?hpt=hp_t1