UNC athletics scandal - McCants points finger

[aswewere]

It just want go away. http://www.wralsportsfan.com/athlete...-unc/13547718/

[Olympic Fan]

The Student Athlete Human Rights Project (headed by NCCU professor Emmett Gill) has filed a complaint with the US Civil Rights Department, asking for an investigation if the UNC athletic department. The claim is that UNC routinely assigned black athletes in a far higher proportion than white athletes -- to phony classes in the African-American Students Department, thus depriving them of a real education:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/athlete...-unc/13547718/

This news comes a day after Mary Willingham revealed that the top six players on UNC's 2005 national championship team combined to take 69 phony "paper" classes.

[superdave]

The Student Athlete Human Rights Project (headed by NCCU professor Emmett Gill) has filed a complaint with the US Civil Rights Department, asking for an investigation if the UNC athletic department. The claim is that UNC routinely assigned black athletes in a far higher proportion than white athletes -- to phony classes in the African-American Students Department, thus depriving them of a real education:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/athlete...-unc/13547718/

This news comes a day after Mary Willingham revealed that the top six players on UNC's 2005 national championship team combined to take 69 phony "paper" classes.

Students do not get "assigned" to classes. I believe the only class you dont really have a choice in, and "have" to take at UNC is Freshman English (and you can place out of that via AP testing). Every student picks their own major and their own courses. I have never heard of the UNC athletic department (or any other athletic department) forcing athletes into a particular major.

Athletes were self-selecting into a major (or course) that everyone knew was easy. The article uses the words "assigning" and "directing" but students choose. That seems to be a bad argument. It seems that there was just an institutional laziness over there, not racially motivated "assignments". This is an odd story to me.

[Bluedog]

The claim is that UNC routinely assigned black athletes in a far higher proportion than white athletes -- to phony classes in the African-American Students Department, thus depriving them of a real education:

I would imagine that black students enroll in courses in African-American studies more frequently than white students at nearly every school across the nation...Am I stating the obvious? Clearly, there is a legitimate course of study in the discipline, so I'm not suggesting anything related to the courses being phony. I'm just suggesting that that department typically enrolls larger numbers from a certain demographic - I'm sure it's the same at Duke. I bet there are more Jewish students in Judaic studies too! (I'm not making a judgment on if they were assigned or not - just that larger numbers alone don't necessarily prove it on their own).

Edit: Also, the report notes this: "The disparity is an indicator (that) male UNC student-athletes are not provided with the same educational opportunities, including quality of education, as female UNC students-athletes," the group concludes." So, it's also arguing that UNC unfairly assigned male athletes to these courses over females.

[Olympic Fan]

Students do not get "assigned" to classes. I believe the only class you dont really have a choice in, and "have" to take at UNC is Freshman English (and you can place out of that via AP testing). Every student picks their own major and their own courses. I have never heard of the UNC athletic department (or any other athletic department) forcing athletes into a particular major.

Athletes were self-selecting into a major (or course) that everyone knew was easy. The article uses the words "assigning" and "directing" but students choose. That seems to be a bad argument. It seems that there was just an institutional laziness over there, not racially motivated "assignments". This is an odd story to me.

Read the complaint -- part of the argument is the testimony of players such as Michael McAdoo that they were assigned the phony classes.

[Atlanta Duke]

Students do not get "assigned" to classes. I believe the only class you dont really have a choice in, and "have" to take at UNC is Freshman English (and you can place out of that via AP testing). Every student picks their own major and their own courses. I have never heard of the UNC athletic department (or any other athletic department) forcing athletes into a particular major.

Athletes were self-selecting into a major (or course) that everyone knew was easy. The article uses the words "assigning" and "directing" but students choose. That seems to be a bad argument. It seems that there was just an institutional laziness over there, not racially motivated "assignments". This is an odd story to me.

"Self-selection" would appear to be somewhat different from what was described in the HBO Real Sports segment, assuming anything less than use of armed force to compel enrollment is self-selection.

HBO did a great service by getting two former UNC football players, Michael McAdoo and Bryon Bishop, to explain on camera that athletic department staff members directed them to take fake classes to maintain their academic eligibility. ...

There was no escaping that the former players share blame for the corruption—no one held a gun to their heads—or that the universities in question bear the lion’s share of the culpability.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...lasses-scandal

The federal complaint cites the Martin report and an interview that aired on HBO in which former UNC football player Michael McAdoo told a reporter that his class schedule was dictated by the athletic department.

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/athlete...-unc/13547718/

UNC presumably will issue a press release that this is more "old news."

[MCFinARL]

Students do not get "assigned" to classes. I believe the only class you dont really have a choice in, and "have" to take at UNC is Freshman English (and you can place out of that via AP testing). Every student picks their own major and their own courses. I have never heard of the UNC athletic department (or any other athletic department) forcing athletes into a particular major.

Athletes were self-selecting into a major (or course) that everyone knew was easy. The article uses the words "assigning" and "directing" but students choose. That seems to be a bad argument. It seems that there was just an institutional laziness over there, not racially motivated "assignments". This is an odd story to me.

Well, but--leaving aside the merits of this particular complaint, while I agree it would be most irregular for athletes to be "assigned" to classes, I don't think it is rare for athletes at a lot of schools to be encouraged to take classes that will interfere minimally with their athletic schedules, or discouraged from taking the most challenging courses of study. Obviously, that is a very different thing from being required to choose a particular course or major, which is one reason why I wonder how far this complaint is likely to get. It may well be that most of these athletes would have chosen the easiest possible course of study as their top alternative entirely on their own. But according to Michael McAdoo (whose experience, noted in the story, has been discussed at greater length in earlier stories), he was advised against taking some classes he wanted to choose and steered, if not directed, to the fake classes.

This may not seem like much of a problem in the case of a student who is already looking for the easiest way through school, which could be a party-loving legacy kid as easily as an athlete. But for a student who may genuinely want to study a particular subject (surely there are some out there), the sense that the athletic staff thinks it's not a good idea could be a strong influence on his/her decision.

[MarkD83]

The Student Athlete Human Rights Project (headed by NCCU professor Emmett Gill) has filed a complaint with the US Civil Rights Department, asking for an investigation if the UNC athletic department. The claim is that UNC routinely assigned black athletes in a far higher proportion than white athletes -- to phony classes in the African-American Students Department, thus depriving them of a real education:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/athlete...-unc/13547718/

This news comes a day after Mary Willingham revealed that the top six players on UNC's 2005 national championship team combined to take 69 phony "paper" classes.

Do you have a link for this? (I believe you. I am just interested in the article.)

[Kedsy]

This news comes a day after Mary Willingham revealed that the top six players on UNC's 2005 national championship team combined to take 69 phony "paper" classes.

I may be late to the party on the above revelation, but the top six players on UNC's 2005 team were in school for a combined 18 school years. If they took 69 phony classes, that's an average of 1.9 phony classes for each kid, each semester (not counting summer school). How many classes did they take? Two fake classes per semester would seem to be a very hefty portion of their course load. Wow.

[Atlanta Duke]

The Student Athlete Human Rights Project (headed by NCCU professor Emmett Gill) has filed a complaint with the US Civil Rights Department, asking for an investigation if the UNC athletic department. The claim is that UNC routinely assigned black athletes in a far higher proportion than white athletes -- to phony classes in the African-American Students Department, thus depriving them of a real education:

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/athlete...-unc/13547718/

This news comes a day after Mary Willingham revealed that the top six players on UNC's 2005 national championship team combined to take 69 phony "paper" classes.

Do you have a link for this? (I believe you. I am just interested in the article.)

Ms. Willingham apparently sent out a tweet late yesterday

'05' UNC basketball champs starting 5 +1 took a combined 69 paper classes. truth=transcripts=transparency. A real education

https://twitter.com/paperclassinc/st...73024380465152

Bradley Bethel, a leading critic of Ms. Willingham who started working in 2011 at UNC to counsel athletes, snipes back

Mary Willingham's latest tweet is as brilliant as it is unethical and unlawful. In her tweet, she revealed academic information about the starting basketball players on the 2005 national championship team... We may never know the truth, but UNC-haters will undoubtedly insist Willingham was telling the truth

http://coachingthemind.blogspot.com/

Assuming the records still exist it actually should not be too hard to check on whether she is telling the truth about the 2005 champs

This link to a 2010 Indy Star article showed most of that team was majoring in AFAM

http://archive.indystar.com/data/spo...06399471826458

[Olympic Fan]

It was a tweet from 20 hours ago:

Mary Willingham ‏@paperclassinc · 20h
'05' UNC basketball champs starting 5 +1 took a combined 69 paper classes. truth=transcripts=transparency. A real education= #ncaareform

We know from an interview in the Indianapolis paper at the Final Four in '05 that Sean May said he was switching his major to African American students because he was going to0 have a busy spring and summer and his new major didn't require any class time. From the Indy Star:

'May said he started as a double major with communications, but dropped it so he could graduate faster after leaving for the NBA.Afro-American and African studies, May said, offered "more independent electives, independent study. I could take a lot of classes during the season. Communications, I had to be there in the actual classroom. We just made sure all the classes I had to take, I could take during the summer."'

[arnie]

Ms. Willingham apparently sent out a tweet late yesterday

'05' UNC basketball champs starting 5 +1 took a combined 69 paper classes. truth=transcripts=transparency. A real education

https://twitter.com/paperclassinc/st...73024380465152

Bradley Bethel, a leading critic of Ms. Willingham who started working in 2011 at UNC to counsel athletes, snipes back

Mary Willingham's latest tweet is as brilliant as it is unethical and unlawful. In her tweet, she revealed academic information about the starting basketball players on the 2005 national championship team... We may never know the truth, but UNC-haters will undoubtedly insist Willingham was telling the truth

http://coachingthemind.blogspot.com/

Assuming the records still exist it actually should not be too hard to check on whether she is telling the truth about the 2005 champs

This link to a 2010 Indy Star article showed most of that team was majoring in AFAM

http://archive.indystar.com/data/spo...06399471826458

This Bradley Bethel guy is a real trooper for the UNC coverup team. Reminds me of the "yes" men at large corps spreading the gospel of the newly promoted icon. He's gonna make a name for himself and likely get a huge raise/ promotion.

[Bob Green]

It just want go away.

Education is important. Strong oral and written communication skills contribute to success.

[BigWayne]

It is very interesting that Emmitt Gill is associated with this. You may remember him from his involvement in the hysteria in Durham in the spring of 2006.

I see this as either a rift in the local AFAM academic community (NCCU vs. Julius Nyang'oro/UNC) or a sign that the AFAM related community has had enough of being blamed for the UNC athletic scandal. Either way, it will likely make for some very interesting coverage related to the Nyang'oro litigation.

[miramar]

Assuming the records still exist it actually should not be too hard to check on whether she is telling the truth about the 2005 champs

This link to a 2010 Indy Star article showed most of that team was majoring in AFAM

http://archive.indystar.com/data/spo...06399471826458

I am a professor and at my school I can find my rosters and grades back to 1998 in just a few seconds. Bethel isn't exactly lying when he says that we may never know the truth, but the UNC administration knows exactly what classes each student took and the grades they received. The university also can't claim that anyone is breaking privacy laws when the players themselves are admitting the courses they were taking and the grades they received in exchange for little or no work.

At some point the administrators have to get out in front of the problem and reveal exactly what happened, and somehow keep from revealing the players' names.

[Olympic Fan]

Andrew Perrin, who is the faculty's academic liaison for men's basketball, tweeted Monday at 4:04pm:

@Dpanther12 @AlanJustus Yes, evidence shows fraud benefited athletics. Hence major reforms in ASPSA, athletics, admissions. (https://twitter.com/AndrewJPerrin/status/45326214 0145958912)

Let me get this straight.

UNC's faculty liaison for men's basketball admits that "evidence shows that fraud benefited athletics"

He's trying to toe the party line that UNC has cleaned up the mess and is moving on, but he is admitting that fraud did occur.

How can the NCAA ignore this?

[eddiehaskell]

Is it possible to have the 2005 title vacated? I mean, if more teachers and players come forward to confirm what Willingham is saying, surely the NCAA should thoroughly investigate the matter. They go crazy about players receiving a few bucks from someone like Myron Piggie, but don't want to look into a scandal that is basically cheating on the highest level?

[throatybeard]

Is it possible to have the 2005 title vacated? I mean, if more teachers and players come forward to confirm what Willingham is saying, surely the NCAA should thoroughly investigate the matter. They go crazy about players receiving a few bucks from someone like Myron Piggie, but don't want to look into a scandal that is basically cheating on the highest level?

Well, I don't know, but that was the money quote in the BusinessWeek story in February.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...whistle-blower

Jay Smith, a professor of early-modern French history at UNC, studied each university-sponsored report as it appeared. A rare academic in Chapel Hill who openly expresses unease about the influence of revenue sports, he publicly supported Willingham. “The obvious question raised by all the so-called investigations was why [the university was] so determined to exonerate the athletic department when Mary was providing first-person evidence that athletic eligibility was the motive behind the academic fraud,” he says. “The answer, I’m afraid, is that we’re terrified at the prospect of having to go back and look” at whether members of the 2005 and 2009 championship basketball teams were eligible only because they took bogus classes.

[alteran]

Is it possible to have the 2005 title vacated? I mean, if more teachers and players come forward to confirm what Willingham is saying, surely the NCAA should thoroughly investigate the matter. They go crazy about players receiving a few bucks from someone like Myron Piggie, but don't want to look into a scandal that is basically cheating on the highest level?

I wonder about vacating the title myself. My understanding is that the NCAA has four years to notify the school that it thinks a specific impropriety has occurred, after that it is inactionable. However, there are exceptions-- things like LOIC, or a pattern of violations that predates the statute of limitations. The latter definitively seems to apply.

[superdave]

I wonder about vacating the title myself. My understanding is that the NCAA has four years to notify the school that it thinks a specific impropriety has occurred, after that it is inactionable. However, there are exceptions-- things like LOIC, or a pattern of violations that predates the statute of limitations. The latter definitively seems to apply.

After what the NCAA imposed on Penn State, anything is possible. There are no longer limitations on time, authority or anything else.