WHAT WILL THE NCAA DO ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA ACADEMIC FRAUD

A 131 page report was just released regarding the ongoing investigation into the AFAM Department (African and Afro-American studies) at the University of North Carolina.  The report was released by independent investigator, Kenneth Wainstein.  We first wrote about this alleged fraud when former UNC basketball player,  Rashad McCants  (a member of the 2004-2005 national championship team) came forward to tell anyone who would listen about the academic fraud that had taken place to keep players eligible.  The investigation by Wainstein appears to totally agree with the claims made by McCants.

Rather than get into every detail of what was taking place from the AFAM department, we will just highlight a few things to give you some idea of how so many benefited from these classes.

UNC Smith Center. image courtesy of

Anders Brownworth (anders.com).

Creative Commons attribution license

 

1.  3100 students benefited from AFAM courses
2.  Approximately 1500 were athletes
3.  47% of the total were football players
4.  12% of the total were basketball players.
5.  Students did not have to attend any classes and in some cases had no professor.
6.  A term paper had to be submitted that upon completion would guarantee the student an A or B.  The paper was basically never read and the grade given was to guarantee a players eligibility.          
7.  10 players on the 2005 national championship team (basketball) not only took courses from this department, but were AFAM majors.  This might explain one of Rashad McCant's claims that he made the Dean's list one semester and never went to a class.                  

There are more details, but we think you can get the general idea as to what was taking place.  That brings us to our original question as to what will the NCAA do now that all the facts of the investigation have been released.  Schools have lost scholarships, been hit with fines, forfeited or stripped of wins for things that had nothing to do with eligibility.  On the softer side, when Nick Saban was at LSU and current NCAA guru. Mark Emmert was the President, the school was hit with a hefty loss of one football scholarship for?
If you guessed academic fraud, then you are right.  Saban claimed he knew nothing about players not going to class or having others do papers  and taking exams for players.  UNC basketball coach, Roy Williams is now making similar claims about his knowledge of the AFAM department and how his players may have benefited to keep them eligible  I will leave that up to all of you to determine their honesty.

As for any NCAA penalties or sanctions, I do not look for anything too severe.  I am sure we will see no wins stripped from Williams or any games forfeited.  I am sure there will be no giving up of the national championship title of 2005.  Maybe UNC will have to sit out one year of post season play and maybe a loss of scholarship at best.  Academic fraud  is a serious violation that affects player eligibility and deserves more
than a wrist slap.  Let us see how the NCAA will view the severity of this fraud.  As always we welcome and encourage your thoughts on this subject or any others that you would like to share.