CNN reported last month that the University of North Carolina (UNC) has been socially promoting a portion of its students in order to keep them eligible for NCAA Division I athletics. This occurred in sports that generated the most revenue for the university including men’s football and men and women’s basketball. Mary Willingham, a learning specialist for the university, was the whistleblower bringing the issue forward to UNC’s officials five years ago. It was Willingham’s job to work closely with the athletes and aid them in their studies. She reported that most students she assisted were only able to read on an 8th-grade level, at best. In some instances, she discovered athletes that were unable to read above a fourth-grade level and in extreme cases, not at all. In an interview with CNN, she expressed that university officials unfairly attacked her character after she disclosed information on certain athletes who were reading at the elementary school level. Willingham’s concerns led to her demotion last March and to an increasingly hostile working environment. She quit her position at UNC in May and then sued the university to be reinstated in her former position.
Willingham’s allegations plagued UNC and the lawsuit prompted further investigation. “It took so many years and six previous investigations because this is the flagship of the university system and of the state, and to admit we did anything wrong was too difficult,” said Willingham in an interview with CNN. UNC hired former federal investigator, Kenneth Wainstein to conduct a private study of the matter. He reported in late October that UNC had been fraudulently passing students through its academic system for the last 18 years. Over 3,100 cases of social promotion were uncovered, but more are suspected.
Wainstein discovered that student-athletes were advised by their coaches and athletic advisors to take certain “paper classes” that never had any class time, tests or homework in order to maintain their athletic eligibility. These courses were almost always in the African-American studies program. Some athletes were even forced into the major without much choice.
Over the five-year period of suspicion brought on by the accusations of Willingham, UNC pinned the scandal on the efforts of professor and chairman of the African-American Studies Program, Julius Nyang’oro and his assistant Debbie Crowder. However, the investigation revealed that the blame did not lie with just these two staff members. Wainstein discovered that it was Crowder who created the paper classes for the athletes out of sympathy and that she had a reputation for being an easy grader. Crowder willingly gave her student’s high marks for any assignment handed-in without regard for content. These two faculty members were not the only ones involved in or aware of the paper classes. Counselors, coaches, academic advisors, faculty and athletic administrators were all among the UNC staff aiding in the social promotion of the school’s athletes. Currently the university is working to remediate the issue.