Rogueapalooza (Updated!)

Anyone who has ever wondered how UNC-CH has kept ~100% of their football and basketball players eligible for generations — wonder no more!

This piece from today’s N & O sheds light on some amazing “stuff” that was going on over there during the summer of 2011.  Before we get started, first think about the timing of this.  If they were pulling these stunts last summer, right in the middle of intense media coverage of the gigantic scandal, what do you think they were doing when nobody was looking?

Some good quotes from today’s front-page article:

A summer class at UNC-Chapel Hill that lacked any instruction was enrolled exclusively with football players – and it landed on the school calendar just days before the semester started, university records show.

and

They also show that academic advisers assigned to athletes helped the players enroll in the class, which is the subject of a criminal investigation.The advisers also knew that there would be no instruction.

and
The new information is more evidence that student athletes, particularly football players, were being steered to classes that university officials now say are evidence of academic fraud because there was little or no instruction.
 and

UNC officials released the information in response to a records request by The News & Observer. Before making it public, Chancellor Holden Thorp sent a letter to trustees on Thursday.

“While it appears that academic support staff (for student athletes) were aware that Professor Nyang’oro didn’t intend to teach the class as a standard lecture course, they knew that the students would be required to write a 15-page paper,” Thorp said in the letter. “They saw no reason to question the faculty member’s choice of course format.”

“15-page paper”?  Riiiight.  Is anyone else interested in seeing what these quote-unquote “papers” looked like?  Given the hilarity that ensued following the McAdoo paper’s release, can you imagine?  Of course, that assumes that there were any papers at all.  With no professor and no instruction, I’m not sure how the quote-unquote “students” would know what to write about.  What would they do with the quote-unquote “papers” after they quote-unquote “wrote” them?
But I digress.  Here is a pdf provided by the N & O showing course information for a lot of these “classes.”  I don’t have the time to do a thorough analysis right now — alert readers who have a good mind for numbers and statistics are encouraged to “go nuts” with this and let us know what it all means.

Of course, all readers will remember this N & O article from May 8th of this year:

University officials say they found no evidence that the suspect classes were part of a plan between Nyang’oro and the athletic department to create classes that student-athletes could pass so they could maintain their eligibility. They said student-athletes were treated no differently in the classes than students who were not athletes.

 

No evidence!!??  That’s great.

 

Today’s article follows this one from last Sunday that gives us the UNC BOG’s perspective on this whole thing.

System leaders say it’s difficult to compare the NCSU and UNC-CH situations. In the late 1980s, Gage said, there was a sense that the trouble could be traced to the top administrative ranks.

and
“Bringing in the SBI is about as independent a look as one can get,” UNC system President Tom Ross said. “… But based on what we know I think this is a much more confined circumstance than I understand was the case previously at State.”
Let’s see.  Confined to: professors, department heads, academic advisors, tutors, associate head football coaches, agents teaching classes.  I’m sure I am leaving a lot out.  Help me complete the list of what this is “confined” to.

 

This story now has been picked up and covered by the guys at the big lead.  Pretty funny take and worth reading.

 

 

 

______________________________________________________________________

Update: Thoughts from our Authors’ Discussion

So, it appears that:

– A class was set up two days before the summer session began.
– Somehow, academic advisers assigned to the players knew about this class AND also knew that it was term-paper/no instruction…ALL WITHIN TWO DAYS.
– The class was totally filled by athletes and one former athlete

And yet UNC has the gall to claim that no classes were arranged solely for athletes? Are they really that stupid or do they think that everyone else is that stupid?

Since classes were created only days before the summer session(s) started, this also means that all other students were already registered. Meaning this class was NOT available to non-athletes.

Per UNC Registrar’s website the traditional fall and spring semesters require drop/add within 5 days of class starting.

In a summer session a class must be added by the first day of classes OR in some instances by the second day of classes (unless permission is provided by the professor and/or department head).

See calendar here:

Click to access ccm1_042529.pdf

So, if the class was set up just days before summer school classes started as is being reported by the N&0, then 1) it would obviously not be in a course catalogue and therefore both athlete and non-athlete students would have no idea it existed, and 2) no non-athlete student not “in the know” through a crooked academic advisor attached to the athletic department could even add the class should he somehow have learned about its existence unless he learned of it within literally 1, maybe 2 days of it’s creation without special permission from the professor/department head.

Speaking of the professor, the email released in which he discussed how many students made it into the class (19, 18 football players and one former football player) stating “I’m totally taken by surprise!” appears to be a wink-wink, inside joke given the totality of the circumstances and the 1 or 2 day possible drop-add period and the fact there was likely zero information provided to regular students that the course even existed.

UNC Scandal

35 Responses to Rogueapalooza (Updated!)

  1. Dogbreath 06/09/2012 at 11:54 AM #

    It’s The Carolina Way.

  2. Pack84 06/09/2012 at 12:07 PM #

    Public Ivy my ass. Wake Tech has more stringent academic standards than this diploma mill.

  3. Wufpacker 06/09/2012 at 12:30 PM #

    It’s hard following the rules when you can’t read ’em.

  4. Paramarine 06/09/2012 at 12:50 PM #

    I’d be curious to find out what Dr. Kangaroo’s phone records and financial statements might reveal.

    I can’t see how someone would accept that this professor threw his integrity to the wind and squandered his career because he personally wanted to see UNC Athletics win at any cost. The real question that needs to be pressed is, “WHY did he do this?” Cui bono?

    He’s not just a scapegoat. Like Butch, Blake, and Wiley, he’s also part of a bulkhead that conceals & protects the true depth of corruption going on at “the flagship”.

  5. highstick 06/09/2012 at 1:02 PM #

    UnC finally has “culture”..A culture of corruption!

    I’d much rather have “agri” culture than that type! They think everyone is stupid and will buy this crap.

  6. fullmoon1 06/09/2012 at 1:25 PM #

    So does anyone think the NCAA will pull it’s head out of the sand long enough to catch a glimpse at what is goin on over there under the pines? The longer this goes on the harder it is to enjoy “amature” college sports.

  7. GAWolf 06/09/2012 at 2:14 PM #

    Gage probably shouldn’t survive the weekend given her absurd statements in light of the latest developments. Either she’s inept as a leader or crooked. Either way a change is due to keep the entire system’s credibility from going down the shitter with the “flagship.”

    It’s continuing to amaze me how otherwise highly successful people have lost their minds in hitching their wagons to what is obviously a horribly messy situation in Chapel Hill. It’s getting messier each and every day, and these people in high places continue to get stuck to the tar baby that is this scandal with their loose lips and blind support.

  8. TheAliasTroll 06/09/2012 at 2:25 PM #

    this is just the text book definition of a “confined circumstance” right???

  9. TheAliasTroll 06/09/2012 at 2:27 PM #

    The cover up is still going stronger than ever.. hopefully we’ll get to find out what they’re really trying to hide over there. It must be HUGE.

  10. GAWolf 06/09/2012 at 3:16 PM #

    It’s a Trolley Problem. Pretty plain and simple, AliasTroll.

  11. chuckdachest 06/09/2012 at 3:46 PM #

    Wonder if Butch’s phone records & Nyang’oro’s have calls back and forth to each other??

  12. graywolf 06/09/2012 at 4:07 PM #

    http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/representation/WhoRepresentsMe.html

    Look up and contact your legislative members. The tax dollars they appropriate are our dollars. If the BOG won’t do their job then its time to call in a higher power…..

    What legislative members are NC State graduates?

  13. sequoyah 06/09/2012 at 4:30 PM #

    Graywolf – that is precisely the problem!

    see http://chronicle.com/article/Degrees-of-Leadership-North/127849/ & click on LIST. 49 UNC-CH grads in Legislature…next highest is State with 13, the ECU with 10……

    Also – on BOG, 22 of the 35 Board Members have UNC-CH ties.

    & most of those folks are lawyers.

  14. choppack1 06/09/2012 at 4:32 PM #

    I am surprised at the arrogance on display here, but I shouldn’t be…after all, look how corrupt the power structure in this state is. North Carolina is one of the most crooked states in the union.

  15. OldWolf76 06/09/2012 at 4:33 PM #

    Here are 2 emails sent to dkane@newsobserver (1 today and 1 July, 2011)

    Dan,

    Great story. Glad the N&O pressed for the information.

    Isn’t it time we see Butch’s area code 216 cell phone record? Wonder if Butch’s phone records & Nyang’oro’s have calls back and forth to each other??

    Bob

    ——– Original Message ——–
    Subject: Davis phone records article
    Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:25:02 -0400
    To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

    Dan-

    Your article was a start. But the call log from the 216 area code phone needs to be made public. Why?

    Butch Davis’s desk phone had no calls.
    Davis’ UNC-paid-for cell phone had no calls.
    In 4 years as a head coach at a major university, you cannot make 0 calls.

    Is this saying he never had any phone contact

    with any recruits,
    with any of his staff,
    with anyone at the ACC office, or
    with his bosses.
    (ADDED 6/9/12) TO UNC-CH FACULTY

    Really? Think about it. How much do you use your desk and cell phone. Could you do you job if you never made or received a call on either one?

    Maybe we should check the desk and cell phones of his staff, Baddour, and Thorpe to find out what phone number they used to contact him. (ADDED 6/9/12 These in fact are state owned phones and are public records.)

    Any contact by a UNC-CH official or employee to the 216 phone would prove that some portion of that phone’s use was for official state business and should be in the public record.

    Thank y’all for the work!

  16. Hungwolf 06/09/2012 at 4:53 PM #

    Still all a pack of lies by UNC-CHeat. They know they in trouble and the latest admission is more of the same crap. They are intent on isolating the problem to the football program. Notice no mention of the basketball program. The basketball players were also in the classes, you can’t tell me they haven’t been involved. Where’s the NCAA investigating the bball program for ineligible players?

  17. TruthBKnown Returns 06/09/2012 at 5:24 PM #

    I want to know (serious question) how much they have to do wrong over there for ANYONE in authority to put their foot down and say, “Enough is enough! It is time to fix this mess.”

    Because as far as I’m concerned, that ship sailed a LONG time ago, and still nothing from the powers that be in this state (well, except for the SBI I guess, but they’re not looking for rule violations. They’re looking for LAW violations.”

    Now it is just getting comical. Like they’re actually trying to see just how much they can do, and how STUPID they can be, and still get away with it. It boggles the mind. It’s outright disgusting, too.

    Like someone said, this was going on in 2011. If they were doing this stuff while people were watching, what would they do when they thought NO ONE was watching???

    New chant for UNX games: “Agriculture — not CULTURE OF CORRUPTION!!!”

  18. tuckerdorm1983 06/09/2012 at 5:48 PM #

    When you don’t follow the rules and you live a life on having the rules not apply to you then they should not be shocked to find out you did not follow the rules. When they set up the systems so that you don’t have to follow the rules then this is what you get.

    People justify things all the time. I think the dear professor saw that the university was using these players to make tons of money and that he was justified in having faux classes. To hell with academic integrity. I hope he loses his retirement pension over this. Hypocrisy breeds hypocrisy. A pox on their houses painted light blue and white.

  19. patientwuf 06/09/2012 at 5:52 PM #

    Truth

    This is criminal at high levels and not just at UNC. At this point State auditors should have caught up with some of this.

  20. Wolf74 06/09/2012 at 6:02 PM #

    “chuckdachest Says:
    June 9th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
    Wonder if Butch’s phone records & Nyang’oro’s have calls back and forth to each other??”

    You can be sure of that. The real question is, does Nyang’oro’s phone records have phone calls back and forth with Roy Williams?

  21. BJD95 06/09/2012 at 6:26 PM #

    The only thing that really, truly surprises me is that they haven’t sacrificed the football program completely to try to save hoops. The arrogance, denial, and lies are all what I would expect from the Holes.

  22. Wufpacker 06/09/2012 at 8:07 PM #

    ^ Yeah, they’ve been subtle so far. Time might be running out on that.

  23. state73 06/09/2012 at 8:58 PM #

    I am now convinced that there are no responsible and honest people left in chapel hill. What a waste of taxpayer money. The whole place should be leveled with a bulldozer.

  24. blpack 06/09/2012 at 10:22 PM #

    The cover up of corruption continues. Dodge, delay, deflect, defend, deny. 2 years years of lies to our faces. I think state73 is right. Where are the adults? Where are the people of integrity? Apparently not in Chapel Hill, NC. UNC-cheat indeed.

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