NC Senator Thom Goolsby sounds off on UNC Fraud

It’s taken a few years and a public announcement from a UNC whistleblower but we finally have the first public statement from a member of the NC General Assembly (at least the first I can recall) on the wide reaching fraud at the esteemed flagship. NC Senator Thom Goolsby penned a column posted today lambasting UNC and their response to the deepening scandal comparing the situation to a “pesky staph infection that just won’t go away”: UNC Academic Fraud Merits Criminal Probe. And he doesn’t hold much back attacking the UNC Administration, and notably, the NCAA.

It’s the gladiators who bring crowds to the arena and it should surprise no one that schools will do whatever it takes to field the best possible team. What is shameful is the continued smokescreen produced by the UNC administration around this scandal. Academic fraud has prompted no less than four investigations at UNC. One is currently being led by former Governor Jim Martin. So far the governing body of college sports, the NCAA, has not sullied its hands in the most recent fraud revelations.

In Senator Goolsby’s opinion, it is past time for the adults in this situation (aka, not anyone from UNC’s Administration) to get involved. He prompts the local DA’s office to begin a criminal probe.

It is past time for a criminal investigation into these fraudulent activities. For far too long, academic scandals have been treated with the soft glove approach.  The local district attorney’s office should begin an immediate criminal probe. If the DA does not wish to handle this matter, he should request that the Attorney General appoint a Special Prosecutor to handle this case.

If necessary, the General Assembly could consider legislation to make prosecuting this type of academic fraud easier.

WHOA! Huge news here. Senator Goolsby is not taking any prisoners essentially calling out the local District Attorney, the UNC Administration, the NCAA, and the UNC Board of Trustees. And he adds to that with a statement that should frighten all those who are involved: the GA could be compelled to action.

So who is Senator Goolsby? Given his aggressive stance on the issue, you might say he’s a tried-and-true Wolfpack red blood. A quick search yields the opposite. Senator Goolsby graduated from the Citidel with his bachelor’s degree and went on to receive his JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Nothing more needs to be said about the credibility that the twice-elected Senator possesses. He likely sees this issue as a poison not just to the university that he holds a degree, but to the educational environment across the state that he serves. In fact, Senator Goolsby serves on the Senate Education/Higher Education Committee. This column may not sound good to the average UNC Wal-Mart fan, but it has to finally be music to the ears of those UNC degree holders that have watched its beloved institution taken repeatedly behind the woodshed for disgraceful reasons.

What Senator Goolsby is proposing just might be the hard-to-swallow pill that will cleanse out the remnants of a 2-year infection. If UNC is smart, they’ll swallow quickly before the General Assembly is compelled to action.

 

 

UNC Scandal

35 Responses to NC Senator Thom Goolsby sounds off on UNC Fraud

  1. rlgray 11/20/2012 at 2:09 PM #

    It is good to see one Carolina grad with some integrity and backbone. I guess it is because he is a law school grad and not an undergrad of Carolina.

  2. notagain 11/20/2012 at 2:20 PM #

    Glad to see that there is at least one person in power with a pair big enough to call this what it is. Maybe this is what it will take for other people in power to start climbing out from the rocks they seemed to have been hiding under during this whole mess…I guess time will tell

  3. LRM 11/20/2012 at 2:21 PM #

    He also ran unopposed in the recent election, which makes it less politically damning to do this.

  4. MrPlywood 11/20/2012 at 2:27 PM #

    More power to him. It’s going to take voices and action from guys like him, with UNC ties, to make anything happen.

  5. ncsu1987 11/20/2012 at 2:41 PM #

    Certainly an interesting development. Perhaps this will be the voice that starts to raise awareness and calls adults to action. The cynic inside me, however, still stridently shrieks that he’ll believe it when he sees it…

    The quote from the link I found most interesting was this: “When UNC comes to the General Assembly for more funding, university officials should expect that legislators charged with representing the taxpayers will demand answers.”

  6. hemiii 11/20/2012 at 2:52 PM #

    Actually LRM Senator Goolsby who represents NC Senate District 9 had competition that was well funded by the National Democratic Party.

  7. packnilm 11/20/2012 at 3:11 PM #

    “He also ran unopposed in the recent election, which makes it less politically damning to do this”

    incorrect- He ran against Deb Butler

  8. wingatewolf 11/20/2012 at 3:12 PM #

    LRM, the good senator did indeed have an opponent and lives in a district that could easily swing to a democrat if he’s not careful He is a great North Carolinian though!

  9. WuffDad 11/20/2012 at 3:13 PM #

    Umm. Someone needs to do a little fact checking. Goolsby defeated liberal Deb Butler in the recent election.

  10. Sw0rdf1sh 11/20/2012 at 3:31 PM #

    Yeah, I was going to say he ran opposed. I voted for him so here is the first thing he has done to make me not regret that decision. Check that second.

    I saw him at the Matisyahu concert in downtown ILM with his wifey. Good on ya Thom.

  11. TruthBKnown Returns 11/20/2012 at 3:46 PM #

    Maybe there should be a punishment that arises from all this where U*NC-CH is not allowed to have a SINGLE representative on the BoG for the next 20-25 years.

    How nice would that be!

  12. oceanman 11/20/2012 at 4:05 PM #

    When the smell of this scandal makes its way to the halls of state government in Raleigh the UNX administration will not longer be in control. The General Assembly controls the purse strings. Expect them to demand answers while holding money in front of UNX administration. Should be an intersting show. want to find the truth, follow the money.

  13. MrPlywood 11/20/2012 at 4:18 PM #

    This just hit IC, I can’t wait to read more “nothing new here…” comments. 😛

  14. highstick 11/20/2012 at 4:28 PM #

    Can you cure a staph infection with an enema?

  15. TruthBKnown Returns 11/20/2012 at 5:06 PM #

    Why do State fans even bother reading IC? Once in a while, someone posts a direct link to something specfic, and I click it to go read it for myself. Aside from that, I never even visit IC. I feel like they are so dumb over there that it may actually kill some of my brain cells if I read it… kind of a “dumbness infection” of sorts.

  16. tjfoose1 11/20/2012 at 5:39 PM #

    ^ Same reason people watch car wrecks.

  17. Rekced 11/20/2012 at 5:48 PM #

    Ah I worked with him in the General Assembly last year. Nice guy and quite intelligent so this is no surprise.

    Still great to see though. I know more than a few people in the GA weren’t fans of all that is going on there. Maybe it will snowball into something bigger. We can always hope.

  18. MrPlywood 11/20/2012 at 6:02 PM #

    re: IC – morbid curiosity… and schadenfreude.

  19. LRM 11/20/2012 at 6:24 PM #

    Sorry guys, I screwed up. My apologies.

    I wasn’t implying anythjng. All I really meant, and the point I should’ve made instead is that it’ll be interesting now that the election is over to see how politicians respond to this dumpster fire, because it was a non-issue during the campaigns.

  20. Alpha Wolf 11/20/2012 at 6:46 PM #

    It’s a sad world when we have to weigh doing what’s right with the potential political cost. Goolsby, no matter his political party or his political leanings, is correct. That should be all that need to be said, but since we now live in a constant campaign for re-election, unfortunately it is not.

  21. BassPacker 11/20/2012 at 6:47 PM #

    Goolsby is also a professor of law at Campbell University, and more important co-chairs the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety and the Senate Appropriations on Justice and Public Safety Committee.

    He does not have an axe to grind…just doing his job. Wish others would just do their job….like NCAA, ACC and Swofford.

  22. Wulfpack 11/20/2012 at 7:13 PM #

    I’m his biggest fan. This is just awesome, and is exactly the kind of pressure that needs to be applied.

  23. john of sparta 11/20/2012 at 8:08 PM #

    i have wondered when this day would come.
    this looks like the dawn of that day.
    bottom line:
    1. it won’t stop with UNX.
    2. it will end at the SCOTUS.
    3. will the NCAA get a monopoly like MLB?

  24. NCSU84 11/20/2012 at 8:32 PM #

    The Flagship University – think of it while you watch the following:

  25. blpack 11/20/2012 at 9:14 PM #

    Recently re-elected, feeling his oats, and no friend of UNC-cheat. Great combo. Let there be a criminal probe!

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