TBJ: UNC AD expects investigation will find more academic improprieties

Triangle Business Journal staff writer Jason deBruyn released a story this afternoon with some very interesting statements from UNC AD Bubba Cunningham. The statements are interesting, but for anyone not currently sipping wine and eating cheese in the city limits of Chapel Hill they are hardly surprising.

Go here to read the full piece by deBruyn at bizjournals.com.

Cunningham said he expects the new investigation, announced by Thorp on Aug. 16, to find that irregularities occurred before 2007, and possibly before the late 1990s as well. The error that UNC-CH made when announcing results of the initial investigation, he says, was that it was not more clear that the school suspected these irregularities went back further than 2007.

Cunningham expects that irregularities that occurred before 2007 will be the same type as those found in the previous investigation. “But we have implemented changes going forward,” he says.

The piece ends with this line from Cunningham:

“How far back should the investigation go? 1988? 1978?” he said. “The point is that we’ve made changes going forward.”

For starters, would not a true investigation want to uncover the root of the problem and identify those responsible for the transgressions? To help our readers better compute the statements from UNC, we siphoned some of these terms we keep hearing through our UNC-Cheatspeak-Translator-5000. It produced some interesting results:

“Review” translates to “fake investigation to appease the masses but uncover nothing.”

“Academic improprieties” translates to “cheating to keep athletes eligible so we have an unfair competitive advantage.”

“Irregularity” translates to “fake classes.” (Note: that this should not be confused with “easy classes.”)

“Changes” translates to “shift around the people responsible but continue to pay them so they’ll (continue to) be quiet.”

“But we have implemented changes going forward” translates to “we will do all we can to keep from getting caught again.” (This wouldn’t be so funny except UNC was literally setting up fake classes while the NCAA “investigators” were still enjoying their post-“investigation” burger and beer at Top of the Heel before heading back to Indianapolis.)

“Error that UNC made when announcing results of the initial investigation was that it was not more clear that the school suspected these irregularities went back further than 2007.” translates to

… well…

Our UNC Cheatspeak Translator 5000

Is this what UNC has reduced itself to: The old “Welp. Now that we’re caught lying what we really meant to say was…” defense? Most folks we associate with perfected that in elementary school, outgrew it in middle school, and laughed at it in high school. Yet here we have the administration from the self-proclaimed “public ivy” institution of higher education trying to shove this racket down the throats of wide-mouthed gawkers watching as they somehow amazingly keep throwing fuel on the fire they’re trying so desperately to contain.

If the question is more than a rhetorical one, Mr. Cunningham, you should probably at least carry your investigation back to 1993 when Dr. Nyang’oro was promoted to be the first head of the newly created AFAM department. Within one year, 4 of 5 starters on the National Champion basketball team were proud majors in his curriculum.

A word of warning since you’re asking, though Mr. Cunningham. You best hold your nose and cover your head. In case they have been as honest with you over there as they have the rest of us, you probably need to know that the guy who had your job at the time is quietly sitting in a position of power in Greensboro. You also might want to duck and cover before you open that pandora’s box considering the most sacred legend in UNC athletics lore was not-so-ironically enough simultaneously in charge of your golden goose basketball program instantly filled with AFAM majors.

*****
SFN Addition:
It’s clear The Flagship is desperately trying to regain control of this unraveling scandal. Governor Martin has been hired to lead an investigation, and supposedly the findings will be made public once the investigation — er, review — is complete.

The University has hired former advisor to President Clinton, Doug Sosnik, as consultant to guide them through the PR battle (WRAL):

A former advisor to President Bill Clinton has joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s public relations effort as the university weathers an investigation into academic impropriety in at least one department.

Doug Sosnik began working as a consultant for the university earlier this month, a UNC spokeswoman said Tuesday. The addition comes about 13 months after UNC hired a Raleigh public relations firm to work on academic issues and two years after the NCAA began a probe into rules violations within the university’s football program…

Details on Sosnik’s compensation have not been released. The school has paid nearly $600,000 on academic scandal-related services, but says none of that money came from taxpayers.

Previously, this was reported (WRAL:

Martin and his team plan to review more departments and all athletic programs at UNC-CH. He said that Thorp asked him to complete his work by mid-October and that he plans to get started early next week.

“And non-athletes, if you have a class that gives an easy grade to everybody, I think that needs to be identified as a corruption of the process,” Martin said.

Martin said Thorp told him everything is fair game in the investigation – no restrictions, no limitations. The report of Martin’s findings will be made public once it is complete.

“(We will) go where the evidence takes us,” Martin said.

There’s no dollar figure on the upcoming review. However, the school has paid nearly $600,000 for other scandal-related services. Outside legal bills are estimated at about $467,000 so far. Additionally, for the past 13 months, the school has paid a Raleigh-based communications firm $113,000.

Question 1: Why, after two years of evading, lying and redacting, is UNC still dictating the terms of this investigation? How independent is that? The arrogance, even amidst a failed system, remains astounding.

Question 2: Will we see the results of Martin’s investigation in their entirety? Or, will Thorp & Co. continue the policy of redacting anything incriminating and hiding behind FERPA and forcing the media to file FOIA requests?

Question 3: It seems noble that no taxpayer funding is being used for a PR consultant. But, will the use of private funding provide a neat loophole to prevent FOIA requests if the report is in any part redacted?

UNC Scandal

73 Responses to TBJ: UNC AD expects investigation will find more academic improprieties

  1. fullmoon1 08/23/2012 at 8:37 PM #

    Oh nevermind. Bubba said they implemented changes so it doesn’t matter what transgressions took place. why didn’t he say so from the beginning?

  2. fullmoon1 08/23/2012 at 8:41 PM #

    If a banner falls in the dean dome, and no fans are left, does it make a sound?

  3. Paramarine 08/23/2012 at 8:49 PM #

    “Cunningham said he expects the new investigation, announced by Thorp on Aug. 16, to find that irregularities occurred before 2007 and possibly before the late 1990s as well.” translates to “We paid Butch $2.7MM because this system was in place well before he came along.”

  4. tuckerdorm1983 08/23/2012 at 9:50 PM #

    To my fellow Wolfpackers, Tar Heels and North Carolinians,
    I absolutely respect and adore Bill Friday. He is a true man of integrity. I know he must hate was has transpired at that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Someone like Frank Porter Graham would be shocked at what had been done to his university. I am shocked and outraged.
    As a person that has three degrees from that university (J.D., M.A. and Ph.D.) I am deeply saddened at the course of events. I am proud of UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina. Every time I walk in the Mcorkle Place or stand near South Building or visit the Planetarium it makes me proud to be a North Carolinian. UNC-CH is an excellent school and nationally respected, but I am afraid that it has become tarnished now. When William Davies founded the university in 1789 he could have never imagined what lengths some would go to undermine the integrity of academic rigor at his university just to win a stupid sporting match. They totally forgot the saying “its not whether you win or lose but how you play the game”. Shame on those that did this. I hope they can restore the integrity to this wonderful school. GO PACK, beat those Heels!!!

    Brian Harbour (B.S. NCSU 1987, UNC-CH J.D. 1990, M.A. 1991, Ph.D. 1994)

  5. ancsu87 08/23/2012 at 10:00 PM #

    sorry tuckerdorm1983 but I listened to Bill Friday run NC State leadership and the university itself into the ground during the late 1980’s and have yet to hear him weigh in on the current scandal. While retired, his input or suggestions would certainly stir others to make an impartial investigation. The fact that he has not weighed in on this issue at UNC-CH is why I have no respect for him. I had no issue with what he said/did to us in the late 1980’s but cannot understand his silence now.

    Interesting enough he still has enough time and energy to sign up for another year on UNC-TV with his “North Carolina People with William Friday”.

  6. choppack1 08/23/2012 at 10:26 PM #

    ancsu87 – That’s not totally true. Bill Friday has weighed in on the scandal – and his words were pretty much like everyone else’s in a leadership position in Chapel Hill:
    “Mistakes were made. They have admitted mistakes were made. Changes to prevent those mistakes from being made again have been implemented. It is time to move on!”

    This is the mantra. They are much like Ted Kennedy begging forgiveness for the Chappaquidic episode. You want to get credit for admitting the mistake, but you haven’t paid the price for your sins. That’s a natural human position.

    Unfortunately, for Friday and his ilk, in the past when they had the chance to show to allow NC State to clean their hands and walk away – they didn’t.

    They punished NC State making us recruit players more qualified to attend college than any other institution – including UNC-Ch – in college basketball.

    The malice of the punishment imposed upon NC State and the general hypocrisy by Friday inc. has now been exposed for all to see.

    This thing has been going on for over 2 friggin’ years – and the leadership of this school and this state in general, appears to be doing everything they can to avoid disclosing the truth. Bowles, Friday, Ross, Thorp, and Baddour – a lot of folks that have a reputation for integrity have demonstrated absolutely none of it.

    And you gotta understand my outlook. I was at NC State from Fall of 88 until Fall of 92. I was there when we had our troubles. I remember the zeal that our detractors had when they set upon us and literally set out to destroy NC State basketball.

    The triangle community is NOT that big. I also went to He’s Not Here on occasion. One summer evening, I overheard a famous UNC basketball player – a guy who was smart enough to succeed in school if he wanted to – say, “I haven’t been to class in weeks.” He, like seemingly everyone else on that campus, graduated.

    I heard stories of athletes being given special treatment in class, leaving classes before tests, people doing homework for them. Still, it just bounced off – I never suspected that they had fake classes. I figured they were just real easy.

    Now, we find out that UNC embodies EVERYTHING that is wrong about college sports. Most of us aren’t surprised, we’ve suspected it all along.

  7. newt 08/23/2012 at 10:31 PM #

    “(We will) go where the evidence takes us,” –> isn’t that almost word for word what Thorp said August 26th 2010?

  8. gumby 08/23/2012 at 10:40 PM #

    I know I am not the only one disgusted that Cheaterlina hires lawyers to hide the evidence and PR consultants to spin the damage but has to be dragged kicking and screaming to hire investigators to address the real issues. To me, hiring a PR consultant in and of itself shows they STILL don’t get it – they are still “Image first, the truth….umm oh yeah that inconvenience”

  9. JSRy2k 08/23/2012 at 10:44 PM #

    “You want to get credit for admitting the mistake…”
    Exactly! There is a huge difference between “wanting credit” for admission of wrong and sincere regret. U*NC clearly falls into the former category, one that the general public will sniff out and spit upon when all is said and done. Their utter lack of sincere contrition and desire for the truth will leave them despised by far more than the Wolfpack faithful when all is said and done. Sad thing for them is, it could have been avoided if anybody in leadership over there had the honesty and courage of History Professor Jay Smith.

  10. gumby 08/23/2012 at 10:44 PM #

    and i echo the aforementioned disgust with Bill Friday… he’s had his chance to speak out meaningfully and has only issued insincere platitudes.

  11. ancsu87 08/23/2012 at 10:49 PM #

    Choppack I searched for comments from Friday before making my post and only could find the one below from 2010. Thanks for the update.

    “For people who care about the university, this is a moment of great sadness,” Friday said today. “We’ve gone 50 years without even the remotest allegation of wrongdoing at Chapel Hill.

    “What we’re seeing is a manifestation of what’s going on all over college athletics,” he said. “It’s pretty clear the time has come for the people who care about intercollegiate athletics to put a stop to this.”

    I attended NC State from 1982-1987 busting my rear in chemical engineering and worked/lived in NC/VA/GA till 1992. You correctly described what happened to our great university and the BS mudslinging that was thrown into our faces regarding our university in general. Mud slung by Bill Friday and others in power with plenty of slings off of their embellishments from “holier-than-thou” UNC-CH fans and graduates.

    I just want them to go after a much worse rouge program with 20+ (probably 30+) years of cheating touted as the “carolina way”.

  12. Wufpacker 08/23/2012 at 11:04 PM #

    Alright, I know spelling isn’t at a premium around here, but please guys (and gals), the “u” comes after the “g”. “Rouge” = red.

    Not trying to single you out ancsu87, as yours is only about the 15th one I’ve seen today.

  13. Prof_Turby 08/23/2012 at 11:04 PM #

    The wording mistake implies that it was inadvertent, unintended, and happen chance…
    This was not a mistake…
    It was a systematic way in order to keep incompetent imbeciles that could dribble, dunk, and run real fast eligible in order to win in basketball and football…
    I just wish to God that the next time Friday or someone from Carolina says that it was a mistake that they take them to task…
    Phuck em all to hell…

  14. SqlWolf 08/24/2012 at 5:07 AM #

    I am all for exposing the roots of academic “irregularities” up on the hill. Some heads better roll after Gov. Martin is finished with his investigation. It can’t end with blame on long gone rogues.

    To quote what I posted elsewhere in the forums:
    “The only good way to clean it all up was to burn the place down and start anew”

  15. tuckerdorm1983 08/24/2012 at 6:11 AM #

    I say you guys are wrong about Friday. He holds a undergrad degree from my beloved NCSU.

  16. Master 08/24/2012 at 6:33 AM #

    Tuckerdorm – I think the posters above are simply stating that Dr. Friday had the same chance to hold NCSU in a protective mode during the Valvano takedown and did nothing of the sort. It just looks hypocritical today when comparing the severity of the two situations how his tone has changed from holding one institution liable and the other is just doing what everyone else has been doing for years. I doubt UNC’s transgression started at NCSU, so why is UNC being held to a different standard?

  17. howlie 08/24/2012 at 7:06 AM #

    GREAT job on the “definitions” of the CHeat legalese.

    Answering your rhetorical questions:
    Question 1: The CHeats assume they own every branch of the government, the press, the judicial system, & any part of the world they need to own. Remember, they have the Crips to handle any extraneous loose lips like they handled the cars, past-due tickets, & license plates for their players.

    Question 2: You lost us at, “Will WE…?”

    Question 3: What do you think that million dollars in PR fees; hazardous press control; & party-thru-the-poop funds has purchased? OF COURSE it gives them grease for the CHeat machine ahead. They’re PAID to get ahead of the next CHeat cycle… USC ranked #1 preseason, & UNCCHeat has purchased the same road map.
    Buy aluminum futures, the boom is ahead in powder blue heaven, yo.

  18. Greywolf 08/24/2012 at 7:12 AM #

    “Martin and his team plan to review more departments and all athletic programs at UNC-CH. He said that Thorp asked him to complete his work by mid-October and that he plans to get started early next week.”

    What kind of BS is this? Martin is expected to review “all athletic programs at UNC-CH” in 6 weeks? And do a thorough job so we can move on.

  19. Rochester 08/24/2012 at 7:28 AM #

    Good point, Greywolf. They’ve gone from “This will all be over by Friday,” to “This will all be over in six weeks.” It’s taken them two years to get this far, yet somehow in six weeks this will all be sorted out? The only way that could be is if the evidence is so obvious anyone who wanted to bring it to light could really find it all that quickly. So … yeah, I guess it’s possible.

    (If they gave a team of 10 State fans complete access I bet we could blow it open in four weeks. And we’d do it for free.)

  20. choppack1 08/24/2012 at 7:36 AM #

    Folks – here’s the deal:
    1) Butch’s redacted 216 records – which from what I can tell, gives him the power to determine the personal vs. business calls – will show nothing. This is exactly what Judge Manning intended. UNC wins.
    2) Governor Martin’s “investigation” – will be a total sham. He’s a friend and associate of Holden Thorp and the Pope’s. In a worst-case scenario, his findings could result in a huge public disgrace for these associates. That will not happen.

    The table has been set by key individuals in power for UNC to walk away and continue their ways. I’ll be utterly shocked if anything ever comes from this.

  21. Pack78 08/24/2012 at 7:53 AM #

    Jesse Helms opposed the establishment of the zoo in Asheboro, saying something along the lines of ‘We don’t need a zoo in Asheboro, we need to put a fence around Chapel Hill.’ Well, the u*nx PTB are now continually building that fence attempting to keep the truth of that diploma mill/cesspool from getting out…

  22. GAWolf 08/24/2012 at 8:00 AM #

    Chop: I agree with you completely except for Manning being somehow complicit in a cover up. That’s crazy talk, but I understand why a Pack fan not connected to the court system would believe it to be a possibility given all the other supposed professionals out there who have seemingly attached themselves to the UNC coverup with mixed results.

    Manning followed the law on the subject and that’s his job. I guarantee that if Manning learns of funny business going on with the redaction he’ll take them to task. He’s a judge. A judge’s job is to follow the law. Part of that means to give trust that others will follow it too until there is direct evidence that they have failed to do so. He has already barked at UNC for “gallons of whiteout” and then ordered them to release the entirety of the requests for reinstatement to the NCAA. His reasoning in so doing was that those documents are athletic related wholly and were not generated for any academic purpose therefore they are not covered by FERPA. Obviously that was the cat/mouse game being played by UNC when they heavily redacted those documents before complying with Manning’s previous order. He saw through that, and at some point I assume they will have to release those documents in total, unredacted. We’ve yet to see those, and they involve the entire parking ticket prong, Wiley prong, etc.

    The fear in releasing those Reinstatement Requests is that my guess is somewhere in there the masses will be able to uncover evidence that UNC was not wholly honest with the NCAA once the statements therein are compared to the information available on the internet.

    SFN as a whole does agree that the “Martin Commission” appears at this point to be more of the same coverup as opposed to a true independent investigation. For one, it’s hardly independent as you have pointed out for numerous reasons. Secondly, it’s still being called a review with the same party line language that has hampered the quest for clarity from the very beginning. Last, there’s pretty good reason to believe any findings will be manipulated by the UNC spin machine if released at all.

    UNC has already proven that they have no problem misreporting their findings to the public until they are called to task on the misrepresentations. That’s for certain, and Cunningham’s statement above to the TBJ is exact evidence of that.

  23. haze 08/24/2012 at 8:05 AM #

    These comments are classic PR.

    We have an “innocent” who was not present for the bad acts (Bubba) claiming credibility for the mother institution through “candid” exposure of an already evident fact that just so happens to directly contradict a previous attempt by the institution to limit the scope of the crime. He then makes a hyperbolic argument to diminish the value of <2007 issues by linking them with the 70's and 80's (effectively a statute of limitations argument).

    It's smart and completely full of crap.

  24. GAWolf 08/24/2012 at 9:33 AM #

    Except for this:

    Previous Cite: 32.6.2 Notice to Involved Individuals. Next Cite: 32.6.4 Access to Information Through Secure Website.
    Allegations included in a notice of allegations shall be limited to possible violations occurring not earlier than four years before the date the notice of inquiry is provided to the institution or the date the institution notifies (or, if earlier, should have notified) the enforcement staff of its inquiries into the matter.  However, the following shall not be subject to the four-year limitation: (Revised: 10/12/94, 4/24/03, 10/27/11)

    (a) Allegations involving violations affecting the eligibility of a current student-athlete;

    (b) Allegations in a case in which information is developed to indicate a pattern of willful violations on the part of the institution or individual involved, which began before but continued into the four-year period; and

    (c) Allegations that indicate a blatant disregard for the Association’s fundamental recruiting, extra-benefit, academic or ethical-conduct regulations or that involve an effort to conceal the occurrence of the violation.  In such cases, the enforcement staff shall have a one-year period after the date information concerning the matter becomes available to the NCAA to investigate and submit to the institution a notice of allegations concerning the matter.

  25. GAWolf 08/24/2012 at 9:35 AM #

    Subsection (c) reads like a bombshell to their silly ramblings.

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