Heads have rolled? Well, not many.

UNC Chancellor Little Carol Folt, from Dartmouth don't you know, said heads would roll as a result of the expensive Wainstein report. Well, our friends at WNCN are now reporting on the names of six who were terminated.

The most ironic is Jeanette Boxill, Ph.D. Ms. Boxill was the director of the Parr Center for Ethics. A touch of irony in an otherwise depressing tale. Boxill lost her job with the Parr Center and Little Carol has terminated her from the University. Of course Boxill is appealing. An appeal from the ethically challenged director of the center for ethics.

The rest of the terminees seem to be middle and low level employees, only one one other professor, non-tenure track at that, among the bunch. Timothy J. McMillan, a senior lecturer was let go. He admitted to Wainstein that he should have known what was going on. But, he claims he didn't and he says he did nothing to stop it. Well, thanks Mr. McMillan for your diligence. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

To its credit, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-by-the-sea, let go an academic adviser who was identified in the Wainstein report and disclosed that name promptly in accordance with North Carolina law.

Walt-in-Durham

UNC academic mess.

WNCT has a story about a NCCU professor who wants to "flip the script" on college athletics.

I am not a "fan" of UNC, nor am I a "fan" of Virginia Tech. However, Va Tech graduates 77% of its football athletes. UNC-CH about 58%. I am not a "fan" of Penn State, but PSU graduates almost 70% of its football athletes. Without question, Penn State and VA Tech have much better football than UNC. So what is the difference? Penn State and VA Tech have hired coaches over the years (Joe Paterno, Bill O'Brien and Frank Beemer) who lived up to the college's expectation that good football could be played and the college's obligation to the players to provide a sound education could be met. It comes down to a set of expectations from the top. The Chancellor, the University President and the Board of Governors have to set an expectation that football will be successful on the field but more importantly, the university must fulfill its promise to the athletes. UNC does not do that. Until they start setting the standard that Penn State and Va Tech do, we will still see the lousy graduation rates of football players at UNC-CH. We will still see the situation improve.

Walt-in-Durham

Chancellor Folt responds to reading scandal.

Chancellor Carol Folt has responded with an open letter to the UNC community. Some background, UNC has been embroiled in athletic and academic scandal since the infamous tweet by Marvin Austin about a party he attended in Miami while he was still an undergrad. The problem with that party was, Austin was in college and there were questions about impermissible benefits to student athletes raised. It's been all down hill from there.

Of late, a reading specialist at UNC Mary Willingham has alleged that a number of UNC student athletes don't read at a college level. Michael Mcadoo has characterized academics for athletes at UNC as "a scam." in a WTVD report. In the same report, UNC has disputed Willingham's claims.

Chancellor Folt in her response, has asked for time to investigate. Yet another investigation, after seven. The picture the investigations paint is one where the institution is circling the wagons and there seems to be a lack of institutional control of its athletic processes. Because she is new, although hopefully hired with full disclosure, I am inclined to give Folt some time to investigate again. Otherwise, it's time for UNC System to step in and show some leadership.

Walt-in-Durham

Memo to Carol Folt and Bubba Cunningham - CLEAN UP THE MESS!

Bloomberg's Business Week is out this week with a national rendition of the academic fraud scandal at UNC-CH. This is not good news for Carol Folt and the UNC-CH crowd. I take no pleasure in this misfortune at my adopted home state's major liberal arts university. As an employer I depend on the UNC system to educate the people I hire. I depend on the UNC system to provide education that is meaningful. As a parent, I expect I will depend on the UNC system to educate my children. That's my stake in this mess. Oh, and I'm a North Carolina taxpayer, that's a big stake in this mess.

Is Julius Nyang'oro the first and only jock sniffing prof to be employed at UNC? No. He's not the last either. But, there's a difference between trading an easy grade for sideline tickets (bad enough) and teaching  no-show classes. The vast majority of college athletes will not go professional. Most will get a job coaching at a high school or middle school level. A very few will get jobs in college coaching and fewer yet coaching at the professional level. Thus, it is vitally important that our college athletes get the education that is supposed to be the basis for the bargain. Deny them the education and we have denied them the sole compensation promised by the onerous contract they sign when they agree to play college sports.

If you are wondering how I think this might play out. Let an athlete who took one of Nyang'oro's no show courses file suit against the University of North Carolina for breech of contract. He alleges that UNC promised to give him an education in return for playing football. He alleges UNC failed to uphold its end of the contract, thus voiding contract all together. That entitles the football playing athlete to damages. What kind of damages? How about the value of his athletic efforts? Let's be conservative, say half the NFL minimum contract. About $1,000,000 for four years of academic fraud! The contract also calls for attorney fees. Under NC law, if one side of a contract is entitled to attorney fees, then the other side can get them if they prevail. OOPS! Athlete gets to play with house money.