You might remember when former North Carolina Tar Heel basketball player Rashad McCants opened up to ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” earlier this year about the bogus classes he took while at UNC that helped to boost his grades and keep him eligible to play. McCants, who was an integral part of the school’s 2004-05 national championship team, alleged that he had papers written for him and that he didn’t have to show up for classes.
UNC has been parts of various internal and NCAA investigations over the past several years, and this past February retained the services of former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein who was to conduct an independent investigation. The focus of Wainstein’s and past investigations centered on the school’s Department of African and Afro-American Studies (AFAM). In 2012, the school reported to the NCAA that it uncovered problems with 54 classes taught by the department between 2007 and 2011, which included forged faculty signatures on grade rolls, grade changes, and limited or no class time requirements.
Well, the findings of Wainstein’s investigation, which were released on Wednesday, dug a whole lot deeper and found a much larger systemic problem within that department. According to his report, more than 3,100 students—nearly half of them student-athletes—were enrolled in those no-show classes and received inflated grades in what Wainstein described as a “shadow curriculum” designed to boost grade-point averages and which lasted nearly two decades.
Those papers were scanned quickly and typically given an A or B no matter the quality of the work.
Athletes, who account for roughly 4 percent of the student population at UNC, made up 47.4 percent of the enrollment in those no-show classes. Of the athletes, 50.9 percent (963 student) were football players and 12.2 percent (226 students) were on the basketball team.
Wainstein’s report also shredded the school’s administration for its lack of oversight on the program, which went unchecked for years.
“I am deeply disappointed in the duration and scope of the wrongdoing, missing vital checks and balances that could have corrected this much sooner and saved so much anguish and embarrassment,” North Carolina chancellor Carol Folt said, according to USA Today. “”I think it’s very clear that this is an academic, an athletic and a university problem.”
The NCAA and UNC issued a joint statement on the report:
The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the NCAA enforcement staff continue to engage in an independent and cooperative effort to review information of possible NCAA rules violations as was announced earlier this year. The university provided the enforcement staff with a copy of the Wainstein Reports for its consideration. The information included in the Wainstein Reports will be reviewed by the university and enforcement staff under the same standards that are applied in all NCAA infractions cases. Due to rules put in place by the NCAA membership, neither the university nor the enforcement staff will comment on the substance of the report as it applies to possible NCAA rules violations.
In 2012, the NCAA slapped the football program on the wrist with a scholarship reduction and postseason ban, but that was for academic violations that focused on a tutor who was providing improper help to players by writing their papers. That investigation was reopened in June, after McCants came forward with new information.