It’s shocking that more than half of these were non-athletes (everyone can surely understand that athletes have more important things to do than attend classes)!!!
I pretty much assume that in general any college athlete degree is one in name only; that they took classes requiring minimal work or in regular classes they didn’t do the work themselves.
Haven’t yet seen any significant evidence to disprove this.
My BS and MD degrees disagree with you!
I pretty much assume that in general any degree earned by an athlete in a money sport at the Division I level (i.e. football, men’s basketball) is one in name only; that they took classes requiring minimal work or in regular classes they didn’t do the work themselves.
Haven’t yet seen any significant evidence to disprove this. 
I agree that outside of FB and BB most of the DIV I athletes do not get admitted with low grades. They get in just like any other student. And they have the same type graduation rates as other students. And many of them take majors that are not easy.
Apologies accepted!
Of course, the underlying question in all of this is raised by the seemingly throwaway line “nearly half of them athletes.”
What was the motive for stuffing the rest of these non-student students through a farce of a diploma mill? I cringe when I suggest this, but given that the college in question was that of “African and Afro-American Studies” or something, was the other purpose of this program to keep a bunch of underperforming AA students in school and passing, in order to meet some diversity goal or simply make the school look better in that regard? :dubious:
Yes.
You don’t even have to read between the lines to figure that out.
It is not the case that students admitted under race-based AA are, on average, able to catch up and compete in more rigorously taught and quantified subjects, so “african studies” and the like is a euphemism for courses targeted toward race-based AA matriculants who need the socialization of college and a degree but who will not be able to pass more difficult courses.
It appears here that someone in charge realized how farcical the standards are, and did not even enforce attendance, which is the minimum way to keep out of trouble, along with non-quanitfiable course standards such as giving a presentation or participating in a discussion.
[For those not following the story:
](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NORTH_CAROLINA_ACADEMIC_PROBE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-10-22-20-22-43)
This is a huge deal, essentially sealing the notion that these kids are “student-athletes” in a concrete cask and dropping it into the sun, IMO.
I think that it likely is the biggest sports scandal of my lifetime. Indeed, I’m having a hard time imagining a bigger one.
I’m going to take “covering up the rapes of multiple children” as a teensy bit bigger scandal. Although this involved a lot more people in its corruption.
Just make them semi-pro already. Give them the scholarship equivalent in cash and call it a day. And get rid of the ridiculous idea that the NFL and NBA banning high school kids/freshmen isn’t an unfair labor practice. OK, maybe the NBA’s can slide: the kid can always play overseas.
I am not ready to pronounce this as the biggest scandal of all time, but when it is all said and done, it will be interesting to see where everything lands.
There is a large stench rising from Chapel Hill right now, that is for sure.
However, I do find the Sandusky scadal at Penn State to be the most revolting scandal revolving around a sports program. The harm that Sandusky did was to young kids, so it is hard for me to toss that one aside for this one.
But I do realize the scandals are very different.
I can’t speak for other majors, but the one I teach in requires a great deal of work, graded internships, and a high number of credits, with a higher grade than the university requires in core classes to remain in good standing. Athletes are treated the same as any other students, and perform as well as any other group of students.
I think the Sandusky scandal was more heinous, but much smaller in scope and in the number of (willing) participants. That was really one guy committing terrible crimes and a handful of people trying to look the other way when they shouldn’t have.
This is institutionalized fraud on a massive scale, involving thousands of willing participants that went on for about 2 decades.
everyone knows student athletes education is a joke
this scandal isn’t a real issue
Indeed, in both US universities I have taught at, there is a special system by which each instructor must certify in writing, at least once and sometimes more than once during a semester, the current grade and absence record for each individual athletic-scholarship student. (At one of these universities, they just now started doing this for ALL students.) If any are at risk of failing or simply failing to show up, that is addressed promptly, but not by anyone faking anything.
This astounds me. UNC is, to me, a serious institution. (I’ve visited the campus, known students and professors, and its department in my field is top notch – and happened to be Michael Jordan’s major.)
What gets me about the UNC case is that one person, who was given immunity from prosecution, was basically then paid off to squeal on whoever else was involved. I dont think one faculty should be able to get off scot-free while others are fired or prosecuted.
Some kids do sports to go to college, and other kids go to college to do sports. The former study as hard as anyone else, while the latter… can be problematic.
who are you?
When I was in college I believe the swim team had a 3.0 average.
I think you’re both right - PSXer, it is a joke in many places, but Snowboarder Bo, this “emperor’s clothes” scandal could be humongous.
I doubt this would happen – but it would be cool to see the NCAA ban UNC, forever, from all its sports (not fair to some current students playing less lucrative sports, I know, but oh well).
The University of Chicago football players were the “Monsters of the Midway” in the 1920s. By the 1950s, there was no more big inter-collegiate sorts going on there at all. And yet, decade after decade, that university is a robust, financially healthy academic powerhouse. Maybe it’s time for UNC to make the same transition.
The big questions are: is UNC uniquely egregious, and if not, how many other universities are just as bad? And, if there are others, will the UNC be punished/purged more severely than them, just because it’s where the scandal happened to break?
ETA: The scandal, and its consequences, might not be SO big if it’s really about one academic department, and if some practices (no pun intended) really ceased in 2011. But still big.