Study: UNC athletes and academics

[Cackalacky]

Academic Advisor Receives Death Threats; Admissions Director, Roy Williams Respond To Illiteracy Claims - Chapelboro.com

This is pretty interesting if you have not heard about it. Some kids are reading at a third grade level? Majority are at a 4th-8th grade level?

UNC is a stark example of colleges’ warped priorities | New York Post
New York post article.... but dang....

 

[RDU Irish]

Kudos to CNN for doing some actual investigative reporting.

 

[Rizzophil]

Kudos to CNN for doing some actual investigative reporting.

Honestly, I thought the same thing. CNN is traditionally up there with MSNBC as making the news. Very little actual journalism.

 

[IrishLax]

North Carolina Tar Heels investigating athlete literacy claims, chancellor says - ESPN

This is getting wild. How is this not garnering more scorn or attention from the NCAA? Honestly, this is one of the dirtiest and shadiest scandals at the core of what COLLEGE athletics is supposed to be about... educating young athletes.

 

[ACamp1900]

It's not like the NCAA hasn't turned the blind eye to other out in the open crap... looking your way T Town...

 

[T Town Tommy]

It's not like the NCAA hasn't turned the blind eye to other out in the open crap... looking your way T Town...

Two things here...

1. Our players can spell... hence their ability to sign their names on items.
2. Tar Heel players can't read or write... so they can't cash in themselves.

Shame on the ACC for not putting a priority on education.

 

[ACamp1900]

Have fun boys.....

 

[wizards8507]

I know I shouldn't be, but I'm always surprised when this happens at GOOD schools. Top-50 schools like North Carolina should be above this, regardless of what the NCAA says. They should have a "we're better than that kind of crap mentality."

 

[Cackalacky]

So UNC has order Willingham to cease her work and is "investigating" on their own, and the NCAA has no role so far? Seems legit.

 

[wizards8507]

The irregularities ranged from no-show classes to unauthorized grade changes stretching back to 1997, and has led to the recent indictment of the retired department chairman who was paid to teach a lecture course that didn't meet and was instead treated as an independent study requiring a research paper.

That sounds a lot like the Principles of Psychology class I took at Notre Dame.

 

[Jebediah Springfield]

When is some investigative journalist going to sit in on these classes and blow the lid open?

It's not that hard to figure out.

 

[wizards8507]

Ms. Willingham's masters thesis from 2009: ACADEMICS & ATHLETICS—A CLASH OF CULTURES: DIVISION I FOOTBALL PROGRAMS

http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/Willingham_uncg_0154M_10097.pdf

 

[wizards8507]

Ms. Willingham's masters thesis from 2009: ACADEMICS & ATHLETICS—A CLASH OF CULTURES: DIVISION I FOOTBALL PROGRAMS

http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/Willingham_uncg_0154M_10097.pdf

At Cal, Georgia, and Texas A&M, over 90% of football players were admitted though exceptions to the normal academic requirements.

 

[ACamp1900]

Cal.....

 

[T Town Tommy]

At Cal, Georgia, and Texas A&M, over 90% of football players were admitted though exceptions to the normal academic requirements.

But isn't Ga very competitive for non athletes to get in to since they have the in state free tuition program? Cal is very competitive as well I would assume.

It would be interesting to see what the exception percentage was at all schools. I bet there would be plenty of people shocked.

 

[wizards8507]

But isn't Ga very competitive for non athletes to get in to since they have the in state free tuition program? Cal is very competitive as well I would assume.

It would be interesting to see what the exception percentage was at all schools. I bet there would be plenty of people shocked.

The top line is the percentage of football players that get in below normal standards. The bottom line is how many "regular kids" get in below normal standards (legacies, kids of donors, world-class banjo players, etc).

 

[AvesEvo]

Two things here...

1. Our players can spell... hence their ability to sign their names on items.
2. Tar Heel players can't read or write... so they can't cash in themselves.

Shame on the ACC for not putting a priority on education.

Haha. Well done sir. Reps.

 

[T Town Tommy]

The upcoming Bloomberg Businessweek cover will not be kind to North Carolina. Ouch!!

In Fake Classes Scandal, UNC Fails Its Athletes, Whistle-Blower - Businessweek

 

[ulukinatme]

The upcoming Bloomberg Businessweek cover will not be kind to North Carolina. Ouch!!

In Fake Classes Scandal, UNC Fails Its Athletes, Whistle-Blower - Businessweek

Wow, only have time to read the first couple pages, but that's pretty crazy. I thought it was just a couple no show classes that were offered, but it definitely goes beyond that

Beginning in the 1990s and continuing at least through 2011, UNC’s Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies offered more than 200 lecture courses that never met. The department also sponsored hundreds of independent study classes of equally dubious value. Internal reviews have identified forged faculty signatures and more than 500 grades changed without authorization. The students affected were disproportionately football and basketball players.

While not all of UNC's student athletes come from the state of North Carolina, there does seem to be a systematic problem with the discipline and education as it pertains to the kids in that state. I've got two friends that teach in North Carolina and you wouldn't believe the stories they tell me about the kids. Many kids in high school there can't read or they're behind the average, it's absolutely true. They act out in class, death threats to teachers, rampant drug problems, it goes beyond anything they saw while teaching in Ohio. Theres still good kids, of course, but there are more bad apples than in other schools around the country. At the core, they say the problem is that the parents don't care. Teachers reach out to parents of troubled kids, but they either can't be arsed to show up to a parent/teacher conference or won't return calls or do anything about their kids.

 

[IrishLax]

Wow, only have time to read the first couple pages, but that's pretty crazy. I thought it was just a couple no show classes that were offered, but it definitely goes beyond that



While not all of UNC's student athletes come from the state of North Carolina, there does seem to be a systematic problem with the discipline and education as it pertains to the kids in that state. I've got two friends that teach in North Carolina and you wouldn't believe the stories they tell me about the kids. Many kids in high school there can't read or they're behind the average, it's absolutely true. They act out in class, death threats to teachers, rampant drug problems, it goes beyond anything they saw while teaching in Ohio. Theres still good kids, of course, but there are more bad apples than in other schools around the country. At the core, they say the problem is that the parents don't care. Teachers reach out to parents of troubled kids, but they either can't be arsed to show up to a parent/teacher conference or won't return calls or do anything about their kids.

I don't understand how the NCAA hasn't completely gutted their athletic department in the wake of these finds. This is systemic cheating at its highest level.

 

[T Town Tommy]

While not all of UNC's student athletes come from the state of North Carolina, there does seem to be a systematic problem with the discipline and education as it pertains to the kids in that state. I've got two friends that teach in North Carolina and you wouldn't believe the stories they tell me about the kids. Many kids in high school there can't read or they're behind the average, it's absolutely true. They act out in class, death threats to teachers, rampant drug problems, it goes beyond anything they saw while teaching in Ohio. Theres still good kids, of course, but there are more bad apples than in other schools around the country. At the core, they say the problem is that the parents don't care. Teachers reach out to parents of troubled kids, but they either can't be arsed to show up to a parent/teacher conference or won't return calls or do anything about their kids.

Same could be said about the educational system here in Alabama. Not all kids and not all systems here of course, but there is a huge lack of emphasis at the parent level for a lot of these kids. And that's a shame.

 

[T Town Tommy]

I don't understand how the NCAA hasn't completely gutted their athletic department in the wake of these finds. This is systemic cheating at its highest level.

Agree. Makes one wonder exactly what the NCAA's priorities are these days with student athletes. Hard to argue against the cash cow theorists when crap like this goes unchecked.

 

[wizards8507]

Agree. Makes one wonder exactly what the NCAA's priorities are these days with student athletes. Hard to argue against the cash cow theorists when crap like this goes unchecked.

I don't know, though. How does the NCAA lose money by cleaning up the sport? It's not like fans fill the stadiums and watch GameDay because institutional fraud exists.

 

[irishfan]

I don't understand how the NCAA hasn't completely gutted their athletic department in the wake of these finds. This is systemic cheating at its highest level.

Yep. Can't solve this UNC scandal, but can perform a full investigation (with punishment) into the Johnny Football autograph scandal in less than a week.

 

[T Town Tommy]

I don't know, though. How does the NCAA lose money by cleaning up the sport? It's not like fans fill the stadiums and watch GameDay because institutional fraud exists.

Maybe not... but it sure cuts to the core on what the mission of the NCAA is suppossed to be. For the NCAA to have investigated and basically found no wrongdoing makes one wonder just how much they want to clean it up.

 

[wizards8507]

Maybe not... but it sure cuts to the core on what the mission of the NCAA is suppossed to be. For the NCAA to have investigated and basically found no wrongdoing makes one wonder just how much they want to clean it up.

Oh no, don't get me wrong. I think the NCAA is horrendous and this is despicable. I just question the "financial motive" theory. I think it's more inbreeding between schools, conference commissioners, and the NCAA itself.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Oh no, don't get me wrong. I think the NCAA is horrendous and this is despicable. I just question the "financial motive" theory. I think it's more inbreeding between schools, conference commissioners, and the NCAA itself.

Gotcha... I agree with that.

 

[Irish#1]

Bottom Line...........What a shame!

UNC football player when he finds out he may have to start attending class.

 

[Me2SouthBend]

Will this create even a ripple w the NCAA?

Former North Carolina basketball star Rashad McCants says he took sham classes - ESPN

McCants also told "Outside the Lines" that he even made the Dean's List in Spring 2005 despite not attending any of his four classes for which he received straight-A grades. He said advisers and tutors who worked with the basketball program steered him to take the paper classes within the African-American Studies program.

 

[ulukinatme]

Man...it seems like UNC's reputation just keeps getting more and more tarnished. Remember when they were considered an upstanding academic institution? They probably still are, just not when it comes to their athletes. You wonder how long all of this was going on...does it go back to Jordan's time there?