<p>A star basketball player from the 2005 NCAA championship team never went to class. He took mostly African-American courses, which didn't require class attendance. The only requirement was to submit a written paper at the end of the course. The player admitted that the tutors wrote all the papers. See the 6 minute video with Rashad McCants.</p>
<p>One interesting thing about the video is McCants blaming UNC, and the basketball system, for putting him and other athletes into sham courses. If he is telling the truth, they richly deserve the censure. But I didn’t see a part where he took responsibility for his own cheating. I understand the pressure. But he didn’t have to cheat.</p>
<p>UNC & NCAA tried to minimize the scandal by stating it was academic fraud, not athletic fraud-- that makes me feel feel much better…</p>
<p>Only academic fraud. That makes me feel better too. Academic fraud doesn’t cut at the core purpose of a university, athletic success.</p>
<p>McCants is a failure both on and off the court. The coach previous to Williams told him he needed to see a psychiatrist when he was on the team since he was so unstable. You should look into what the rest of the players have to say about both this witch hunt and McCants. This entire scandal was propagated by a low level failed academic tutor and her desire to write a book. The laws broken by these alleged researchers are egregious, including the ferpa and hippa violations, not to mention the racism of this entire attack on African American athletes and a strong misuse of comparative SAT scores. If you want to comment on this scandal please use real critical thinking skills and your intellect. Please see that even obanion refused to use this testimony in the end because of its problematic, illegal, and unethical exploitative nature</p>
<p>So because the player is unstable, it’s all right for the university to set up sham courses for him and other players. I’m not following this reasoning.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang and poetgirl make good points. I don’t know all the details of this story, but no matter who a student is or who is paying for college, the value of that degree is the responsibility of the student. Once students are in college, nobody is going to take them to class, supervise their papers and assignments, or make sure they take the most challenging classes. Although there are probably other factors that I’m not aware of, it looks like this athlete had an opportunity to get a college education, and he didn’t. He’s to blame for that.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if a college admits athletes who are not prepared for the academic component of a college, then that college should offer college prep courses so that those athletes are able to attain a college degree, and courses that complement the athlete’s interests. It’s not fair to admit them and then give them a degree that is basically paper. The time to be an athlete is short- only during their youth, but if they get a degree in teaching, sports management, sports medicine, broadcasting, journalism, business- then their expertise in sports could be a lifetime profession.</p>
<p>CF. That has nothing to do with it. McCants is bitter as a failure. If you want to understand this story, you will have to look into it, and keep an open mind. I really don’t care what conclusions you draw. One you will not draw is that if it hadn’t been for Roy Williams, McCants would be a success. </p>
<p>Sheesh, not commenting on this story per se, but is it shocking that this happens? I think stories like this could be told at many D1 school. I would be more shocked if it didn’t happen.</p>
<p>So it’s hunky dory for colleges to recruit athletes to make them big bucks, regardless of their academic competence to succeed and take advantage of the “very generous” scholarship opportunities? It’s not like these recruits often have a clue of what they are getting themselves into academically.</p>
<p>It happens because, unlike any other EC, the student isn’t allowed to major. So you can’t major in football? But you can major in theater. If you have an engineering co op, you don’t go to class while you work. Its a horrible situation, but this McCants story is not a part of it. He’s just trying to sell a book someone is ghost writing for him. </p>
<p>I agree with being able to major in sports- related majors, because unlike acting or music, you can’t play a sport over an entire life span. I think it’s time to recognize that just like a music major has probably studied music for years- usually since childhood- so have good athletes.</p>
<p>Just because they can major in football or basketball doesn’t mean they can pass freshman English and whatever other university-wide requirements a school like UNC has. Even for music majors!</p>
<p>Academic corruption benefiting (revenue) athletes at UNC has been a simmering issue in Carolina for a few years. The N&O (yesterday) reports McCants and four others on the 2005 national championship basketball team maintained their eligibility by getting As and Bs in an average of 10 sham courses apiece.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/06/06/3917363/2005-unc-champs-relied-on-suspect.html#storylink=cpy”>http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/06/06/3917363/2005-unc-champs-relied-on-suspect.html#storylink=cpy</a></p>
<p>The Gov. Martin report previously identified several hundred sham courses (including those listed by the N&O) or courses where grade changes were effected by forged instructor signatures - but did not pursue who benefited. The former chair of the AFAM department, in which most of these courses occurred, is under indictment for taking pay for a sham course he “taught” but which never met, and for which no work was required.</p>
<p>All students should pass general education requirements. The college would need to admit students who are prepared or offer them prep classes. It’s not fair to offer anyone sham classes. </p>
<p>The New York Times has a more in-depth timeline: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/sports/reporter-digging-into-scandal-hits-a-universitys-raw-nerve.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/sports/reporter-digging-into-scandal-hits-a-universitys-raw-nerve.html</a>.</p>
<p>Lives have been ruined by the long-term lack of administrative supervision of academic departments at UNC.</p>
<p>The NO is a sad source on this issue. It’s not simmering, it’s been widely investigated over and over and over. The academic situation was addressed two years ago, but the obanion people became interested in ressurecting the case for their own ends. They did so, but found they could not use that evidence in court. The information you just cited was illegally obtained and violates all student protections. We can’t get the transcript of the president of the US, but we now have illegally obtained private records of students? Cherry picked, by the way. Not all athletes. Only African American athletes Much of this alleged info is made up or badly interpreted statistics. It’s not what it seems. But it sells newspapers. Here’s an interesting fact. Duke basketball and football players are taken over to central Carolina to take classes. Look into it. </p>
<p>The “O’Bannon” v NCAA lawsuit, which starts trial Monday, is about compensation for the use of likenesses, names, and attributes of student athletes, which has little or nothing to do with academic fraud.</p>
<p>The first part of the case with ea sports was settled last week. Each one if the major law firms recieved 13 million. Each plaintiff received between one and five thousand a piece. Again, who is this really about?! Exploiters on every side</p>
<p>The attorneys in the obannon case intended to use the tutor involved in the unc case, who illegally obtained and illegally divulged private student information as a part of their case. They were unable to do so because of this illegality. A federal judge has ruled on this. </p>