Navigate

Athletics-Academics Issues Detailed on New UNC Website

The University has launched a website designed as a one-stop source for information on the issues surrounding the relationship between varsity athletics and academics.

Carolinacommitment.unc.edu offers updates on ongoing investigations, a set of frequently asked questions that attempts to trace the events of the past three and a half years since the NCAA began investigating UNC, details of reforms already undertaken and those being considered, and an archive of reports of previous investigations.

Included among the reports are the James Martin-Baker Tilly examination of anomalies in the then-department of African and Afro-American studies; the review by UNC’s accrediting agency, the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools Commission; the UNC System Board of Governors’ review; and the results of four internal probes.

“We are committed to accountability, transparency and action,” the site’s mission statement reads. “Through this site, we will provide updates on our ongoing progress and the findings of the current independent inquiry. As new facts become available, whether viewed as positive or negative, we will post them. In the coming months as we delve further into our own and national reform, we also will post our proposals.”

The current inquiry is being led by Kenneth Wainstein, a 19-year veteran of the U.S. Justice Department who has been charged with taking further steps necessary to address questions left unanswered during previous reviews. Wainstein has been told to “follow the facts wherever they lead,” in the words of Chancellor Carol L. Folt, to answer questions many in the public still have about how irregularities in the AFAM department started and developed, the relationship between AFAM and athletics, and any possible irregularities in other academic units.

Meanwhile, the former chair of AFAM, Julius Nyang’oro, is scheduled to be in court April 29 to answer charges that he took compensation for courses he did not teach; and the former administrator of the department, Deborah Crowder ’75, is said to be cooperating with Wainstein.


More online…


Share via: