Quote:An internal investigation into UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of African and Afro-American Studies has found evidence of academic fraud involving more than 50 classes that range from no-show professors to unauthorized grade changes for students.
One of the no-show classes is the Swahili course taken by former football player Michael McAdoo that prompted NCAA findings of impermissible tutoring, and drew more controversy when the final paper he submitted was found to have been heavily plagiarized.
The investigation found many of the suspect classes were taught in the summer by former department chairman Julius Nyang’oro, who resigned from that post in September. The university now says Nyang’oro, 57, who was the department’s first-ever chairman, is retiring July 1.
Quote:The report evolved from the athletic and academic scandal that engulfed UNC’s football team, but it said there is no evidence that student-athletes received more favorable treatment than students who were not athletes. It also said that no student received a grade without doing course work. The report has been shared with the NCAA, which could not be reached for immediate comment.
The 10-page report said the findings are a blow to the university’s academic integrity. The findings were so serious that the university consulted with the district attorney and the SBI about investigating forgery allegations, as some professors said their signatures were forged in documents certifying that they had taught some of the classes in question. Professors also said they had not authorized grade changes for students that the department submitted to the registrar’s office.
Law enforcement officials declined to investigate because they did not think the forgeries, if proven, rose to the level of criminal activity, according to the report.
"We are deeply disturbed by what we have learned in the course of our review," said Jonathan Hartlyn and William L. Andrews, two senior faculty administrators who conducted the investigation. "Our review has exposed numerous violations of professional trust, affecting the relationship of faculty and students and the relationships among faculty colleagues in this department."
They added, "These violations have undermined the educational experience of a number of students, have the potential to generate unfounded doubt and mistrust toward the department and its faculty, and could harm the academic reputation of the university."
Quote:The problems first surfaced two years ago during the NCAA’s investigation into improper benefits for football players. The NCAA found that a tutor, Jennifer Wiley, had provided impermissible academic help to three football players. Wiley was a student when she began tutoring for UNC-CH’s athletic department, but by the time she had graduated, the university had dropped her for being too friendly with student athletes.
But in the summer of 2009, Michael McAdoo, a defensive end for the Tar Heels, asked Wiley to help him on a paper for an intermediate Swahili class taught by Nyang’oro. Wiley, the NCAA found, had supplied a bibliography and footnotes for the paper, work that McAdoo was expected to do. The impermissible help played a big role in the NCAA’s decision to revoke McAdoo’s remaining two years of eligibility.
McAdoo sued in state Superior Court to try to get back on the team, and in doing so, he included the paper as an exhibit. Rival N.C. State fans quickly analyzed the paper and found several passages of plagiarism that the university, its honor court, university athletic and academic officials, and the NCAA did not catch. The Wolfpack fans buzzed about the plagiarism on message boards, and the media, particularly a blog known as SportsbyBrooks, took notice. The N&O confirmed the plagiarism in a follow-up report.
But the plagiarism was just the beginning of the questions for Nyang’oro, who was the department’s first chairman when it was formed 20 years ago.
The N&O later obtained a partial academic transcript of Marvin Austin, another football player caught up in the football scandal. The transcript showed that Austin took an upper-level summer class from Nyang’oro before Austin began his first full semester as a freshman, and before he had taken a remedial writing class. Nyang’oro gave Austin a B-plus on the course.
Nyang’oro could not produce a syllabus for that class, Bioethics in Afro-American Studies, or the Swahili class that McAdoo took. That was another red flag, particularly because syllabi provided by other professors teaching intermediate Swahili focused on reading and writing in Swahili, not writing papers about Swahili culture in English.
Nyang’oro told the university investigators he did not teach the Swahili class. The plagiarized paper McAdoo submitted lists Nyang’oro’s name as the course professor. The investigation found it was one of nine classes in which there is no evidence that any professor "actually supervised the course and graded the work, all though grade rolls were signed and submitted." Other professors who were listed on grade rolls for those classes said their names were forged on course documents.
McAdoo was one of 59 students taking those classes.
The investigation found more than 40 other courses, most of them during summer sessions, in which Nyang’oro was the instructor of record but there was little evidence of teaching. The instructor would provide an assignment and grade the class paper, "but engaged in limited or no classroom or other instructional contact with students." Austin’s class was one of them, Hartlyn said.
Quote:Nyang’oro has taught at UNC-CH since 1984, and his resume lists two teaching honors -- one from undergraduate students for the 1990-91 academic year, and the outstanding faculty award from the Class of 2000 - and four pages of published books and articles.
Nyang’oro has a law degree from Duke University, and masters and doctoral degrees from Miami University of Ohio, according to his resume. He received his bachelor’s degree from a university in Tanzania.
(05-04-2012 04:58 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote: [ -> ]Trying to figure out how this is smack tho... LMFAO
I suppose it is the same as someone pointing and laughing at you after you dump water all over your crotch. They aren't exactly "talking" smack but I bet Cat is just waiting for someone to try and defend all that so that he can pounce.
(05-04-2012 04:58 PM)ClairtonPanther Wrote: [ -> ]Trying to figure out how this is smack tho... LMFAO
I suppose it is the same as someone pointing and laughing at you after you dump water all over your crotch. They aren't exactly "talking" smack but I bet Cat is just waiting for someone to try and defend all that so that he can pounce.
Nah, I figured this was where it would end up anyway, so I was trying to stay ahead of the curve.
In actuality I'm getting the response from the sheep that I expected. You'll rarely find a EweNC fan that is willing to be truthful and admit that something is out of line with their school. They prefer to swallow the propaganda that UNC is the shining example of what every school should aspire to be that their leaders have spouted for decades, when the facts are they are just like everybody else. A sheep is an excellent mascot for them because that's all they typically are...gullible, ignorant little sheep.
Quote:Football and basketball players accounted for nearly four of every 10 students enrolled in 54 classes at the heart of an academic fraud investigation at UNC-Chapel Hill, according to figures released Monday.
The classes were all within UNC’s Department of African and Afro-American studies. An internal probe released Friday produced evidence of unauthorized grade changes and little or no instruction by professors. Forty-five of the classes listed the department’s chairman, Julius Nyang’oro, as the professor. Investigators could not determine instructors for the remaining nine.
Quote:But the high percentages of student-athletes in the classes suggest to some that academic advisers, tutors and others in the athletic department may have guided them to the classes.
“These kids are putting in enormous amounts of time, and in at least some of the sports that are very physically demanding, they are missing a number of classes because of conflicts, and then if they are a marginal student to begin with, you’ve got to send them to Professor Nyang’oro’s class,” said former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Orr. “I think the academic counselors realized that and the tutors recognized it and frankly the folks up the food chain for the most part recognized it. But nobody wants to rock the boat because it’s big money.”
Quote:There were 686 enrollments for the 54 suspect classes. Of those, football players accounted for 246 of the enrollments, or 36 percent, while basketball players accounted for 23 enrollments, or three percent, according to UNC. Together, football and basketball players accounted for 39 percent of the enrollments.
Football and basketball players account for less than one percent of the total undergraduate enrollment – about 120 of the more than 18,500 undergraduate students on campus. On the other hand, many of the suspect classes were held in the summer, a time when many football players are on campus.
Quote:The internal investigation started after The News & Observer obtained the academic transcript of former football player Marvin Austin, who was kicked off the team after the NCAA probe found he had received improper financial benefits from a sports agent. Austin’s transcript showed he had been placed in an upper-level African studies class taught by Nyang’oro in the summer of 2007. At that point, Austin had yet to begin his first full semester as a freshman, and he had not taken a required remedial writing class.
Nyang’oro gave Austin a B-plus in the 400-level class. The university has been unable to explain how Austin ended up in the class. He could not be reached for comment. UNC’s investigation determined it was one of the suspect classes in which there was little evidence that the instructor did much if any teaching.
Questions regarding Nyang’oro’s instruction started after another football player kicked off the team, Michael McAdoo, had made public a class paper that got him in trouble. N.C. State University fans found several plagiarized passages that the university and the NCAA did not catch.
An internal investigation into UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of African and Afro-American Studies has found evidence of academic fraud involving more than 50 classes that range from no-show professors to unauthorized grade changes for students.
One of the no-show classes is the Swahili course taken by former football player Michael McAdoo that prompted NCAA findings of impermissible tutoring, and drew more controversy when the final paper he submitted was found to have been heavily plagiarized.
The 10-page report said the findings are a blow to the university’s academic integrity. The findings were so serious that the university consulted with the district attorney and the SBI about investigating forgery allegations, as some professors said their signatures were forged in documents certifying that they had taught some of the classes in question. Professors also said they had not authorized grade changes for students that the department submitted to the registrar’s office.
Not suprised in the least. What happens when you try to take shortcuts. Net effect to UNC? Shame and that's it. Carolina will keep rolling along as usual.
(05-08-2012 07:47 PM)AtlanticLeague Wrote: [ -> ]An unnecessary black eye for the conference.
I agree. It's embarrassing for a conference that prides itself on academics to have a member institution circumventing the rules so blatantly. Even more embarrassing is the fact that a significant part of this happened when the current Chancellor of EweNC was the Dean over the department that the rouge program was under. It really makes you wonder with the recent revelations about underhanded dealings going on at EweNC what other ways are they cutting corners.
Just want to go ahead and get rid of one of the defense mechanisms being used by the EweNC faithful elsewhere on the interwebz that this is just a creation of the Wolfpack friendly News & Observer and nobody outside of Raleigh cares.
Quote:UNC football players enrolled in suspect classes
**can you imagine the amount of cotton that EweNC AD Bubba Cunningham's anus would consume if he heard the following on the telephone: "Mr Cunningham, this is CHarles Robinson from Yahoo! Sports and I would like to ask you a few questions for a piece I am running."
Honestly, Cat may just have a sickening hatred of UNC, but I think this is a valid thread. FTR, another fan posted similar info and I merged the threads, so its just not Cat here.
