Here's How UNC's Massive Fake-Class Scandal Worked

An academic scandal at the University of North Carolina over fake classes unfolded over nearly two decades and involved about 3,100 students, nearly half of them athletes, former Justice Department official Kenneth Wainstein found in a report released Wednesday.

The scandal centers around so-called “paper classes” — which typically never met and only required a final paper — that were offered through the African and Afro-American Studies department. According to Wednesday’s report, these classes were explicity utilized by members of both UNC academic and athletic departments to help athletes achieve a minimum GPA in order to maintain their NCAA eligibility.

Since the report was released Wednesday, at least nine UNC employees have been targeted for firings or disciplinary actions, a group that appears to include a former faculty chairwoman and “preeminent scholar on sports ethics,” according to student newspaper The Daily Tarheel.

It remains to be seen if the NCAA will take any action against UNC, but could potentially vacate wins that took place during this period, including three national basketball championships.

Here are details about the fake classes that students didn’t have to show up for, according to the report.

How It Worked

The now-retired secretary of the African and Afro-American Studies had a soft spot for athletes and started the independent study classes in 1992.

Even though she was not a faculty member, Deborah Crowder registered students in the courses, assigned topics and handed out As and Bs after a quick scan of final papers regardless of work quality. By 1999, Crowder began offering lecture classes that didn’t meet, apparently to get around limits on the number of independent studies courses students could take.

Knowing the classes were easy As and Bs, counselors who helped athletes pick courses recommended them to struggling students.

When Crowder left the school in 2009, former department chairman Julius Nyang’oro continued the practice until questions were asked in 2011 and he resigned.

Who Was Doing It?

More than 3,100 students. About 47% of them were athletes. The classes “were especially popular among student-athletes, particularly those who played the ‘revenue’ sports of football and men’s basketball,” the report said, “as key to helping academically challenged student-athletes remain eligible and on the playing field.”

Which Athletes Benefited?

Half were football players, 12% were men’s basketball players, 6% were women’s basketball players, and the remaining came from other sports.

University Chancellor Carol Folt said no current coach was involved. Though most of the men’s basketball players who enrolled in the classes did so since coach Roy Williams arrived in 2003, oversight of their academic progress was left to two of his assistants. Ten of the 15 players on the 2005 team, when the Tar Heels won a national championship, were African and Afro-American Studies majors.

The report makes clear that the UNC football coaching staff knew about the fake “paper classes.” The football team academic counseling staff had long relied on these classes to support struggling athletes who would not have been eligible to play without their lax attendance and grading policies.

Following Crowder’s retirement, the report states, the staff held a meeting with the team’s coaches where they “explained (1) that the AFAM paper classes had played a large role in keeping under-prepared and/or unmotivated football players eligible to play and (2) that these classes no longer existed.” The staff then petitioned Nyang’oro to reinstate the classes.

What’s Next?

The NCAA is again looking into the scandal. Scholarships could be reduced, or wins could be vacated. Athletic director Bubba Cunningham said he wouldn’t speculate.

The university chancellor said four employees were going to be fired, and five others disciplined. Folt wouldn’t identify them.

It appears that at least one academic official has lost her position over the scandal. One email included in the report highlights how UNC philosophy professor Jan Boxill — a women’s basketball academic counselor — worked with an AFAM administrator to inflate the grades of a student athlete.

Boxill was also director of UNC’s Parr Center for Ethics, a position she no longer appears to hold.

SEE ALSO: A UNC Athlete Got An A-Minus In A Fake ‘Paper Class’ With This Ridiculous One-Paragraph Final Essay

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Here's How UNC's Massive Fake-Class Scandal Worked