Students deserve transparency in the academic scandal

Recent developments bring new momentum to the investigation of the worst academic scandal at UNC in memory — a scandal that affects the value of each student’s education.

It started during the 2010 NCAA investigation into the football program concerning improper benefits, in which it was revealed that several athletes had received improper academic help from a tutor.
Since UNC administrators have failed to cooperate every step of the way and reveal the truth, the student body should hold them accountable and demand that they do.

A year passed before administrators commissioned an internal review of the Department of African and Afro-American Studies which looked only as far back as 2007. The review’s report, released in May, raised more questions than answers.

The report revealed that former department chairman Julius Nyang’oro and Deborah Crowder, a former department administrator, had a hand in creating 54 courses that were either irregularly taught, meaning the instructor provided little or no classroom instruction, or “aberrant,” meaning there was no evidence of faculty grading — or both. Of the students enrolled in those courses, 58 percent were athletes.

Another faculty investigation suggested athletic department academic advisors directed student athletes to those courses.

Last week’s discovery of the transcript of former UNC football and basketball player Julius Peppers on a University web portal implies the academic irregularities stemming from courses in the AFAM department extended well before 2007.

The extent of this scandal is uncertain, but the lack of transparency on the part of administrators means students should demand more information.

Today, thousands of freshmen begin their college education. But with the academic scandal, the most basic principles of this community to which we welcome them — honor, academic integrity, the search for truth and all that we sentimentally call “the Carolina Way” — are called into question.

The student body is not responsible for this controversy. But who is to blame is less self-evident.

A thorough investigation is necessary both to avoid placing undue blame on those who merely worked in a corrupt system created by others and to overcome possible incentives to keep the full story hidden.

Since the discovery of Peppers’ transcript, Chancellor Holden Thorp has announced an independent investigation under the direction of former Gov. Jim Martin to explore this scandal’s beginnings.

Students should insist that the investigating committee trace the academic scandal to its origins and hold those responsible accountable.

Students have every reason to demand the truth come out. This scandal has already affected the academic reputation of the University. As long as it is unresolved and questions remain unanswered, there is room for speculation on the extent to which academic excellence takes a back seat in our culture and practice.

The value of every UNC diploma is directly linked to our institutional reputation. Every degree earned here is less valuable now than it was a year ago, even though most students take academic integrity seriously as members of the University community.

Students should call on administrators to defend those standards as well.

In 1936, a small group of students discovered a cheating ring that they believed implicated as many as 200 students.

They went to former President Frank Porter Graham with the allegations, asking whether pursuing them would hurt the University’s reputation.

According to an article published in The Tar Heel on Feb. 1, 1936, Graham said, “[The students] should not stop until it was completely cleaned up. They must go to the bottom of it. They must be careful and make sure of their facts, but they must not stop until the job is done.”

In the present academic scandal, UNC administrators have failed to uphold the devotion to truth that Graham defended — and integrity demands. It is up to the student body to insist that administrators give priority to full transparency in search of the truth. All of it.