Chancellor Carol Folt sent an email to the UNC community Thursday that did little to reassure the University that it has fully recovered from the impact of paper classes. In fact, the implied intention of the email was to lay a veneer on the rugged face of the scandal. Such a message indicates a lack of leadership.
The email contained little content of substance, instead featuring vague proclamations about “looking ahead” and “making our University better” that read as if they had been well-tested in focus groups.
Folt used the email to highlight examples of why students and employees should be proud to be at UNC — examples that had no relation to the Wainstein report whatsoever.
In the aftermath of the report, Folt did well to take swift action to terminate or review the University employees clearly implicated in Wainstein’s report.
But Folt’s responsibilities did not end there. The problem was not isolated to a few employees in the African and Afro-American Studies Department. Individuals who might have been complicit in the fraud remain at the University.
Yet now, Folt is avoiding the language of hard choices, clear action and decisive leadership.
Her language makes it appear she believes the Wainstein report was about a single tragedy rather than a deeply broken system of college athletics that will continue to mar this University until it is properly dealt with.
The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported that UNC hired the world’s largest public relations firm — which has billed the University almost $800,000 — to deal with the aftermath of the scandal. While there is sometimes a legitimate place for public relations professionals at UNC, their job should not be to mask the stink of scandal by desperately listing the University’s many positive accomplishments to members of this community.
To do so reeks of condescension. UNC students and professors know the great things this institution is capable of.
