After Kenneth Wainstein identified him as the faculty member with the clearest opportunity to learn about the fake paper classes, Tim McMillan filed his resignation from the University, effective Dec. 31.
McMillan, a senior lecturer in the Department of African, African American and Diaspora Studies and a popular campus figure who led campus tours, first received notice of his termination from the University the day Wainstein’s report was released.
McMillan and Deborah Crowder, a secretary in the department and one of the creators of the paper classes, were very close, according to the report.
“As (former Department Chairman Julius) Nyang’oro explained to us, McMillan was so close to Crowder that he never would have done anything to stand in her way,” the report said.
In the report, Wainstein said McMillan should have been alarmed by the rampant and apparent academic fraud in the department.
“As the AFAM Department’s summer school administrator in 2011, McMillan approved Nyang’oro’s request to teach AFAM 280, the Blacks in North Carolina class that ended up being the final irregular AFAM class,” the report said, noting that McMillan admitted to finding it strange that Nyang’oro, an expert in African studies, would be interested in teach an African American studies course.
In interviews with Wainstein and his investigators, McMillan admitted he helped Crowder grade some of the phony papers.
“McMillan acknowledged there were times when he would be sitting in Crowder’s office and she would hand him a paper and ask him to ‘eyeball’ it and tell her what grade it deserved,” the report said.
“McMillan would do as requested, once again without questioning why an office administrator would be deciding on grades.”
