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The Daily Tar Heel

Double standard?: Comparing sanctions for oversight failures by the football coach versus a senior researcher

The University indicates a double standard in supporting Coach Butch Davis after harshly punishing a UNC researcher for neglect in her oversight duties.

If you are a football coach and you don’t notice infractions by your subordinates, bringing the University into disrepute, you get the support of the chancellor and athletic director.

But if you work a few hundred yards away in UNC Hospitals, the same rules don’t apply.

A computer security breach on the Carolina Mammography Register server in 2007 potentially disclosed a large number of patient records.

So the University decided to fire lead researcher Bonnie Yankaskas, affirming that (Chancellor Holden Thorp told the Chronicle for Higher Education) the principal investigator is responsible for data security.

The punishment seems harsh, since a researcher is often no data security expert.

But the rationale is clear: your project, your responsibility.

And ignorance is no excuse, especially when the lack of oversight harms the University.

But it doesn’t seem to apply to the football coach, from whom an apology is sufficient.

Contrast support for Davis to the condemnation of Yankaskas, whose punishment was eventually lessened after the Faculty Council judged the University’s response too severe.

Yankaskas is no saint — her failings led to financial harm and a damaged reputation for the University. We agree that she carries some blame and deserves sanction.

But her harsh punishment makes the passionate defense of Davis by Chancellor Thorp and athletic director Dick Baddour all the more embarrassing.

Running a medical research project and running a football team are very different roles.

But since both Yankaskas and Davis failed in their oversight responsibilities, it’s not right to vilify one and support the other.

Our University’s reputation requires us to hold our leaders to the same standards — whether or not they win us football games.

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