A report released by the University’s Faculty Executive Committee Thursday implicates athletic department advisors in helping student-athletes sign up for fraudulent courses in the African and Afro-American studies department. The report was released after a faculty subcommittee completed its review of the internal investigation UNC conducted into the department.
UNC officials focused heavily on innovative approaches to improve the University’s standing compared to its peer institutions during Wednesday’s Board of Trustees committee meetings.
In the midst of ongoing investigations into academic fraud at UNC, the University community has pledged its support for Chancellor Holden Thorp ahead of this week’s Board of Trustees meeting. The discussion of academic integrity and controversy stemming from the 2010 NCAA investigation of the football team will be a small part of the board’s agenda.
Superior Court Judge Howard Manning will wait to rule on a hearing between UNC and The Daily Tar Heel, (Raleigh) News & Observer, Charlotte Observer and five other news outlets. Beginning in 2010, the news publications sued the University for all documents related to the NCAA investigation of the football team. Jon Sasser, an attorney representing former football coach Butch Davis, spoke first, arguing that the subpoena for Davis’ personal phone records should be dismissed.
Joe DeSimone has been a board member for Research Triangle Park, designed nanomedicines that benefit cancer patients and received top national honors in both research and engineering.
UNC has spent $467,406.49 on outside legal fees since June 2010, when the NCAA began investigating the University’s football program. Karen Moon, spokeswoman for the University, wrote in an email that no state-appropriated funds have been used to cover these fees and that the bills were paid through UNC Chapel Hill Foundation, Inc. and the department of athletics.
UNC officials released more than 200 pages of heavily censored documents — most of which were related to the 2010 NCAA investigation — on Wednesday. The documents include statements of fact and reinstatement requests submitted by the University to the NCAA in 2010 and bills the University received from the Kansas law firm, Bond, Schoeneck & King.
Students in the African and Afro-American studies department say the department’s reputation and future should not be based on former chair Julius Nyang’oro.
UNC officials have asked Julius Nyang’oro — former chair of the African and Afro American studies department — to give $12,000 back to the University.
UNC joined a select group of the nation’s colleges and universities in a commitment to financial aid transparency this week. “We want to make sure students get the best information they can and that they understand it,” Thorp said.
Several dozen demonstrators rally outside the legislative building in Raleigh on Tuesday to show support for those protesting in Egypt.
