UNC system to review academic policies for athletes

In the wake of cheating scandals involving college athletes, UNC-system President Thomas Ross has devised a team of administrators to improve academic integrity.

The task force is composed of athletic directors, provosts and members of the UNC General Administration. Each member is placed on one of six subcommittees to examine aspects of the education system for athletes.

East Carolina University Chancellor Steve Ballard, who is also the chairman of the task force, said the subcommittees won’t be investigating individual schools or teams.

“The goal is to review the risk that any institution in the system might face on academic integrity,” he said.

“We are reviewing the best practices and sharing that information across the system so we can organize ourselves and manage the risks that we know are there these days.”

The task force follows last fall’s NCAA investigation into possible academic improprieties involving football players and a student tutor who worked for UNC-CH and head coach Butch Davis.

Sixteen football players — who were suspected of academic misconduct or receiving impermissible benefits — were prohibited from playing in at least one football game during the 2010 season.

Other academic infractions have been examined at other UNC-system schools, including East Carolina.

The task force has started working and is expected to complete its work in May.

“The President and the (UNC-system) Board of Governors will look at their findings and determine what recommendations should become policy,” said Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the board, in an e-mail.

Ballard said the subcommittees are working on temporary topics, which could be changed.

One of the subcommittees is examining the admissions process for “at-risk” students, or those who are academically weak, and the implication of accepting them.

“Academically weak is a general term that recognizes that not all students are ready for college,” he said in an e-mail. “Oftentimes, this means they have mathematics or English deficiencies.”

Ballard said there is often pressure to admit talented athletes who might not be academically ready.

“The question becomes what responsibilities the university has to redress the weaknesses of those students,” he said. “Many athletic programs in Division I face this tension.

“President (Erskine) Bowles had foreshadowed the need for it and President Ross continued that need,” said Bruce Mallette, the senior associate vice president for academic and student affairs for the UNC system and a member of the task force.

To create the task force, Ross asked for chancellors and the UNC General Administration for recommendations, Ballard said.

“We didn’t want to make it all academic and all athletic,” he said. “We just wanted a good diversity of people who would try to improve our process.”

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