No criminal charges will be filed against Deborah Crowder, a former administrator in the recently renamed Department of African and Afro-American Studies, for her involvement in an academic scandal that has wracked the University for more than three years.
Jim Woodall, district attorney for Orange and Chatham Counties, announced in a press release he wouldn’t be filing any criminal charges against Crowder following a probe by the State Bureau of Investigation.
Crowder has cooperated with the criminal investigation that led to the indictment of five agents and former athletes and Julius N’yangoro, the former chairman of the African and Afro-American Studies department.
Crowder and Nyang’oro were the only two individuals named in a 74-page report by former Gov. Jim Martin said to be involved with academic irregularities in the department.
Martin said he was not able to contact Nyang’oro or Crowder during his investigation to discuss their motivations. He noted in his report that “term-paper’ lecture courses in the department grew rapidly in 2003, decreasing by 2007 for “some unknown reason,” and eventually almost ceased in 2009 after Crowder retired.
Crowder will also cooperate with the independent investigation the University launched last month to further investigate academic improprieties in the department.
city@dailytarheel.com
