I didn't see a thread on this...
By James Nye
PUBLISHED: 01:08 EST, 28 March 2014 | UPDATED: 10:01 EST, 28 March 2014
An awful 146-word term paper littered with grammatical errors that is barely even readable has become a potent visual symbol of the University of North Carolina's fake classes scandal.
The one-paragraph essay on civil rights icon Rosa Parks earned an A- and was exposed by former UNC professor Mary Willingham, who spent 10 years teaching UNC's athletes before she turned whistleblower on alleged classroom corruption.
The shocking essay came to light during an ESPN documentary timed to coincide with the March Madness basketball competition. It contains allegations that UNC athletes in danger of failing were encouraged to sign up for fake tutor groups designed to let students pass.
The so-called 'paper classes' were essentially no-show study groups that allowed semi-literate and in some cases, illiterate athletes to pass, thereby boosting their Grade Point Average to meet the NCAA's eligibility requirements.
The anonymous essay, titled, 'Rosa Parks: My Story' attempts to recount the important moment on December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, when Parks refused to give her seat up for a white man.
However, it fails to even place the event in the past or give any gravitas to the momentous moment in American history.
'Some of these college students could read at a second or third grade level,' Willingham, a UNC academic adviser since 2003 told ESPN.
'Students were taking classes that really didn't exist. They were called independent studies at that time and they just had to write a paper... There was no attendance.'
During the course of her ESPN interview, Williams confirmed the existence of 'easy paper classes' and alleged that students were guided to these classes by their academic advisors.
'Their job isn't necessarily to make Deunta Williams a better person, a smarter person,' Williams told ESPN.
'Their job is to make sure I'm eligible to play.'
Deunta Williams, played football at UNC from 2007 to 2010 and has admitted to the scam, now says he is ashamed to have been involved with it.
Willingham's whistleblowing began in 2011 after she became appalled that UNC, rather than educating its athletes was keeping them from needing to study at all.
She began to release information to journalists about basketball and football stars who read at a grade school level.
She confessed herself to steering many young men into lecture classes that simply did not exist.
And most galling for her, given UNC's proud history pushing for desegregation, that the courses were in African-American history.....
We've discussed the lack of academic rigor for athletes at major schools before, but holy shyt
By James Nye
PUBLISHED: 01:08 EST, 28 March 2014 | UPDATED: 10:01 EST, 28 March 2014
An awful 146-word term paper littered with grammatical errors that is barely even readable has become a potent visual symbol of the University of North Carolina's fake classes scandal.
The one-paragraph essay on civil rights icon Rosa Parks earned an A- and was exposed by former UNC professor Mary Willingham, who spent 10 years teaching UNC's athletes before she turned whistleblower on alleged classroom corruption.
The shocking essay came to light during an ESPN documentary timed to coincide with the March Madness basketball competition. It contains allegations that UNC athletes in danger of failing were encouraged to sign up for fake tutor groups designed to let students pass.
The so-called 'paper classes' were essentially no-show study groups that allowed semi-literate and in some cases, illiterate athletes to pass, thereby boosting their Grade Point Average to meet the NCAA's eligibility requirements.
The anonymous essay, titled, 'Rosa Parks: My Story' attempts to recount the important moment on December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, when Parks refused to give her seat up for a white man.
However, it fails to even place the event in the past or give any gravitas to the momentous moment in American history.
'Some of these college students could read at a second or third grade level,' Willingham, a UNC academic adviser since 2003 told ESPN.
'Students were taking classes that really didn't exist. They were called independent studies at that time and they just had to write a paper... There was no attendance.'
During the course of her ESPN interview, Williams confirmed the existence of 'easy paper classes' and alleged that students were guided to these classes by their academic advisors.
'Their job isn't necessarily to make Deunta Williams a better person, a smarter person,' Williams told ESPN.
'Their job is to make sure I'm eligible to play.'
Deunta Williams, played football at UNC from 2007 to 2010 and has admitted to the scam, now says he is ashamed to have been involved with it.
Willingham's whistleblowing began in 2011 after she became appalled that UNC, rather than educating its athletes was keeping them from needing to study at all.
She began to release information to journalists about basketball and football stars who read at a grade school level.
She confessed herself to steering many young men into lecture classes that simply did not exist.
And most galling for her, given UNC's proud history pushing for desegregation, that the courses were in African-American history.....
We've discussed the lack of academic rigor for athletes at major schools before, but holy shyt
look on his face.
