This is Raleigh Mann.

I confess it: I’m a big fan of Carolina sports. Right now, I am very excited as basketball season gets under way.

When I was teaching, some student athletes found their way to my courses. They had to work, and the grading was tough. I was impressed by how many of them managed to balance their studies with the demands of travel and practice. Every student athlete it was my privilege to teach passed my courses. All across this campus, they were getting a good education.

But we now know that this did not apply to all of them. Some were not getting the quality education they were promised when they agreed to come here to represent this university as a student athlete.

I was in the room the other day when Tom Ross, president of the UNC system, met with about 60 of us retired faculty.

The pattern of steering student athletes to fake or paper courses first came to light in the fall of 2011. These past three years have been “horrible; a painful, humbling experience for all of us who love this university,” President Ross told the Retired Faculty Association.

Ross is angry about what this does to the reputations of all of us who are not involved. So am I. I feel betrayed. So do hundreds of faculty members, active and retired, and thousands of alumni and their families.

But after three years of wagon-circling and speaking in euphemisms, there are signs of a genuine effort to fix what is broken so it doesn’t happen again.

We also heard in that meeting from Joy Renner, chair of the UNC athletics committee; Bruce Cairns, chair of the faculty; and Ron Strauss, executive vice provost. They listened to us, and they pointed to real changes in policy and procedure that should move UNC in the right direction.

So some things will be fixed. But if we are serious about reforming this shameful way of life, we need a major culture change. Let’s begin by doing away with scholarships based on athletic participation.

Yes, I know. Other schools’ teams would kill on the court and field as our coaches struggle to field teams with marginal talent. It would take a lot of courage to take such a step. Some would call it madness.

But we would be delivering that quality education we promised.

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