CHAPEL HILL – After e-mails surfaced that purported to show a relationship between the UNC athletic department and department heads who created fake classes for student athletes, UNC President Tom Ross said he does not know if this is a new development that requires further investigation until he reads the e-mails personally.

“We’ll be looking at that and I’ll be talking with the chairman about that and we’ll determine if there’s any further action,” President Ross said. “But at this point, there really hasn’t been any discussion of any next steps.”

President Ross asked to see the e-mails between members of the athlete tutoring program and Julius Nyang’oro, former chair of the African Studies Department at UNC. The News & Observer reported that Nyang’oro created classes that students did not have to attend to boost their grades.

President Ross says he also wants to see the timeline of the investigation.

“There was some lapse of time between the requests and I wanted to understand why that happened,” President Ross said.

President Ross repeatedly said after last week’s Board of Governor’s meeting that he has not yet read the e-mails, nor has he talked with UNC to get information from the university itself.