CHAPEL HILL –  UNC’s Faculty Executive Committee issued a statement Monday supporting Jan Boxill, the faculty chairwoman for the University. It was revealed last week that she asked colleagues to re-write segments of an academics and athletics faculty report, according to an article by The News and Observer.

UNC has felt the blow of scandals over past several years, with an NCAA investigation of the university’s football program that subsequently surfaced “irregularities” in the African and Afro-American Studies Department.

The statement of support was signed by 16 professors, including the three authors of the 2012 faculty report, Steven Bachenheimer, Michael Gerhardt and Laurie Maffly-Kipp. The statement reads: “our full support for Jan Boxill throughout her leadership as Chair of the Faculty. We have complete confidence in her judgment and integrity.”

As the elected faculty leader, Boxill is one of UNC’s top academic officers.

Emails sent by Boxill show that just before the report’s release on July 26, 2012, Boxill sent the three faculty report writers a last minute correspondence. She suggested they edit a sentence which alluded to a department manager creating made-up classes to protect athletes’ eligibility to play sports, The N & O reported.  Campus emails are public record. The report authors agreed to it, and some information was left out of the final version.

Boxill told The N & O that her suggestions for edits came from other committee members.

 

Read the full statement below: 

 

The Faculty Executive Committee approved the following statement at its regular meeting on Monday, July 29, 2013:

Steven Bachenheimer, Michael Gerhardt, and Laurie Maffly-Kipp (in absentia), join with the following current and former members of the UNC Faculty Executive Committee to express our full support for Jan Boxill throughout her leadership as Chair of the Faculty.  We have complete confidence in her judgment and integrity.

Signed:

Steven Bachenheimer (Microbiology and Immunology)
Michael Gerhardt (Law)
Laurie Maffly-Kipp (Religious Studies)

Mimi Chapman (Social Work)
Gregory P. Copenhaver (Biology)
Jean DeSaix (Biology)
Louise Dolan (Physics)
Jo Anne Earp (Public Health)
Joseph Ferrell (Secretary of the Faculty, School of Government)
Kevin Guskiewicz (Exercise and Sports Science)
Susan Irons (English and Comparative Literature)
Tim McMillan (African, African American, and Diaspora Studies)
Suchi Mohanty (University Libraries)
Leslie Parise (Biochemistry)
Shielda Rodgers (Nursing)
Vin Steponaitis (Anthropology)