A report released Wednesday by a former federal prosecutor hired by UNC to investigate a long period of academic impropriety could lead to disciplinary action against as many as nine employees, according to the chancellor.

In some cases, that will include termination.

“I am deeply disappointed in the duration and the extent of the wrongdoing,” said UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt.

On Wednesday afternoon inside the Kenan-Flagler Business School, former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein presented the results of his team’s investigation of academic and athletic irregularities to assembled media, as the university hired him in February to do.

Referring to his 131-page report, Wainstein said that Deborah Crowder, a former secretary in African-American Studies, created so-called “paper classes” in 2003, out of empathy for struggling students, particularly athletes.

Students were required to write just one paper for the class, which would be graded by Crowder, who gave high marks, regardless of a paper’s quality or even originality.

“These were classes that, unlike the typical class, involved absolutely no interaction with a faculty member – a faculty member wasn’t involved at all,” said Wainstein.

Crowder retired in 2009. Department Chair Julius Nyang’oro, who shared Crowder’s sympathy for athletes, and had long delegated many responsibilities to her, took over grading for the “paper classes,” until questions about the ruse ended it in 2011.

About 3,100 students enrolled in the “paper classes” during those 18 years.

On Wednesday, Wainstein did not single out any athletic coaches or their staffs for blame, although he said that some in the athletics department knew there were “easy classes” being offered to some of the athletes.

“Easy classes,” he added, are not all that unusual at colleges, and never have been.

Wainstein said his investigative team was interested in finding out who knew there were no faculty involved in the paper-class grading; and that Crowder, and then Nyang’oro, were doing it all, and dishonestly.

According to Wainstein, five ASPSA academic counselors to the student-athletes were aware of the situation, and complicit.

“They steered a number of their student athletes to these classes,” said Wainsten, “specifically, because they were easy; specifically, because they were, in their terms, GPA boosters.”

Two of them, said Wainstein, suggested grades that students should receive. They’re identified in the report as Associate Director of ASPSA and Director of football Cynthia Reynolds; and women’s basketball academic counselor Jan Boxill, a senior lecturer in philosophy and former faculty chair.

He concluded that the 18-year lack of oversight and appropriate questions came down to a culture of trust between departments at UNC. In this case, that trust was misplaced.

“It’s often the most highly functioning organizations that tend to have the blind spots,” said Wainstein.

Folt apologized to the UNC community, with assurances that corrective and disciplinary measures were in progress.

She said that nine employees were under disciplinary review. Four are being terminated, so far.

University System President Tom Ross was blunt and even angry in his remarks after Wainstein’s presentation.

“Protecting the academic integrity of our public university – the first in the nation, and one widely recognized as one of the best universities in the world – must be paramount,” said Ross. “The Crowder-Nyang’oro scheme marks a horrible chapter in the history of this great university.”

You can view a timeline of the academic scandal here.