The academic scandal uncovered at UNC by the Wainstein report dominated a Wednesday afternoon Board of Trustees meeting, at which the faculty chair offered an apology.
“The events that occurred over a nearly 20-year time period are simply unacceptable,” said Faculty Chair Bruce Cairns. “Suffice it to say, we are very disappointed. And as a faculty, we let down our students, we let down the university.
In his apology to members of the UNC Board of Trustees during a late-afternoon meeting at Rizzo Conference Center, Cairns also acknowledged the people of North Carolina that are served by the university.
Cairns added that the Wainstein report on phony so-called “paper classes” offered for nearly two decades to 3,100 students — many of them athletes –had a lot of implications for UNC’s faculty.
He said that a lot of “soul searching” needs to happen right now.
“Our focus needs to remain on our students,” said Cairns, “and making sure that we fulfill our obligation to them, whether they are in athletics or not.”
Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost Jim Dean updated the Board on reforms that have taken place over the past few years.
Changes have been made to the advising system, to tailor academic planning more specifically to each student athlete’s needs.
There’s a new computer system that more closely monitors grade changes, course renumbering, and faculty workload.
Independent study reforms have also been implemented. One such reform limits faculty members to supervising two students per term. Required documentation includes learning contracts, and course syllabi are monitored more closely as well.
Measures are taken to ensure that a faculty is actually teaching each independent study course.
An informal Student Athlete Initiative Working Group is tracking experiences of student athletes at UNC, starting with recruiting.
Student Body President Andrew Powell said that while he agrees the reforms are necessary, he’s concerned that a fear of teaching independent study courses is developing among faculty in the wake of the paper-class scandal.
Powell said that continuing support of independent studies should perhaps be included in a UNC policy statement.
Dean said he agreed with Powell about independent studies, adding that UNC Chancellor Carol Folt does, too.
“Independent study courses are a really important element of education,” said Dean. “We can’t get to everything we want to get to through the existing courses.”
Dean added that an independent study course he took as an undergrad actually set him on the path to his academic career.
Powell also expressed disappointment in the way he’s seen some students treating athletes since the scandal broke – for instance, expressing reluctance to have a student athlete join a group project for a class.
Right before the meeting went into closed session, Powell spoke to WCHL about what student government is doing to make the situation better, adding that most students still treat all others with respect.
“We think that all students at Carolina should feel part of an inclusive community – that they’re supported by their peers and professors,” said Powell. “We’ve held a number of student forums where people can speak openly about these things.”
Powell said that UNC will celebrate an Athlete Appreciation Day on Dec. 2.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/board-trustees/UNC Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham said “that these are interesting times” for college athletics—that in response to a federal agency’s ruling Wednesday that football players at Northwestern University can create the nation’s first union of college athletes.
The decision, which could revolutionize college sports, was made by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago.
When asked about the ruling during the UNC Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday, Cunningham said that he believed the decision, which categorizes the student athletes as employees, would be appealed.
“But I think that is going to create all kinds of other challenges. How this all plays out in the next couple of years will be interesting to watch. I think if we focus on what is important—education and opportunities—I think we are going to provide those opportunities for students. I don’t want to sound ‘Pollyanna-ish,’ but you have to think about what your philosophy is and then deliver on that philosophy,” Cunningham said.
Northwestern University officials said that they plan to appeal to the full labor board in Washington, D.C, according to the Associated Press.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/unc-ad-gives-reaction-ruling-northwestern-university-football-players-can-unionize/UNC basketball’s Marcus Paige was joined by five other student athletes Thursday to share testimony about the challenges and triumphs they have experienced during their academic careers at the University, which was in sharp contrast to the claims made earlier this week by two former Carolina football players.
Paige, a star point guard and second-team Academic All-American, spoke during the presentation called “A day in the life of a student athlete,” before the UNC Board of Trustees. He was joined by three UNC football players, Ryan Switzer, Tim Scott and Kemmi Pettway, gymnast Michelle Ikoma, and softball great, pitcher Lori Spingola.
“We know how hard we work in the classroom. It is not fair to us to get all of that negative attention when we spend so much time working so hard to get a degree just like everyone else,” Paige said.
Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham said it was a chance to give the Trustees “a representation” of the more than 800 student athletes who attend UNC.
“We frequently just view [student athletes] when they are competing, but this is another opportunity to get them off the fields, out of gyms, and talk to them as real students,” Cunningham said.
The athletes gave positive reviews of the academic support they have received so far, championing various leadership programs and tutoring initiatives, such as MAP, or “My Academic Plan,” which provides additional academic support for athletes who need it.
That was not the same sentiment shared this week regarding UNC’s academic influence on its athletes. On Tuesday, two new, former Carolina football players, Deunta Williams and Byron Bishop, said, each on separate HBO and ESPN programs, that they were encouraged to take no-show classes in order to retain their athletic eligibility during their collegiate careers.
Along with Williams, whistle-blower Mary Willingham, a former athletic tutor, also appeared in the ESPN documentary.
Cunningham did not directly comment on the two specials that aired this week, saying that he wanted to focus on the students currently enrolled at UNC. He said that he wanted to concentrate on providing the maximum number of opportunities for athletes to play collegiate sports and creating a solid educational experience for student athletes once enrolled.
Paige shared that he and his teammates tried to not pay attention to the negative press swirling around UNC, adding that “we all can read and write.”
“There was definitely no one telling us what we had to do or what classes [to take], or even pushing us or suggesting a major,” Paige said.
Trustee Dwight Stone said the school has taken some “undeserved shots in the media” regarding athletic/academic relations. He said that no one could realize the time and effort it takes to be a student athlete at Carolina unless they “walked in their shoes.”
In January, Willingham raised questions about the literacy levels of past Tar Heel basketball and football players as documented in the now infamous CNN article. Her research also prompted concerns about past admission guidelines under which many athletes were enrolled.
In response, UNC officials said then that there isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” policy in judging applicants and that some students are admitted for their “special talents.”
Switzer shared that football provided him the chance to go to Carolina that he wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
“I am not ashamed to admit that I wouldn’t be at a university like this is if it weren’t for my athletic ability,” Switzer. “I was a decent student in high school, but this University is so high that I couldn’t get here on academics alone. Football has created a lot of opportunities for me that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t play it.”
Switzer said that is was often “a struggle” to manage both roles as a student and an athlete, but he thought that his fellow student athletes were some of the “most disciplined” people he had ever met.
He also said that he originally wanted to major in nursing but decided not to because of the time commitment.
Cunningham said that “time,” or lack of it for student athletes, was another concern.
“I think we should really take a hard look at time and see if there is a better way to organize the day so that student [athletes] can get a full educational experience,” Cunningham said.
UNC Chancellor Carol Folt said that all student athletes struggle with time constraints. She said that the University’s mission is to help them find balance.
“My goal is to help them find a way to get the classes and the majors that they want, while also being able to achieve the excellence that they want,” Folt said.
Folt and Willingham To Meet
Folt confirmed that Willingham had contacted her about setting up a time to meet, to which Folt agreed.
“She gave me an agenda and said that she would like to share her personal story with me and that she would like to share her opinion with me about athletics and academics,” Folt said.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/bot-thurday/UNC leaders are proposing a new approach to measuring the University’s overall academic status.
Provost Jim Dean, who acts as the chief academic officer on campus, introduced the “The Carolina Metrics Project,” which seeks to build a set of guidelines to assess the University’s academic standing and set targets for improvement.
“We are moving toward an answer to the question, ‘How is the University performing academically?” Dean said during a UNC Board of Trustees committee meeting.
In an operation as vast as UNC, Dean said it can be challenging to measure academic performance accurately.
This push toward transparency on a broader level comes at a pivotal time for Carolina, as its reputation continues to undergo scrutiny for the past academic fraud scandals involving student athletes.
This week, two new, former UNC football players have come forward, on nationally televised sports programs, to say that they were encouraged to take no-show classes in order to retain their athletic eligibility during their collegiate careers.
Dean did not comment on those testimonials.
Dr. Ronald P. Strauss, UNC’s Executive Vice Provost and Chief International Officer, was also behind the proposed performance measurements.
He said the five factors that could be used to determine academic performance include measures of the quality of faculty members, the campus environment, the quality of the student body, and benefits to the public from the University.
“Our goals are pretty clear. We want to build a set of accessible, visible metrics to measure academic status. We also wanted to transform it into some form of a dashboard that is visible to stakeholders, our audiences and our constituencies,” he said.
Strauss said he solicited feedback from many campus groups in formulating the framework for academic performance, adding that he wants it to portray a realistic representation of the University.
“The cautionary tale is that, at least the educational advisory board felt that, some universities have taken this as a self-promotional endeavor and the only variables [that are shared] are the variables that compliment the reputation of the university. That is not what we are seeking to do here,” Strauss said.
The full Board of Trustees meets Thursday, during which UNC Director of Athletics, Bubba Cunningham, will speak about the daily lives of student athletes.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/unc-considers-new-approach-measuring-universitys-academinc-performance/UNC Provost Jim Dean, who helped lead the campus through the recent student athlete literacy scandal, will present suggestions to University leaders Wednesday that could be used as a framework for measuring Chapel Hill’s academic status.
“The Carolina Metrics Project” seeks to build a set of guidelines to measure academic performance and set targets for improvement. Dean will deliver the presentation during a Board of Trustees University Affairs Committee meeting.
This comes in the wake of the academic and athletic controversies that have haunted the University for more than three years. Those controversies continued in early January when former UNC athletic tutor, Mary Willingham, told CNN that a majority of Carolina’s basketball and football student-athletes which she studied read at a level no higher than the eighth grade.
Following the release of that article and the resulting media super storm, University leaders went into defense mode, refuting Willingham’s claims.
UNC has since changed its sentiments slightly, switching from defense to acceptance. At a meeting of the Board of Trustees in late January, Folt said the University takes responsibility for past misdeeds regarding academic oversight, including the fraudulent classes within UNC’s African Studies Department. But she also said she supports UNC’s current course of action to ensure those misdeeds don’t recur in the future.
In February, UNC retained lawyer and veteran of the U.S. Justice Department, Kenneth Wainstein, to address “any questions left unanswered” from previous reviews of course irregularities in the African Studies Department.
UNC has also continued to address the issues surrounding academics and athletics internally. That includes a working group led by Dean and Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham.
The University Affairs Committee meets from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday at the Carolina Inn.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/unc-provost-speak-academic-performance-standards-wednesday/CHAPEL HILL – UNC Provost Jim Dean said that he stands by the University’s analysis which refutes the claims made by Mary Willingham that a majority of student-athletes she studied had sub-par reading skills. At a Board of Trustees Committee meeting Wednesday, Dean said that the University has commissioned an independent review of Willingham’s data to verify if UNC’s take is true.
Dean said that Willingham’s raw data set and methodology will be independently evaluated by an outside group comprised of experts in educational testing, with a report based on the group’s findings to follow. He estimated that they will return the results within a couple of weeks.
Following the BoT University Affairs Committee meeting, Dean said that he couldn’t release the names of the experts at this time.
Willingham, a former athletics tutor, sparked the latest UNC scandal when she told CNN, in the now infamous article, that 60 percent of the 183 UNC athletes she researched read between a fourth and eighth grade reading level.
Last week, UNC Chancellor Carol Folt, Director of Admissions Steve Farmer and Dean fired back, saying that Willingham’s methodology was incorrect and based on a vocabulary test that wasn’t designed to measure reading levels.
Willingham told WNCN Wednesday that the way Dean explained her data analysis was “100 percent incorrect.”
“I’ve already told you what I think [about the data]—but I think it is a fair question. We can verify that with outside experts. That process is going on right now. As soon as we have the data back, we will let you know,” Dean said.
UNC Faculty Chair Jan Boxill acknowledged that some student athletes come in less prepared than their peers and face many challenges.
“Can we say that everybody got the same kind of education? Nobody [can]. So I think that we provide an opportunity for everybody here to have a quality education. People make choices, and so they have the opportunities to do lots,” Boxill said.
Student-Athlete Academic Initiatives Working Group
During the committee meeting, Dean outlined the progress of the Student-Athlete Academic Initiatives Working Group.
The Working Group, which began meeting last September, is examining current practices and policies that govern the approximately 800 student-athletes at Carolina. The goal is to document student-athletes from recruitment to graduation. Members include Dean, Farmer and Bubba Cunningham Director of Athletics.
“This Working Group is one of the great symbols of a University that is striving, without perfection, but striving to try to integrate, in the best possible way academic life and athletic life,” Dean said.
There are 22 processes governing the lives of student athletes. Dean said the Working Group has documented 8 or 9 of them.
“We know we have documentation of the admissions process and some of the registration processes. This is how we are going to govern student athletes from the academic side going forward.”
Dean said the Working Group meets about every three weeks, including a meeting this Friday, with three coaches joining discussions on the topic of recruiting.
“We hope that the work that we do will be useful to other universities around the country because the issues that we are facing—and you know this—are not unique.”
A detailed public document mapping all of the changes that have been made will be released when the Working Group’s efforts are completed.
Boxill added that there will be a national sports summit held in Chapel Hill on May 2 and 3 called “True Sport You: The Impact of College Athletics on Education, Youth Sport, & American Culture.” The summit was organized by leaders from UNC and Penn State, two universities that have felt the effects of sports scandals.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/unc-commissions-outside-experts-review-willinghams-data/CHAPEL HILL – About a dozen students rallied at the Board of Governors meeting Thursday, upset over two policies passed by system leaders. Students say they won’t let the matters go and will keep showing up at Board meetings until they feel their voices are heard.
UNC-CH Senior Kate Davis-Jones was one of the students who gathered at the Board of Governors meeting in protest of changes made to the drop/add policy.
“The Board of Governors has been consistently just stepping into the University, micro-managing, and sort of twisting things to the way they think the University should run,” Davis-Jones said. “They are completely by-passing any sort of criticism or input of people who are actually at the University. “
Passed by the Board of Governors in April, the policy established a system-wide drop period. It shortened UNC-CH’s current drop period from eight weeks to ten days. Any course dropped after the 10th day of the semester will appear as a withdrawal on students’ transcripts. The policy is required to go into effect by the fall of 2014.
“The wonderful thing about the eight-week drop/add policy is that it allows students to challenge themselves, and take risks with their education,” Davis-Jones said.
Davis-Jones said she wanted more transparency from the Board of Governors and also wanted the student voice to factor more into their policies.
Jan Boxill, UNC’s Faculty Chair, said at a Board of Trustees committee meeting in September that it was a “one-size-fits-all” policy that will not help Carolina’s students succeed. She said receiving a “W” on a transcript created a stigma concerning the student’s academic credentials.
Student Body President Christy Lambden told the Board of Trustees that he also was against the policy.
In 2004, UNC lengthened the drop period from six to eight weeks, according to a University publication.
When the policy was introduced in the fall of 2012, it was met with resistance from then UNC Student Body President Will Leimenstoll and the Faculty Executive Committee, who voted unanimously against the proposal.
“It implied that students shouldn’t be pushing their education to its limits,” Davis Jones said. “They shouldn’t be challenging themselves, and they shouldn’t be courageous with their electives.”
Students outside the meeting were also protesting the Board of Governor’s ban on gender-neutral housing, a program that would have allowed males and females to live together in the same University dorm suites or apartments.
The UNC Board of Trustees voted last November to allow gender-neutral housing. Former UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp backed the Trustees’ decision, saying it would help keep students safe.
However, in August, UNC System leaders overturned the Trustees’ decision, and halted the program before it could begin the pilot year. The measure passed unanimously without discussion.
UNC Senior Kevin Claybren served as the Student Coordinator of the Gender Non-Specific Housing Coalition. He was set to live with three other females in Ram Village Apartments, the first four students to participate in the program at UNC.
“Right now we are just trying to show the Board of Governors that we care about this issue,” Claybren said. “We are not going to stop talking about this issue. We will continue to keep showing up as long as it is something that matters to us. We also want to make sure that students who don’t have voices are really heard and are visible.”
The program would have allowed males and females to share bathrooms and common areas in suites or apartments, but not share the same bedroom. The program was voluntary and only available in designated buildings.
Fifty-five University departments and groups supported the program, including the UNC Parents Council, student government and the executive branch of the student government. More than 2,000 students signed a petition in favor of gender neutral housing.
Chair of the Board of Governors, Peter Hans, said at the August 9th meeting that to enacting a policy change is a two-step process. First, the measure is taken up by the Governance Board, which was done in June, and then it goes to the full Board. Hans said there was no opposition to the policy change “whatsoever.”
“Our board wants every student to be safe and comfortable and included. The Board believes there are more practical ways to achieve those goals than assigning young men and young women to the same dorm rooms and campus suites,” Hans said on August 9.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/students-say-bog-is-micro-managing-unc-ch-policies/CHAPEL HILL – The UNC System Board of Governors is set to meet Thursday, this coming the after the group received criticism from many UNC-Chapel Hill students and administrators concerning a change to the drop/add policy.
Passed by the Board of Governors in April, the policy established a system-wide drop period. It shortened UNC-CH’s current drop period from eight weeks to ten days. Any course dropped after the 10th day of the semester will appear as a withdrawal on students’ transcripts. The policy is required to go into effect by the fall of 2014.
Jan Boxill, UNC’s Faculty Chair, said at a Board of Trustees committee meeting in September that it was a “one-size-fits-all” policy that will not help Carolina’s students succeed. She said receiving a “W” on a transcript created a stigma concerning the student’s academic credentials.
Student Body President Christy Lambden told the Board of Trustees that he also was against the policy. He said once the policy is implemented, UNC’s drop/add period would be shorter than many peers institutions and could cause Carolina to fall behind academically.
In 2004, UNC lengthened the drop period from six to eight weeks, according to a University publication.
When the policy was introduced in the fall of 2012, it was met with resistance from then UNC Student Body President Will Leimenstoll and the Faculty Executive Committee, who voted unanimously against the proposal.
Board of Governor meetings are not public hearings, so if students do protest, they will likely be kept outside.
The Board of Governor’s meets at 9:00 a.m. at the Spangler Center in Chapel Hill.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/bog-to-meet-thursday-unc-students-criticize-its-adddrop-policy/CHAPEL HILL – UNC faculty and student leaders said at a Board of Trustees meeting last week that they were concerned about a policy which significantly shortens the drop/add period for classes. They said it hurts students who plan to attend graduate school and also could cause Carolina to fall behind peer institutions.
The policy, proposed by the UNC System’s Board of Governors, is a system-wide measure which limits the course adjustment period to 10 class days. It’s an effort to make the system more efficient and help students graduate on time by providing more open seats at the beginning of the semester.
If students do not drop the class by the deadline, they get a permanent “W,” indicating a withdrawal, on their transcripts.
UNC-Chapel Hill currently allows students to drop courses before the end of the eighth week of classes with departmental permission, without having a W placed on their transcript. The policy is required to be implemented no later than the fall of 2014.
Jan Boxill, UNC’s Faculty Chair, said at a Board of Trustees committee Wednesday that it is a “one-size-fits-all” policy that will not help Carolina’s students succeed.
“While it may seem reasonable to standardize policies across the campuses that will be cost-effective and foster academic success, this one is not,” Boxill said.
Boxill said that receiving a “W” on a transcript creates a stigma concerning the student’s academic credentials.
“Further, the policy change is likely to deter our students, many of whom are heading to graduate school or professional schools from trying out classes in new areas for fear that the late withdrawal will leave a permanent W on their transcripts,” Boxill said.
When the policy was introduced in the fall of 2012, it was met with resistance from then UNC Student Body President Will Leimenstoll and the Faculty Executive Committee, who voted unanimously against the proposal.
Current Student Body President Christy Lambden told the Board of Trustees Thursday that once the policy is implemented in Chapel Hill, UNC’s drop/add period would be shorter than many peers institutions. He said many members of Student Government feared it would cause Carolina to fall behind.
“The reality is that students should be encouraged to challenge themselves academically,” Lambden said. “This policy will only lead to students taking a safer course load that inhibits creative academic exploration, a key component to a robust liberal arts education.”
In 2004, UNC lengthened the drop period from six to eight weeks, according to a University publication.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/drop-add/CHAPEL HILL – The UNC Board of Trustees found that there was no “intentional bias” in Student Congress’ allocation of funds to the College Republicans.
The student group accused Student Congress earlier this month of discriminatory funding practices.
After a Student Congress presentation on the issue to the University Affairs Committee Wednesday, Alston Gardner, Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, reported that despite national press which the controversy triggered, members of the Student Congress Finance Committee acted fairly.
“There was much discussion in the national press that their budgets were cut, when in reality, everybody’s budgets were cut. It appeared to us that the process was free of bias,” Gardner said. “That’s not to say that there weren’t some things that the students might have done to handle that situation better, handle their public relations better, and perhaps work through the system rather than going outside to speak to the press,” Gardner said.
The College Republicans submitted a fall budget request for $8,180 to bring two speakers to campus. The finance committee cut the request, however, and allotted only enough money to bring one speaker to Chapel Hill.
Gardner pointed out that over the past three school years, the College Republicans have received $63,209 in Student Congress funding and the Young Democrats have received $23,485.
Tony Patterson, of the Student Life & Activities Department in the Carolina Union, said that he works with Student Congress directly and mediates funding issues regularly. He said the College Republicans did not report their concern to his department.
“In today’s environment of Facebook posting, blogging and tweeting, this one did not go in that direction. Since the announcements were made and blogs were made, I have spoken with the College Republicans,” Patterson said. “I asked them why they didn’t come to our office or to the Director of the Union, or to the Vice Chancellor before doing what they did. They frankly said they didn’t really think about it.”
Fox News and other outlets ran stories about the funding issue.
Winston Crisp, UNC’s Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, said he looked into the case as well and told Board members that the matter wasn’t taken lightly.
“We have been certainly satisfied that whatever else you might want to say about the allocation process, that there certainly wasn’t any intentional bias against the College Republicans because they are conservative group,” Crisp said. “I think that is the central question we need to stay focused on.”
Brittany Best, UNC Student Congress Finance Committee Chair, told the Truestees that since the controversy, she has instituted a more structured funding review process.
“We are trying that out to facilitate more discussion from more representatives on requests,” Best said. “We’ve only had two meetings since that change, but I’ve gotten positive feedback, and I’ve been pleased with the results thus far.”
Best said that the finance committee received budget requests from more than 100 student groups this semester and will fund requests until the money for fall appropriations is depleted.
http://chapelboro.com/news/unc/unc-bot-on-college-republicans-funding-scandal-no-intentional-bias/ 40.3°F |
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