I am a very proud graduate, former student-athlete and one-time assistant tennis coach for the University of North Carolina. I cannot imagine a more fulfilling and rewarding collegiate experience than I had at Chapel Hill. The academic environment and many relationships I developed at UNC, undoubtedly, were the foundation for a very rewarding career and life experience today.
Without question, the N&O has done some tremendously valuable work in exposing myriad problems at UNC. What started as a few athletes unable to say “no” to being wined, dined and bedazzled by agents turned in to a litany of embarrassing academic issues.
However, over time, your paper has devolved from reporting the facts of the story to driving a narrative that inflates and perpetuates the story.
In Dan Kane’s recent article on Jan Boxill’s role in the Faculty Executive Committee Report , he states Boxill “watered down the report.” The FEC report, referencing a detailed AFAM review, specifically states as a “clear finding” that Deborah Crowder was involved in problems in the AFAM department. If Jan Boxill really wanted to hide Crowder and her role from the NCAA, why did the final report reference Crowder by name and highlight her role in a detailed investigative report that mentions Crowder’s name over 11 times?
The purpose of the Faculty Executive Committee Report was to report facts and findings. If Crowder would not speak and if nobody interviewed the athletes, how can anyone suggest they know why Crowder did what she did? Was it to help basketball players? Or African American students? Or low-income students? How could anyone feel confident in presenting speculation as fact?
Recently, Luke DeCock described the Martin Report as “whitewash.” Insults to a respected Governor aside, Baker Tilly is a global accounting firm and universally recognized as a leader in academic audits. I can believe that a bunch of hicks on a website would find a conspiracy of epic proportions in Baker Tilly’s findings, but a seasoned journalist? B-T audited 172,000 class sections and nearly 20 years of student data looking for grade inflation, clustering and irregular results, but DeCock considers that inadequate? The Martin Report cannot be a “whitewash” just because B-T didn’t reach the conclusion DeCock wanted.
By my count, there have been 6 investigations at UNC the last 3 years. Every review and investigation concludes the fraud began and ended with 2 people in a small department at UNC. The facts make abundantly clear that it is not systemic and it is not widespread. Do you think the N&O has presented these facts in a balanced way?
I have no doubt that, despite the steady erosion of your industry, your reporting on the mess at UNC has been beneficial to the News and Observer’s relevancy. Without question, Dan “Is His Biggest Fan” Kane enjoyed the national attention his initial work procured. Your paper did legitimate work at the beginning of the UNC debacle (whether I liked it or not). But you have crossed the line. You are no longer reporting the facts. You are perpetuating a self-sustaining narrative. I would expect that from some hillbillies at a rival school. I would expect more from journalists like you.
Enough is enough.
Joe Frierson III
Athens, GA
Before the ABC trolls chime in, let me say “thank you” for this letter.
What’s hilarious about this whole thing? How much State and Raleigh care about this. Do you want to see UNC teams suspended or out of bowls just because you can’t beat them?
You know what else is hilarious? You’re still…not our rival. Check ECU, they may want a rival.
State’s won 5 of the last 6 in FB. Solid point you made there.
Please don’t cloud his idiocy with facts, sir!
Uh oh, you want facts? All time series football: 64-32 in favor of UNC. Basketball? Ouch….I dare you to look it up.
It wasn’t “2 people in a small dept” at UNC that were behind all of this. There are documented emails showing that the head of that department was orchestrating this whole thing with academic advisors to the athletic dept to make sure FB and BB players got in what were fake classes in order to give them a GPA bump. That’s embarrassing and if you don’t see that then you care more about the Carolina athletic dept than you do the university as a whole.
Well said Mr. Frierson. I am sick and dadgum tired of the malicious drivel that I read every day in the News & Observer newspaper. I wish they would investigate the real criminals in the triangle: The hicks and hillbillies at the rival school where they use performance enhancing drugs and routinely assault bus drivers.
Hicks? You mean like you, right? Dadgum is a hick word. Man, the hypocrisy abounds from UNC fans. PED’s are not illegal. I see the “assaulting a bus driver” every once in a while, though can never find anything about it. Guess that’s a conspiracy. Also, doubt it’s “routinely” as well. Now, what IS routinely, is former UNC athletes getting charged and convicted for assaults, murders, and the like. And THEN there’s the UNC professor STILL in prison in I think Brazil, on drug muling charges. THEN there’s all the other crap going on with other aspects of UNC.
Yeaahhhhhh….. Nothing to see here at UNC. Everyone just keep moving and look the other way. If you don’t like reading all the time about new stuff coming up with UNC, then have the admins clean house. They don’t even have to come clean!! Just straighten the hell up and stop thinking like your crap don’t stink.
You can’t google? http://charlotte.news14.com/content/headlines/623538/n-c–state-football-player-charged-with-beating-driver
Hahaha! What I love more than the Dan Kane articles are the weak attempts at deflection, denial, grandstanding and semantics by the UNC fans. And they put the icing on the cake with the race card for good measure.
The Carolina Way has been proved to be a sham, and the poor UNC fans are in denial. The sooner you wake up, the better!
Carolina – #5 in US News & World Report rankings of public universities, #8 in Forbes for public universities, just received over $700 million in research funds from the federal government, finished top 10 in the Director’s Cup
NCSU – tied with #106 with University of Buffalo SUNY – congrats!!!!
Despite 4 years of embarrassing news coverage (both justified and not)…….Carolina is still Carolina. And state is still, well, just state.
UNC is awesome.
That ranking is for number of programs offered, and has nothing to do with quality. But, typical State fan would rather be than to seem. Esse Quam Videri be damned!
Work on improving your own school rather than try to tear down others.
Everyday baby – not only would I prefer to be than to seem, I strive for it in everything I do. I learned that at NCSU were an engineering mistake will cost lives. Your mistake will just frustrate me when I am ordering take out
You mean liberal arts schools don’t result in high paying careers? Oh, but at least they’re easy and the kids can still go work for daddy when they graduate (like Joe Frierson III).
http://wealthmanagement.ml.com/wm/system/ViewFAPage.aspx?pageurl=FRIERSONGROUP
NC State is still 106 in USN&WR. 160 in Forbes.
In some ways, this is the best part of the story. No matter how long the aggies drag this out in local media (this is not a story outside of Raleigh), eventually even they will move on. When they do, they have to reacquaint themselves with the reality of NC State. It is still effectively a college of general admission, with little academic distinction. Their athletic department is still the least accomplished athletic department among the schools that participate in the BCS over the last three decades. And their fans and alums are still petty, hateful creatures that measure their glory by Carolina’s shortcomings.
That’s why they love the N&O’s journalism by regurgitation. It is the perfect distraction, because it dovetails nicely with the smallness and inferiority complex that has become the hallmark of the aggie fanbase.
I was responding to Ms. Griggs, who did not qualify her assertion that State was #51. If she had, I would not have responded on that point, I honestly did not think she would be clamoring to point out that there are 50 public universities in this country that are better schools than State.
I made no mention of Carolina’s ranking. Typical aggie, every conversation is about Carolina.
Ms. Griggs was responding to Mr. Frierson’s claim that UNC was #5 and NCSU was #106 in the same list. Reading a series of comments to understand context is not that difficult. Now if UNC’s compliance department could do the same thing with their “student” athletes’ twitter accounts, the NCAA might not have ever started poking around UNC 3 years ago, and your university-wide corruption might still be under wraps from the rest of the nation.
Your complaint only makes sense if I were comparing the two schools or correcting Ms. Griggs. State IS the 106th best school according to USN&WR. I happily concede that State is the 51st best public school in the nation.
Jon H., you are arguing JUST to argue. You obviously don’t comprehend what has been said, and that’s ok. If you need it spelled out for you, then here you go: The loser that wrote this “woe is me” piece(and is EXTREMELY biased, btw, just like you) was disingenuous with his statement of rankings. When he said that UNC ranks #5 in PUBLIC universities, then says that State is #106, he is alluding that State is ranked #106 in PUBLIC universities. That is just plain twisting things to suit what you want. What Ms. Griggs did was rectify the “author’s” error by correcting the given ranking.
So, do you happily concede that UNC is #30 overall then? You NEVER hear any UNC fan state that ranking. What’s funny is that most of the loudest UNC fans that tout UNC’s academic ranking have never attended the school, and probably barely graduated high school.
Your complaint only makes sense if you like to argue, so I guess it does make sense.
Oh, and with all the PUBLIC universities out there, 51st is NOTHING to sneeze at. How many hundreds of PUBLIC universities are there? For crying out loud, there are 16 in NC alone.
So, get off your freaking high horse, and realize that being ranked 51 is actually pretty good.
Like I said, I happily concede that there are no more than 50 public universities ranked higher than State.
Setting trash talk aside for the moment, State is a great school and a great place to get an education. Motivated students can get a top shelf education there, and State has been a boon for North Carolina.
I have family and friends that went there, and I have cheered loudly for their sports teams. But that is a distant memory. A minority of State fans have dedicated their lives to bringing down my alma mater. They should expect a response in kind.
As does your presence here, John. You’ll never find UNC grads trolling for any information they can find about NCSU…because even though you hate us, we just find you amusing. If you focused on your own school rather than expending energy and resources on dragging down another, perhaps NCSU would become relevant for more than starting a petition for the President of the United States to “investigate” the black helicopters flying in formation over Chapel Hill. Get a life, man.
Now, THIS was just too funny. They are ALWAYS trolling NC State stuff. An article about State? 3/4’s of the posters are UNC fans. Anything State related comes out, a lot of the people there will be UNC fans, guaranteed.
You told John to get a life, yet you are on here spewing forth garbage. I guess he’s not the only one that needs to get a life then, huh?
I see no other alternative than to boycott the school.
Good, so that means we will not see the likes of you in Blue Heaven.
Can definitely tell by the name calling (hillbillies) exactly how professional you are, must be proud of your history working with UNC. As a long time taxpayer of this state I would love to know how much cover up goes on in the whole UNC System. I have a feeling even you don’t have a clue. Ms. Boxill in her position and now to find out her husband (Professor at UNC) and his close ties to AFAM Dept (some of his courses are used to satify requirements) The whole deal smells.
So as a Professional anything why would you not want to know?
Because he loves his school and doesn’t want to see it in a bad light, no matter if stuff has actually happened and needs to be fixed. He’s tired of hearing about it, and instead of wanting to actually get stuff fixed, he just wants to cover it up even more.
You realize State College is in the UNC system, right? Yes, I would love to know how much “cover up” goes on in the ENTIRE UNC system. I’ll be you would be surprised how much goes on over in West Raleigh. I would also love to know how much those folks could get away with if they didn’t control the two main media outlets in Raleigh.
Enjoy your moment in the sun, folks. What goes around, comes around.
Spot. On.
I don’t know what gives you more credibility, Joe.. Your playground-level insults (hillbillies, hicks) or going on the comment section of your own letter to insult the academics at a school that has nothing to do with the academic improprieties of UNC Chapel Hill.
It’s pretty clear that you’re upset about all of this, but I recommend you stop blaming a newspaper for holding a public institution accountable and start looking at the inaction of the school.
The school has had the ability to get to the bottom of this issue from the beginning, but has instead chosen to stonewall all outside efforts at transparency, and delay all efforts to access public information that might damage the school’s reputation both academically and athletically.
This post right here has been the best one so far.
What? You don’t like Joe’s facts? Truth hurts.
What ignorant and mindless buffoons some of you carolina people are. There can only be so many “coincidences”, misunderstandings, rogues, or outright lies before you must conclude there is a huge cesspool of corruption within the walls of that university.
The mere fact that 4 people within the academic support staff swore up and down a few months ago that they had warned the FAC (Faculty Athletic Committee) about the independent classes, and then were quickly told by FAC members that was a lie, should have been quite enough to see the charade that’s been going on over there. The FAC even had the minutes from every meeting for years to back their claims. The rebuttal from the academic advisors and Jan Boxill? The FAC must have misremembered what actually happened.
Corruption at it’s finest, and lack of integrity to the core.
I’m a UNC grad. I’m a booster. I’m a major donor.
I think the University embraced the Martin report’s best tenuous and more likely blatantly wrong narrative regarding the role of athletics and the ASPSA because that narrative protects the revenue sports programs from further scrutiny.
It’s worth remembering that BT backed off that narrative, based on additional inquiry, but the University did not.
Perhaps protecting the revenue sports from scrutiny at the cost of smearing some faculty best serves the University… but I doubt it.
Citations please. Please produce these emails that you reference in order to validate your obviously inflated claims.
“boss” – the emails were published by the N&O after they got them through a FOIA inquiry. That is what the original poster is complaining about. Pretty lame to make a post like that just because you haven’t been paying attention.
The thing that is being whitewashed is the fact that AFRAM studies at every schoool is a fraud
Seriously, just look at the name…If it ends with ‘studies’ it probably isn’t an academic discipline. Women’s studies, AFAM studies, international studies, etc. these majors are all so soft because they are not real fields of study. Not in the way that math, physics, economics, or the humanities are fields of study with widely recognized fundamental areas of knowledge that a student must master in order to graduate. They are essentially a series of opinion lectures by someone who happens to be in a place to hand out a diploma.
I say this as someone whose second major at UNC was in International Studies. I took a couple interesting classes in the INTS program, but I cannot define what capabilities an INTS grad wil possess. That is in contrast to my primary major in economics. Some professors put their heart and soul into teaching INTS classes, but like AFAM curricula, the definition of the subject is so nebulous that it really can’t be called a field of study.
The ‘studies’ majors are open to abuse in ways that real fields of knowledge are not because it is impossible to measure proficiency in an undefined field of knowledge. You would never see systematic fraud like this in a ‘true’ academic major such as the physical sciences or even the social sciences – with the possible exception of sociology at Duke.
You’re insulting the journalism industry??? Isn’t UNC-Chapel Hill on of the top 3 providers of journalist graduates in the entire country??? So it’s a conspiracy against yourself???
Just because we don’t all live in redneck “Jo-Ja” and have daddies giving us jobs at the family business, doesn’t make the rest of us hillbillies. Tool.
This is exactly how most “hillbillies” think. I love Joe called you hillbillies, because that’s exactly what you all are!!! If you as a collective fan base want to keep on keeping on, go for it. It just continues to show your ignorance, and put a new meaning to, ” beating a dead horse “. I have to laugh, because it is fact you would rather see the demise of Carolina than to concentrate on pulling for your team. I would definitely know, I have a close friend of mine that’s a State fan that’s constantly sending me text on everything Carolina. I laugh at my own friend, but we don’t let it get so far out of hand where our friendship would be in jeopardy. Now unlike Joe, I didn’t go to UNC, but just a diehard athletics fan of the University of the People. Like I told my friend, I’ll say here, it’s just a little brother syndrome, and you can’t change that!!!
“Now unlike Joe, I didn’t go to UNC, but just a diehard athletics fan of the University of the People”
Lololololol. If this was intended to be a troll post this would’ve been perfect. Sadly it’s not.
Keith, you represent the “typical” wine and cheese fan. I can tell just by reading your post that you are a redneck, hillbilly, hick, whatever. Which is the typical wine and cheese fan. They LOVE calling State fans hillbillies and hicks, but that’s like the pot calling the kettle black. I have YET to meet a wine and cheese fan that wasn’t a redneck.
Another thing that is typical of the wine and cheese fans? Most have NEVER ATTENDED UNC! Get over yourself.
Oh, and how often do you send your State “friend” crap about State when it happens? Probably every time. It’s just that much doesn’t happen there 😉
Thanks for the packed summers, UNC. Been making them less boring.
I agree with the author of this letter when he asks “How could anyone feel confident in presenting speculation as fact?”
However, I think the answer to his question leads to a different conclusion than the one he proposes.
The authors of the report are respected faculty at a respected university. They would certainly understand the need for conclusions to be based on facts and evidence. Therefore, it is telling that they felt comfortable with including the conclusions at issue in their draft. It is not unreasonable to conclude that those statements were based on their review of the available data and discussions with people involved in the situation and not on mere speculation.
Just as telling are Jan Boxill’s stated reasons for removing those statements from the final report. She did not complain that they were based on mere speculation or that they were not supported by on-the-record statements by those most directly involved. Instead, she cautioned that they were likely to draw the scrutiny of the NCAA.
Her concern was, of course, well founded. In recent cases, the NCAA has drawn a sharp distinction between Universities who admit that cases of academic abuse were motivated by athletic concerns and those who deny that motivation despite strong evidence.
Leaving the statements in question in the final report certainly may have brought in the NCAA. The NCAA may still return to UNC, but if they do it will not be the fault of the N&O or its reporters or a bunch of “hicks on a website.”
(UNC MS, ’01)
Carolina leads the series 65-32-6 so you could beat us for the next 33 years straight and still not have a winning record against UNC. Hope that is solid enough for you.
Oh. State won 5 straight? That’s cute. Try getting 7 in a row. ’79-’85 and ’93-’99
keep holding on to the past, chief.
Sooooo…. you want to include it all huh, even when State was using just normal students? That’s fine. I’ll just do from the ACC on; you know, when State HAD to get an actual team. UNC still leads, but it’s just 33-27. And from 56-64, State played at Kenan every year and State STILL went 6-3.
How many ACC titles for UNC? Did you say 5? Well sir, you said correct. How many ACC titles for State? Yo uwill probably guess like 3 or something, so I will go ahead and tell you it’s 7. UNC HAS to have more total conference titles than State, right? Eh, sorry. State is up 11-9.
UNC has a better bowl record and more bowl wins though, right? Oops.UNC: 13-19, for 44.8%. State: 14-12-1, for 51.8%.
Have a great day 🙂
I am aware of the emails that he is refering to, however, I question the biased interpretation of those emails. I have seen no emails that incriminate the head of a department orchastrating academic fraud with academic advisers specifically to send BB & FB players to bump their GPA’s. You find me an email that says “send this guy to AFAM 101 and he won’t have to do anything for an easy A to bump his GPA and keep him eligable” and I will conceed the point. The fact is that this department head was a half A$$ and these classes were open to any students that wanted to take them. Which is why the NCAA declined any involvement.
It wasn’t “2 people in a small dept” at UNC that were behind all of this. There are documented emails showing that the head of that department was orchestrating this whole thing with academic advisors to the athletic dept to make sure FB and BB players got in what were fake classes in order to give them a GPA bump. That’s embarrassing and if you don’t see that then you care more about the Carolina athletic dept than you do the university as a whole.
Just like basket weaving and outdoor recreation.
These hillbillies and hicks have enough technical skills to continue to make a mockery out of the this fraudulent university. Has anyone brought up the severe grade inflation that goes on there? Why would you need such grade inflation I n liberal arts? Well, because most of them can’t read I guess. And we are the hicks… Hilarious
If you are a unc supporter please identify your status. NCSU, Flagship University Graduate. Class os 98
So Joe…here’s a hillbilly that isn’t particularly impressed by your opinion or your education. Your insult laden opinion piece reeks of homer-ism and is awfully short on facts.
We can’t exactly “know” why Crowder (and others) did what they did…but the fact that less than 2% of the student body made up more than 46% of the phony classes is a strong indicator of who benefited the most. I’d say that it’s relatively obvious to those that are open to the answer.
Baker-Tilley didn’t go back 20 years. The former Gov. stated that it would just be re-hashing the same old thing, but did concede that there was irregularities going back to 1994. I wonder why they didn’t just keep going back until they figured out where the cheating started? Don’t you wonder that as well? Everyone knows when this started and under who’s watch it started.
Baker-Tilley backed away from that report when the N&O asked them for the data to support the Gov’s conclusion that this was not an “athletic issue”. Not only did B-T distance themselves…the good Gov. himself NEVER produced the data that he said would follow as an amendment to the report. Maybe “whitewash” is the wrong term…maybe it isn’t. Either way, it’s still incomplete with unc-ch showing no signs of ever filling in the missing info. It’s very reminiscent as to how unc-ch fulfills it’s PUBLIC records request, isn’t it?
I will not dispute your count of 6 investigations, other than to say that unfortunately to date, there has NOT been even 1 INDEPENDENT and thorough investigation. The unc-ch conducted/commissioned “reviews” were all designed with one end in mind…to blame 2 people (as evidenced by the emails finally released over a year after they were requested). The SBI has been and is still investigating for over a year now. That can’t be good, can it? The Orange County DA is apparently waiting on that investigation to finish before the close theirs…but trust me, I’m not expecting anything from that.
But you are correct about enough being enough. unc-ch was caught doctoring up hundreds of phony classes and hundreds of unauthorized grade changes…but has failed to show ANY integrity and come forward to say how many of those phony grades were keeping their athletes eligible. They have failed to show ANY integrity and self-discipline in this matter. It would be a simple matter to go back and re-score those grades accurately, re-calculate GPA’s and then vacate any unearned wins. Why won’t the “flagship” do that simple thing? Why won’t they actually behave as a true leader would? Sure it would be hard, but isn’t that what leaders with integrity do? Do the hard things that the normal hillbilly wouldn’t be capable of?
There was so much cheating at unc-ch that the NCAA said that it was an institutional issue…beyond their scope. That it would be up to the institution to punish itself. Where are you unc-ch?
unc-ch has also been under-reporting rape cases. Has failed to disclose how much taxpayer money was wasted flying Tyler Hansbrough’s mother all over the country to watch both of her son’s play basketball. Has failed to disclose how far back this athletic scheme began. Has failed to apologize to me for paying teachers for these non-classes, and the aforementioned waste of my money by Kupec/Hansbrough, et al. The leaders of unc-ch continue to be educated by some hillbilly message board as to the criminal element that has free run of that campus. I thought that they were supposed to make some kind of improvement of their social media monitoring?
And after all of that…we have outspoken people like yourself…that continue to preach as though you have some kind of pulpit. If only you guys could see and hear yourselves. Trust me, the taxpayers of North Carolina want to hear from you and your brethren. We just keep holding out hope that instead of constantly blaming others…that one day…it won’t be just one professor at unc-ch calling for truth and transparency. We all really do hope that one day, the faculty and the alumni from unc-ch realize what is obvious to others, and join in the call for punishment and true reform at unc-ch. Not the lip service we’ve heard going on 4 years now.
To seem, rather than to be.
So why are there more state fans commenting on this then unc again? I just don’t understand but please feel free to explain why you state fans are so obsessed with Carolina being bad again? It’s not like States never messed up or had players do bad things. Just a couple examples for you ignorant state fans… CJ Leslie getting caught with a rental car, PED usage (why is state still terible if they use PED’s?), Mustafa Greene caught driving 97 in a 65 with a grinder and marijuana on him with no tags on the car, beating up bus drivers and all the Jimmy V stuff in the 80’s. Oh and I almost forgot their most recent one.. Shadrach Taylor being arrested for beating a woman. Here is the link for all you ignorant state fans that havent posted this on pack pride yet:
http://ncmugs.com/mugshots-by-state/north-carolina-mugshots/wake-county/shadrach-thornton-assault-on-a-female/
CJ Leslie rental? Twist it all, why don’t you? He borrowed the car from a friend. The NCAA treated it as a rental. Imagine if your friends charged you to borrow their car.
Thornton, not Taylor(that was funny, btw) got arrested for “beating on a woman”. Found guilty? …… Ever hear of people lying to have someone arrested? Happens all the time. My gosh, some women even claim they were raped AFTER consensual sex, for whatever reason. Does that mean you raped them? Nope. A person can go to the magistrate and swear out a warrant on you with NO evidence. Use that shriveled up thing in your head that you call a brain. Better yet, stop breathing up my oxygen.
So it’s “made up” when a unc-r athlete is accused of wrongdoing. Gotta love that aggie logic.
I honestly could not write a parody post better than this. You manage to perfectly encapsulate the aggie’s victim mentality, dishonesty, and delusion in a way that cannot be matched by those not subjected to State’s peculiar hysteria. Bravo.
Quit cheating and being shady, and the articles will stop. It is as simple as that.
This.
Shadrach Thornton*
I find it comical that the fans of a university that has been sanctioned 4 seperate times for athletic and academic violations have the audacity to comment on anyone else’s situation. Cheating has always been a way of life for NC State so I guess you can sniff it out pretty easily. C.J. Leslie was documented taking money from boosters for his brother’s apartment depsoit, Mustafa Green was caught going 97 mph on I-85 and the list goes on and on so don’t give me any crap about cheating. NCSU wrote the book.
Its pathetic and very telling that state would clearly rather see UNC get dragged through the mud, warranted or not, than have their own school succeed. The louder you scream, “we’re not jealous! we dont have an inferiority complex! you guys are cheating!!! thats how you’ve have a couple dozen national championships across multiple sports, you are cheating!!!” the more you hammer home that you do feel inferior and are clearly jealous.
It must be tough – to hate a rival school more than you love your own.
I’d like to hear how good the ncsu engineering program is some more…
No, but seriously guys. we are all laughing at you b/c you are state, not for any other reason. sticks and stones, sanctions, accusations, articles (true or just spun inflammatory drivel to get hits), is all just noise to UNC alum, students and fans, mainly because when it comes down to it, at the end of the day the national perception (and reality) is that you are state, and we are Carolina.
It hurts b/c its true… I’m sorry that you couldn’t get into UNC and have an amazing college experience, get a degree that’s respected throughout the globe, and have a school that you truly love. I really am. Let the hate go guys, just embrace the mediocrity that will always be state and live your life, as a state fan – as mediocre. Remember when you guys beat us in football 5 out of the past 6 years? I hope you hold on to that, because all I remember is Gio taking to the house.
Wow, so full of yourself there, aren’t you? We all know you didn’t attend UNC, but it’s ok. I’m also sorry that you can only get “an amazing college experience” at UNC, which means that missed out as well. So did everyone else in teh world that didn’t attend the baby blue.
Do you think that maybe how you and other UNC fans treat other fan bases MAY be why all the other fan bases, especially State’s, is all over this? “If you aren’t a UNC fan, then you are beneath me.” is the common attitude from ewe guys. That’s why ewe suck.
4 separate times, huh? Lets see here…. A point shaving scandal that UNC was also involved in. One pickup game involving a player and an assistant coach, AFTER the player had committed. The sale of a few pairs of shoes that the NCAA didn’t do anything with but the ACC did. And what? CJ Leslie? Whose brother(I think it was) got some money from a family friend for essentially a down payment for a little apartment, and then said friend let CJ borrow his car so that he could move his relative’s crap into the new apartment. Oh yes, SOOOOOOO terrible.
UNC had 9 MAJOR violations just a couple years ago, and now all this Fats car rental crap, and you are seriously going to bring up crap that happened 30+ years ago, 1 of which UNC was involved in? GREAT JOB!!! You make our points for us.
NC State, don’t forget the Mary/Mike Easley scandal where people ACTUALLY committed crimes.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/11/30/2517289/mary-easleys-pension-soars-with.html
Nice.
dpanther: BOOM GOES THE DYNOMITE!
Mr. Frierson,
First off let me say that we all appreciate your opinion, and the pride you show in your alma mater.
The N&O is simply stating what is obvious to most outsiders, which is something is wrong at UNC-CH. Even you admit this. All the reviews/investigations that have gone on at UNC-CH have been half measures performed by those like you that are too emotionally, academically or monetarily involved in some way shape or form that prevent them from reaching conclusions without tainted perspective. This is an obvious conclusion from your comments about “hicks on a website” while at the same time praising the N&O for finding “some tremendously valuable work in exposing myriad problems.” I think the N&O and USAToday have both credited those hicks on the website for laying the bread crumbs to issues that for some reason UNC-CH seems unable to find.
I can only conclude from your opinions that you must be working in coalition, voluntarily or otherwise, with the Public Relations firm hired by UNC-CH to battle the onslought of apparently deserved negative press.
I too am not happy with the negative press brought about by all of UNC-CH’s misdeeds, it reflects poorly on ALL graduates of the state’s school system. However, I take a different stance than you concerning corrective actions. The course should be to dig into the issues, INDEPENDENTLY, and address them. A true flagship should lead from the front not cover up from the rear. Thus far all the investigations conducted have had some form of appearance of impropriety. In my line of work the perception of impropriety is all that is necessary to question any conclusions.
The search for the truth should unfold regardless of the consequences. Were this actually the case UNC-CH would spend more on investigators and less on PR firms.
My ultimate concern as a resident is less about the banners that alums of one certain school hold dear and more about the academics of the entire system that benefit all.
I’m sure terms like equality, openness, integrity and respect to differing viewpoints were components of your liberal arts education at UNC-CH. Recent events seem to illustrate that such qualities are lacking in the university’s leadership.
When UNC-CH once again embraces its mission to serve the state and ALL of the people within, versus catering to the elite egotist more interested in engaging in braggadocious taunting over the probable tainted sports and academic standings, then and only then will those of us seeking the truth say “enough is enough.”
Until that day comes UNC-CH will continue to be under suspicion, be it academic rankings, number of reported sexual assaults, athletic titles claimed by questionable means, number of easy or fake classes, compared to member institutions. I can go on.
How many years of scandal does it take to say “enough is enough” and do the right and hard things required to really repair the reputation? We are all still waiting.
Until then the joke is;
Q: How many Tar Heels does it take to get to the get to the bottom of a scandal?
A: Nobody knows because it hasn’t happened yet!
I appreciate the letter writer’s pride in his alma mater. The university is a fine institution. What I question is the attempt to minimize the problem and hope it goes away without fully acknowledging the depth and breadth of it. It was not just two people who on their own decided to pervert the educational goals in favor of athletic goals. There is ample evidence of this that has been found using court orders and independent research instead of the voluntary disclosure we would expect of a fine institution.
I have no hope nor desire to see the athletic program at UNC dismantled. I enjoy sports rivalries. What fans and some grads of UNC seem to want is to preserve their history of success without it being tainted by the fact that some of it is tainted by the fact that they created an unfair advantage by recruiting academically poor athletes, using them to be successful without requiring them to perform at the level that the schools with integrity required.
It will be enough for me just to see the school acknowledge that and indicate that it will not happen again.
That is when enough will be enough.
Joe, this was extremely well written and we should view this as a challenge to the N&O; either choose between journalistic integrity or the marginal short-term incremental revenue from beating a dead horse. The N&O has alienated a significant portion of its target demographic and while it has helped their bottom line of late, it will undoubtedly hurt them going forward (I’m not the only person that refuses to purchase any publication or click any link associated with the N&O).
-Proud UNC and Kenan-Flagler Alumnus Class of 2011
So, it’s “journalistic integrity” if the same paper does this to other schools, ie State, but it’s not “journalistic integrity” when they do it to UNC. RRRRrrriiighhhttttt.
Also, if ewe REALLY think that a few of ewe wine and cheese fans not clicking a link is damaging them, then say hi to Peter Pan for me. Their articles have gone national. They have people clicking on their links from all over the country, and even in some other countries. Idiocy.
NCS fans really want to win something badly don’t they, or, is it they’re just fed up with NOT being mentioned in the same breath with so many other schools currently residing under the ACCs umbrella. Of course I think we all know by now, or at least we should know after 30 years of the same type of whine, that it really isn’t your fault. We know and we understand.
I think NCS should simply forego any valid attempt to draw attention to themselves or their athletic programs and simply create a petition to award themselves a national title in something. That would be easier and take up much less time. Plus, it’s just the right thing to do as we all know you feel you’re owed something.
I’m excited about this plan. Seriously, I am.
I have no dog in this fight but is there something NC State people hope to gain with this silliness? I would think the best way to move a school or a particular program forward would be to actually move it forward. NC State appears to be attempting to promote their school by disparaging another. That might actually work temporarily but at the end of the day, the school is the same. It might appear better to some but is it really.
Are NC State people not happy with the way their school is perceived or is all this something else? If the previous statement is accurate, how does the constant harping on someone else help in that regard. Wouldn’t self promotion, efficient marketing, and drawing attention to the schools success stories be a better, more appropriate course of action.
As a State grad and fan I just want an even playing field. UNC has loads of tradition so things are already in their favor(fair enough). For years now they have not had to suffer any academic casualties in revenue sports, now we find out that it is due to rampant cheating, forged grades and fake classes. Point to Jimmy V all you want, but State has played by the rules for quite some time now while UNC has risen to dominance in basketball.
Someone brought up Mustafa Greene with pot and speeding tickets. He was kicked off the team. Somehow I don’t see that happening to PJ.
Proof is in the pudding. Since all this stuff broke out, UNC has dropped in APR from having consistent perfect scores to landing somewhere near the bottom of the ACC. Maybe the attention brought to their dark underworld is helping, but to hold on to the banners and accomplishments of the past seems… well… kind of stupid. Go ahead and put State down, UNC fans. In the end, all we really want is to have an even playing field. The only reason the guy wrote the editorial is because he thinks State fans are delusional and envious. UNC and State will always compete, so I think it is fair for us to question things when they get shady. As to the ‘little brother syndrome’, when we are part of a system that controls 17 public universities in the state and the leadership of that system is far over 50% UNC grads, maybe we do feel like we need to shout a little louder to have our voices heard.
We don’t want UNC to fall more than we want State to win, we just want to start the race at the line with UNC rather than to give them a head start.
A slightly more eloquent version of typical aggie excuse making for their abysmal athletic and academic standing. It is Carolina’s fault that their preseason #6 team finished 5th in the ACC and gets bounced in the first round. It is Carolina’s fault that their football team has another mediocre season and hires another mediocre coach. You can move Carolina from the annals of history and State is still the least accomplished athletic department among the major schools and the worst academic school in the ACC.
With respect to mark’s comments, State appears to put no time or energy into self promotion. Everything is still hitched to Carolina, and most of their promotions are outright plagiarism. The “This is Our State” campaign illustrates that (1) they only care about their position as it relates to Carolina, and (2) they are not above stealing promotional material from Mississippi State.
This is the State way. Trash your players, former players, and former coach. Talk up your new coach, setting him up for classic ncstatelol failure. Pretend that your student body is made up entirely of engineers when in reality it is no more that 15%. Who couldn’t love this fanbase? Carolina doesn’t have to cheat to obtain a competitive advantage over these nutjobs, they shoot themselves in the foot.
Considering the fact that the average pay for NCSU grads is the highest of all public universities in this state, I don’t feel any urge to argue the relative value of a degree from Raleigh versus chapel hill. I do question the integrity and honor of the rabble who are here defending UNCCH while trying their best to denigrate NCSU. How sad you are when you should recognize the corruption and fraud that has been exposed but not addressed at UNCCH. Shame on you.
Jon H. That is not my point at all. All I was trying to say is that UNC and NCSU will always be in competition for recruits and on the field. Your school has been able to sell 100% graduation rates to recruits families and has not had to adhere to the same standards as we have. Thats an unfair advantage that needs to be corrected.
In case you need a primer, this is the aggie position:
1) The 6 independent investigations of the Carolina scandal were all actually part of the conspiracy to ensure that Carolina Football would continue to win 8 games a year for the immediate future;
2) The bowl ban and scholarship reduction was in no way an adequate punishment for the Tar Heel transgressions, where a guy slept on another guy’s couch and easy classes were offered in a manner much more egregiously than Michigan, Auburn, and other similar institutions. In no way do the State all-online course options or the State courses offered only to athletes with a 100% A grade outcome (which happens to compensate exactly for recent changes to GPA requirements) have any bearing on these issues;
3) The only reason why State is not currently defending a 30 year run of basketball and football championships is the competitive advantages obtained by Carolina which stymied the otherwise unstoppable State athletic machine;
4) Academic ratings that appraise the relative worth of Carolina and State diplomas are fundamentally flawed, because they do not account for the rampant 100 year academic fraud that affected every class at Carolina;
5) Every student at State is an engineering student, and State grads make more money than Carolina grads if you believe a study that did not account for students that obtained graduate degrees and only polled 6 Carolina alums;
6) Even though the average entering Carolina student whipped the average State students ass in high school mercilessly by having a far higher GPA and SAT score, it is State – with its abysmal four year graduation rate – that is the more rigorous institution of higher learning;
7) The last preseason evaluation of State’s coach/player/team insanely overrated in order to make State look bad, but this coach/player/team is absurdly undervalued, and will in fact dominate all opponents;
8) Any similarities between State’s recent “This is Our State” campaign and Mississippi State’s older “This is Our State” campaign are purely coincidental. To the extent that plagiary is implicated, I would look to MSU’s physics department and demand an independent investigation until it is discerned that this entire kerfuffle is a result of the Bulldogs’ discovery of time travel.
9) Any similarities between State’s recent basketball hype video and Louisiana State’s older football hype video are purely coincidental. To the extent that plagiary is implicated, I would look to LSU’s physics department and demand an independent investigation until it is discerned that this entire kerfuffle is a result of the Tigers’ discovery of time travel.
10) PackPride is a patriotic message board that does God’s work. Any statements made about Eve Carson or Jason Ray were entirely factual, and all off-color comments about same are both tasteful and accurate.
11) State has won 5 of the last 6 football contests against Carolina, thus making the rivalry entirely one sided.
12) State dominated Carolina in basketball last year by winning at home.
13) State basketball’s preseason ranking of #6 last year was an overhype of epic proportions. It had nothing to do with returning 4 of 5 starters and adding two 5 star freshman recruiters (who are bums anyways). The returning starters were either (1) not athletic enough (Wood), (2) too short (Howell), (3) degenerates that did not deserve to wear the red and white (Leslie), (4) big headed freshman who erroneously thought they were point guard when they were in fact shooting guards (Purvis), or (5) a shooting guard with an entitled attitude playing point guard. Warren was amazing, and will lead the aggies to the top of the ACC in 2013.
14) Cat Barber is a misunderstood soul who was merely collecting mementos to remind him of his visit to Louisville.
15) State is the #3 enigineering school in the nation, because the ultimate metric of greatness is the number of classes offered. It is also the 51st best public school in America, making it the top non-flagship university in the solar system.
I could go on forever, but I’m tired!
Woody Durham once said it best, “State fans hate Carolina more than they like themselves.” Huge inferiority complex.
It is remarkable how each institution which conducted an investigation is first praised, then disparaged by State fans. The adequacy of an investigation is determined by its outcome. If it confirms what we already know, and does not uncover some secret conspiracy that takes down banners and renders Carolina diplomas worthless, then it is not a truly thorough, independent investigation.
again with the reading comprehension problems. Every ridiculous ‘internal investigation’ was easily dismantled by message board members at Packpride. If NCSU is populated with hicks and hillbillies, it must be quite embarrassing that they made your leadership look so pitiful.
If you were living in the realm of reality and had an ounce of integrity, you would join those who are calling for an open and independent investigation instead of these pathetic embarrassments by corrupt leaders. However, it appears that you are not interested in decency and honor so good luck with that.
You can have the nutjobs at PackPride, and I’ll take the NCAA, Gov. Martin, SACS, and the rest. That message board has shown its colors more than once.
Sick and depraved. Prominent posters at that site celebrate the murder of Carolina students, and the overwhelming majority either partakes or supports the internet stalking of Carolina athletes.
Just an observation of sorts…
NCSU fans commenting on here talk about the “low salaried” UNC grads, how bad the school is, how bad the UNC fans are, how “much” the UNC teams “cheat”, how much better their school is and athletic teams are compared to UNC, how the UNC fans are walmart fans and that the student’s diplomas are worthless.
If UNC is that bad, why would they care so much? You would think they would just have a smug look on their face and just enjoy their own Universities “accomplishments.”.
Again, just an observation.
You should get an eye exam. Or some other exam for other body parts because it should be obvious that we, as taxpayers, deserve better than the George Wallace-like blockade of information that would answer questions about the corruption and fraud being perpetrated in chapel hill.
You all are using MY MONEY to finance fraudulent schemes to create an uneven playing field in sports. Are you even aware of the amount of money that has been wasted just to recruit, accept, retain, and to graduate unqualified athletes? You should educate yourself on the amount and its implications. If you think this is something that can be swept under that dirty rug in chapel hill then you are living life with your head in a hole.
So why was my money as a unc alum used to build State’s Basketball arena when the State Alums couldn’t raise the necessary funds.
Guess you can’t observe very well then. All those comments were made AFTER the wine and cheese fans brought it up. State fans just volleyed back. UNC fans served it. Your powers of observation astound me.
Spot on article. So true the N and O trying to milk every last drop of revenue out of these so called “stories”. They know the Wolpfies will read it! They are basically being like a hore on the street as far as I’m concerned.
Unfortunately, in the State Fan head, nothing less than erasing every bit of existence of UNC off of this universe will be unacceptable. They must really hate UNC! I kinda feel sorry for them.
Don’t bother feeling sorry for me or any other NCSU grad. We make more money than you do. We have the pride of knowing that we worked our asses off to get our degrees while you (if you even graduated from high school) did not (if you indeed took any classes at UNCCH).
No, save your faux pity and put your energy into some added education where you might learn integrity, honor, and decency. It is sorely lacking in chapel hill. I would feel sorry for you were you not such a putz who blindly accepts ignorant talking points.
Don’t forget the basketball title under Sloan…So that makes both titles, in athletics, soiled.
You have to love the way the aggies gleefully attempt to paint Carolina and its alums with such a broad brush. Suddenly all our diplomas are worthless, and our classes were so marvelously easy.
Admissions data, graduate school placement, and the global status of a Carolina diploma tell it truer than a message board fanatic from a rival school. Screaming that Carolina has attributes best associated with State doesn’t convince anyone. The history of athletic cheating and academic mediocrity at State are not going to vanish just because Carolina screwed up.
Carolina’s admissions data makes State look like a junior college
And I’ll happily get into admissions data. It isn’t a year since State enrolled a student who was the only graduate of his high school, which happened to be run by a State alum.
“Unfortunately, in the State Fan head, nothing less than erasing every bit of existence of UNC off of this universe will be unacceptable.”
Unfortunately, in the UNC Fan head, this is an insult. You see, what you actually said there is that State fans will find it unacceptable to erase “every bit of existence of UNC off this universe”.
Go figure.
Hillbillies, lol. Cow college on the one side and an athletics department that has employed a Butch, a Bubba and a guy that sounds like dadgum Deputy Dawg on the other. UNC is just a Cooter and Cletus away from from a full blown 4 tooth family reunion.
Pot, kettle; tossin’ rocks in a glass house, etc.
Funny that uncr fans have forgotten they have one of the top ten dirtiest athletic programs and worship two of the slimiest coaches of all time in valvano and Sloan. Their only two national championships in any sport ever are both tainted and were followed by sanctions. Hell, they even have statues for the two cheaters. Par for the course coming from a school and fan base that just last year made up a phony award to honor two probably drunk loud mouths that got kicked out of a bball game. So typical of uncr fans.
In the morning it still won’t be ” your state” and you will still be uncr fans– heck you even took our top notch engineering prgram the legislature gave you n the 40s and made it 5th best in ACC. Nice work.
To those wanting Carolina to acknowledge problems– they did. Everyone has moved on but Dan Kane and uncr fans.
Just remember all of uncr’s shortcomings athletically and academically are because of the grand conspiracy concocted in chapel hill to keep uncr down–have to just laugh at ncstate.
TBKReturns
Chief, huh? So, Chief Executive Officer, Chief of Police, etc. Wow, how is that racism coming along? Pretty well by the looks of it.
Also, they migrated from Asia, so not really Native American. There are NO native people to NA. They all migrated from somewhere else.
“Every review and investigation concludes the fraud began and ended with 2 people in a small department at UNC.”
Hey Frierson III(how typical), you must have read different reports than I did. Even Gov Martin says it went back to at LEAST 1994, and stated similar things in his report, though he refused to actually, you know, investigate it. People, groups, and reports like him and his are the very reason why journalist are looking into this. If you don’t like it, then don’t read the articles. Better yet, tell the UNC admin to come clean instead of hiding, denying, and delaying everything.
When UNC does release something, it is done right at the close of business day, at the end of the business week, like the Martin “Report”. Why is that? Oh, maybe it’s because it won’t get as much play that way, which is why a lot of people and organisations do it.
Have a nice life down there in Georgia with the hicks, hillbillies, and rednecks you so detest, and keep thinking you are better than everyone else.
“organisations”-OMG, How about oganization. You wulfpeckers are so hypocritical and stupid it’s pathetic.
In case you need a primer, this is the aggie position:
1) The 6 independent investigations of the Carolina scandal were all actually part of the conspiracy to ensure that Carolina Football would continue to win 8 games a year for the immediate future;
2) The bowl ban and scholarship reduction was in no way an adequate punishment for the Tar Heel transgressions, where a guy slept on another guy’s couch and easy classes were offered in a manner much more egregiously than Michigan, Auburn, and other similar institutions. In no way do the State all-online course options or the State courses offered only to athletes with a 100% A grade outcome (which happens to compensate exactly for recent changes to GPA requirements) have any bearing on these issues;
3) The only reason why State is not currently defending a 30 year run of basketball and football championships is the competitive advantages obtained by Carolina which stymied the otherwise unstoppable State athletic machine;
4) Academic ratings that appraise the relative worth of Carolina and State diplomas are fundamentally flawed, because they do not account for the rampant 100 year academic fraud that affected every class at Carolina;
5) Every student at State is an engineering student, and State grads make more money than Carolina grads if you believe a study that did not account for students that obtained graduate degrees and only polled 6 Carolina alums;
6) Even though the average entering Carolina student whipped the average State students ass in high school mercilessly by having a far higher GPA and SAT score, it is State – with its abysmal four year graduation rate – that is the more rigorous institution of higher learning;
7) The last preseason evaluation of State’s coach/player/team insanely overrated in order to make State look bad, but this coach/player/team is absurdly undervalued, and will in fact dominate all opponents;
8) Any similarities between State’s recent “This is Our State” campaign and Mississippi State’s older “This is Our State” campaign are purely coincidental. To the extent that plagiary is implicated, I would look to MSU’s physics department and demand an independent investigation until it is discerned that this entire kerfuffle is a result of the Bulldogs’ discovery of time travel.
9) Any similarities between State’s recent basketball hype video and Louisiana State’s older football hype video are purely coincidental. To the extent that plagiary is implicated, I would look to LSU’s physics department and demand an independent investigation until it is discerned that this entire kerfuffle is a result of the Tigers’ discovery of time travel.
10) PackPride is a patriotic message board that does God’s work. Any statements made about Eve Carson or Jason Ray were entirely factual, and all off-color comments about same are both tasteful and accurate.
11) State has won 5 of the last 6 football contests against Carolina, thus making the rivalry entirely one sided.
12) State dominated Carolina in basketball last year by winning at home.
13) State basketball’s preseason ranking of #6 last year was an overhype of epic proportions. It had nothing to do with returning 4 of 5 starters and adding two 5 star freshman recruiters (who are bums anyways). The returning starters were either (1) not athletic enough (Wood), (2) too short (Howell), (3) degenerates that did not deserve to wear the red and white (Leslie), (4) big headed freshman who erroneously thought they were point guard when they were in fact shooting guards (Purvis), or (5) a shooting guard with an entitled attitude playing point guard. Warren was amazing, and will lead the aggies to the top of the ACC in 2013.
14) Cat Barber is a misunderstood soul who was merely collecting mementos to remind him of his visit to Louisville.
15) State is the #3 enigineering school in the nation, because the ultimate metric of greatness is the number of classes offered. It is also the 51st best public school in America, making it the top non-flagship university in the solar system.
I could go on forever, but I’m tired!
*These are known to the wider world as “Wolpfacts”.
All I can say is Thank you. This has been needed for some time.
Congratulations to NCSU for making the #3 engineering school of the country, beating schools like MIT, CalTech, Stanford, and UC Berkeley!
To the delusional guy: you do realize that among all ACC schools that offer engineering programs, NCSU’s engineering is the dead last, right?
And State College lost 3 in a row prior to winning 5 out of 6 because Chuck the Chest could not win against John Bunting.
Amen Mr. Frierson…The N&O and the HICKS at Moo U are behaving like little school children who didnt get their way and keep pointing their fingers at something that has been gone over with a fine tooth comb. My advice to them is turn your attention to something else more beneficial in their life if there is anything..This ship has sailed!
You are spot on and to the point!
At the end of the day State will always be State and Carolina will always be Carolina. That is to say, Carolina will always be the class of the ACC and State will always be looking up to us in just about every possible way. I don’t blame the Aggies for being bitter…first, a good number of them are only at State because they applied to UNC and were rejected. Couple that with watching Carolina dominate nationally in just about every sport, while NC State has largely been uncompetitive since 1983, and you breed an incredible inferiority complex.