UNC's Wainstein Report On Academic Fraud Due Wednesday

The long-awaited report on academic fraud at UNC is scheduled to be released on Wednesday.

A group of investigators led by attorney Kenneth Wainstein has been working for nearly a year to dig into allegations of fraudulent classes with disproportionately high enrollment by college athletes.

The findings will be presented to a special joint meeting of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors and the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees. A press conference will take place at 1:00 p.m. in the first floor of the Kenan Center, located by the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

UNC President Tom Ross and UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt will join Wainstein to respond and announce their initial actions based on the report. They will also take questions from the media.

Once it has been released, Wainstein’s report will be available online: carolinacommitment.unc.edu

After the press conference, Chancellor Folt will host a town hall meeting with faculty, staff and students to discuss the findings. That takes place from 5 to 6 p.m. in room G200 of the Genome Sciences Building.

UNC officials on Monday released the following statement about the report:

“Since February 2014, former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein and his team have rigorously sought to address questions left unanswered during previous University-commissioned reviews of academic irregularities at UNC-Chapel Hill. Mr. Wainstein interviewed hundreds of individuals, including current and former faculty members, athletics department staff, academic advisors, academic counselors in the Academic Support Program for Student Athletes, administrators and students, including student-athletes. He has collected and searched millions of emails and analyzed student records, including transcripts, of thousands of students going back to the 1980s.

“On Wednesday Mr. Wainstein will publicly release the findings of his inquiry. Carolina believes this investigation provides the only way to truly understand and address what went wrong. We have a responsibility to our students, faculty, staff, alumni and University community at large to ensure we have a complete assessment of what transpired. Since first learning about these irregularities, Carolina has not stood still. We have taken actions and implemented initiatives to ensure proper oversight and support is provided across the University. The findings in Mr. Wainstein’s report will be used to further strengthen processes and policies to ensure nothing like this can happen again at Carolina.”

In an online message to the community, Chancellor Folt wrote, in part:

“The last few years have been difficult for our community. I believe this report will allow us to have a complete picture of what happened at Carolina and build on the numerous reforms we have already put in place.

I understand that many of you have questions, and I hope that many will be answered on Wednesday. We will continue to keep you informed as we move forward.”

You can read her full statement here: http://unc.edu/campus-updates/message-from-chancellor-carol-l-folt-5/