No Penalties for UNC in NCAA Investigation

The conclusion of a years-long NCAA investigation left UNC unscathed on Friday.

The NCAA announced Friday morning that the Division I Committee on Infractions “could not conclude that the University of North Carolina violated NCAA academic rules when it made available deficient Department of African and Afro-American Studies ‘paper courses’ to the general student body, including student-athletes.”

The case has caused a cloud over UNC athletics in recent years as the NCAA looked into the possibility of student-athletes receiving extra benefits through courses that required little work and often ended with high grades. Student-athletes were enrolled in these courses at disproportionate levels, but there were members of the general student body enrolled in the courses as well.

“While student-athletes likely benefited from the so-called ‘paper courses’ offered by North Carolina, the information available in the record did not establish that the courses were solely created, offered and maintained as an orchestrated effort to benefit student-athletes,” said Greg Sankey, the panel’s chief hearing officer and commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. “The panel is troubled by the university’s shifting positions about whether academic fraud occurred on its campus and the credibility of the Cadwalader report, which it distanced itself from after initially supporting the findings. However, NCAA policy is clear. The NCAA defers to its member schools to determine whether academic fraud occurred and, ultimately, the panel is bound to making decisions within the rules set by the membership.”

Sankey continued in the release announcing the ruling:

“While student-athletes likely benefited from the courses, so did the general student body. Additionally, the record did not establish that the university created and offered the courses as part of a systemic effort to benefit only student-athletes.”

The lone penalty levied by the NCAA on Friday is in the form of a show-cause order being issued against the former chair of the department at the center of the scandal Julius Nyang’oro.

UNC had maintained that the paper courses were an academic issue and not subject to the NCAA’s jurisdiction. UNC’s accrediting body placed the university on a year-long probationary period due to the courses. UNC has now been restored to full standing by the accrediting agency.

No Penalties for UNC in NCAA Investigation

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