Mike Schmitt

A student-athlete turned in a 146-word essay about Rosa Parks — one paragraph, riddled with errors, no sources — and got an A-minus. That single paper helped expose the biggest academic fraud in NCAA history. For 18 years, from 1993 to 2011, a department secretary named Deborah Crowder ran fake courses at the University of North Carolina. @UNC The classes never met. There was no syllabus and no professor. Students turned in one paper per semester. Crowder admitted she never read them. She skimmed introductions and handed out A’s. UNC’s academic counselors steered athletes into these courses each semester, specifying what grades each player needed. Athletes made up 47% of enrollments despite being just 4% of the student body. Rashad McCants, a star on UNC’s 2005 championship team, told ESPN he made the Dean’s List without attending a single class. Ten of fifteen players on that title team were enrolled in paper courses. When whistleblower Mary Willingham revealed that 60% of athletes read at a 4th-to-8th grade level, UNC attacked her publicly and fans sent death threats. She was forced to resign. In October 2014, a 136-page investigation confirmed the scope: 188 fake classes, 3,100 students, 18 years of fraud. And the punishment? In October 2017, the NCAA ruled there were no significant violations. Zero penalties. No vacated wins. No postseason bans. @UNC calls themselves a bastion of academia. How incredibly pathetic.