Opinion

Editorial: Folt's mission clear - restore trust in, and reputation of, UNC

Monday, Oct. 16, 2017 -- While the NCAA report closes a chapter in the "paper course" saga, there are a lot of people, students, faculty, fans and supporters, counting on Chancellor Carol Folt and her administration to restore the public trust and regain UNC's cherished academic reputation.

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CBC Editorial: Monday, Oct. 16, 2017; Editorial # 8223
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company
There’s nothing to celebrate following the NCAA’s announcement last week that it “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 academic scandal -- unraveled over the last seven years through the News & Observer’s dogged coverage (would we even know about the sham courses without Dan Kane’s reporting?). Along with it, three internal UNC investigations left the university’s academic and athletic reputation reeling.

Much of the damage from this mess could have been avoided if, early on, university officials had taken the initiative to address the concerns and very real failings head-on rather than stonewalling and lawyering up.

What is most stark is the university’s failure to oversee – provide proper management – to its own institution and academics. Did the administration not know what was going on in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies? If so, that’s bad. Did it know, but choose to ignore it? That’s even worse.

While UNC may have avoided any NCAA sanctions, don’t think for a minute those involved with the problems in the academic operations and the athletic department haven’t paid a price. A chancellor lost his job; administrators, faculty and staff were removed and replaced. At least $18 million – none of it from tuition or state appropriations – was spent in response. That’s money that was raised, but didn’t go to scholarships, better facilities, research or instruction.

Further, the NCAA adds more evidence to the growing reality that, as a governing body, it has outlived its ability to oversee big time athletic programs in this age of enormous revenue sports. Money – BIG BUCKS – has made division 1 football and basketball billion dollar businesses that require winning at all costs. The NCAA and university presidents need to get a grip or risk losing their institutional integrity.

Over the last five years the University of North Carolina – one of the top five public universities in the nation – has been taking repeated blows to the gut. The “Carolina Way” has been shaken.

In June 2015, the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities placed UNC on a year’s probation as a result of the scandal. Carol Folt, who became chancellor at UNC at the apex of the scandal’s revelation, says there have been “more than 70 groundbreaking reforms and initiatives, including in the areas of academic advising and academic oversight. I believe we have done everything possible to correct and move beyond the past academic irregularities and have established very robust processes to prevent them from recurring.”

While Friday’s report closes a chapter in this saga, there are a lot of people, students, faculty, fans and supporters, counting on Chancellor Folt and her administration to restore the public trust and regain UNC’s cherished academic reputation.

She’s made a good start.

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