Mary Willingham publicly admits to academic fraud at UNC.

[The Governor]

http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/04/18/2834915/honored-unc-employee-talks-of.html

 

[Symphony Steve]

What she describes seems like an almost-universal depiction of what goes on in big-time college athletics.

What sets her apart is her honesty and her willingness to draw back the curtain.

 

[The Governor]

What she describes seems like an almost-universal depiction of what goes on in big-time college athletics.

What sets her apart is her honesty and her willingness to draw back the curtain.

I don't think most schools have a fraudulent African American Studies program that the majority of their athletes get forced into.

 

[themorey]

Spot on!

“Let’s be honest,” Willingham said. “The athletic scholarship is just a lottery ticket with room and board, and a few concussions. Or, if you like Willy Wonka, it’s the golden ticket to win a tour here at our factory – where, by the way, you might get injured, or damaged. And there’s no insurance, no worker’s comp and no salary for your labor."

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/04/18/2834915/honored-unc-employee-talks-of.html#storylink=cpy

 

[Symphony Steve]

I don't think most schools have a fraudulent African American Studies program that the majority of their athletes get forced into.

It could be 'kinesiology', it could be 'recreation science'. But most schools have them.

Or, they don't even bother to create anything that plausibly offers education/career opportunity of any sort.

 

[The Governor]

It could be 'kinesiology', it could be 'recreation science'. But most schools have them.

Or, they don't even bother to create anything that plausibly offers education/career opportunity of any sort.

You realize that they had no show classes with no instructions in this department, they had hundreds of unauthorized grade changes, we're not talking about an easy class or a "BS" degree. They were committing academic fraud to keep athletes eligible.

 

[Cuseology]

Is it really all that different to have BS degrees, particularly if they are targeted or designed for athletes? As the articles states, the implicit deal is services for a chance at an education. Admitting kids who don't have the skills to really get a college education, creating BS degrees or outright fraud in grading, ultimately cheats these kids of that deal. And they are kids in the end. UNC may, or may not, have been worse than others, but it is clear that this is a systemic issue.

 

[bballbeadle]

During her 20-minute speech, she lambasted the NCAA – calling the organization a “cartel” and describing its academic entrance standards for athletes “a farce.”

Could any organization be more hypocritical than the NCAA? All those commercials telling the country how they have the student athlete's back. Admitting kids who clearly aren't ready for college, and then slapping them around when they demonstrate they aren't. The NCAA giveth, and the NCAA taketh away.

HOWEVER, the universities play the game as well. Although what choice do they have? It would be great if universities could do their own evaluations of incoming athletes, and then allow the students to take remediation courses that would count towards their degree. I am just trying to figure out how to cut down cheating by students and colleges. And to give ill-prepared student athletes a fighting chance.

Is UNC still being investigated (as we are, supposedly)? Or has this all been swept under the rug?

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/04/18/2834915/honored-unc-employee-talks-of.html#storylink=cpy​

 

[Madbiker]

And if they never admitted these kids with "sub par" high school grades into college because of that would these kids be better off? Of course not. Some will get to develop high level athletic skills and get rich in pro sports. Many more who never go on to pro sports will actually get to experience a world they never would have otherwise and some of them will go on to gain a valuable education with support help, get a degree, and go on to a decent job and a better life. All those who want to just rip the current imperfect system don't ever want to acknowledge the many kids it actually helps.

 

[bballbeadle]

I hereby acknowledge that the current imperfect system does help kids.

 

[Cuseology]

That sounds like the argument for child labor in the developing world.

All true, but shouldn't we demand more? With the money in the system, couldn't more be done to actually educate more of the kids going through the system? The choice doesn't have to be status quo vs don't admit them.

 

[rstone7727]

I think most high level D1 schools have "Basket Weaving 101". I also think this is a good thing that can work. Higher Education should be available to all people regardless of their abilities. Former D1 players can become phys ed. teachers, high school/intermediate school coaches, fitness trainers, etc... Any good University should be able to educate/train the less skilled players for life outside the NBA, after all, these kids are bringing in big money to the Universities.

 

[stuckinbig11]

I don't think most schools have a fraudulent African American Studies program that the majority of their athletes get forced into.

Michigan has a General Studies major that fits that category.

 

[Ghost]

She was honored for this?

Willingham, who worked as a learning and reading specialist inside UNC’s academic support program for athletes, talked Thursday about her struggle to combat the system. She spoke of NCAA paperwork that arrived annually that required a signature and promise that she hadn’t seen cheating, or been a part of it.....

....She proposed the formation of an on-campus preparatory academy to serve the needs of athletes who arrive on campus without the ability to read and write at the college level.

_________________

“I’ve got to tell you that most of the time, I scribbled my initials on it,” Willingham said. “So yeah, I lied. I saw it – I saw cheating. I saw it, I knew about it, I was an accomplice to it, I witnessed it. And I was afraid, and silent, for so long.”

 

[Orangezoo]

honestly its not the academic assistance for athletes that bother me- these kids were not recruited to get a's in calc or journalism. What bothers me more is money spent to treat recruits like celebrities and buying them with "extras". They deserve a chance to get an education but forcing kids who have been ushered through basketballs version of bootcamp and assisted with academics as though they are simply like the questions on a drivers test ... lets be real.

 

[PhatOrange]

At Syracuse it's called child and family studies.

 

[tbonezone]

m ary willingham?she was st elmos right?

 

[itsbotime]

You realize that they had no show classes with no instructions in this department, they had hundreds of unauthorized grade changes, we're not talking about an easy class or a "BS" degree. They were committing academic fraud to keep athletes eligible.

Not according to the NCAA.

For the 'Cuse fans who haven't been following what has been going on in Chapel Hill recently, three separate investigations as well as the NCAA itself all cleared UNC's athletic department of any wrongdoing with regard to the academic issues. The suspect classes were independent study courses that required a fifteen-page paper at the end and represented a tiny minority of classes confined within one major and under one professor and his assistant, both of whom were forced to leave the university. A little sketchy, to be sure, but that's the way college athletics as a whole are in this country. You can't really expect to recruit kids who barely made it through high school, put them in a competitive college environment with people who graduated at or near the top of their classes, throw in untold hours a week of practice and travel, and expect most of them to be academic all-stars.

It would be nice to see the NCAA allow a "basketball" or "football" major. If you can go to college on scholarship and major in playing the tuba or in acting, why not in playing a sport? Not exactly fair for the athletes.

 

[tbonezone]

"It would be nice to see the NCAA allow a "basketball" or "football" major. If you can go to college on scholarship and major in playing the tuba or in acting, why not in playing a sport? Not exactly fair for the athletes."​

less than 4 % of d1 basketball will ever go pro and most of those only play a few seasons.
whole lotta good a "basketball degree" is going to do for the other 96% trying to earn a living.

 

[itsbotime]

​

"It would be nice to see the NCAA allow a "basketball" or "football" major. If you can go to college on scholarship and major in playing the tuba or in acting, why not in playing a sport? Not exactly fair for the athletes."​

less than 4 % of d1 basketball will ever go pro and most of those only play a few seasons.
whole lotta good a "basketball degree" is going to do for the other 96% trying to earn a living.

Exactly. Teach them coaching so they can at least make money as a high school coach. Or teach them conditioning so they can be a trainer. And for the ones who are going to go pro, teach them money management, something that high school probably never taught them. And for EVERY athlete, how about a class called "NCAA Rules Compliance 101."

 

[Oakland]

I think most high level D1 schools have "Basket Weaving 101". I also think this is a good thing that can work. Higher Education should be available to all people regardless of their abilities. Former D1 players can become phys ed. teachers, high school/intermediate school coaches, fitness trainers, etc... Any good University should be able to educate/train the less skilled players for life outside the NBA, after all, these kids are bringing in big money to the Universities.

I think most high level D1 schools have "Basket Weaving 101". I also think this is a good thing that can work. Higher Education should be available to all people regardless of their abilities. Former D1 players can become phys ed. teachers, high school/intermediate school coaches, fitness trainers, etc... Any good University should be able to educate/train the less skilled players for life outside the NBA, after all, these kids are bringing in big money to the Universities.

If it available to all regardless of ability, then it isn't higher education.

 

[rstone7727]

If it available to all regardless of ability, then it isn't higher education.

I always thought "Higher Education" was anything above High School but I get your point..