[jariel]

Quote:

Rashad McCants, the second-leading scorer on the North Carolina basketball team that won the 2004-05 national title, told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that tutors wrote his term papers, he rarely went to class for about half his time at UNC, and he remained able to play largely because he took bogus classes designed to keep athletes academically eligible.

McCants told "Outside the Lines" that he could have been academically ineligible to play during the championship season had he not been provided the assistance. Further, he said head basketball coach Roy Williams knew about the "paper class" system at UNC. The so-called paper classes didn't require students to go to class; rather, students were required to submit only one term paper to receive a grade.

McCants also told "Outside the Lines" that he even made the dean's list in the spring of 2005 despite not attending any of his four classes for which he received straight-A grades. He said advisers and tutors who worked with the basketball program steered him to take the paper classes within the African-American Studies program.

McCants' allegations mirror and amplify many of those first made public in 2011, when the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer began to report about widespread academic fraud at UNC. The scandal has centered on the African-American Studies classes that many athletes took in order to remain eligible. The newspaper reported in December 2012 that basketball players on the national championship team accounted for 15 enrollments in the classes. A UNC internal investigation found that 54 classes in the department of African and Afro-American Studies were either "aberrant" or "irregularly" taught from summer 2007 to summer 2011. That investigation only went back to 2007, according to the school's review, because the two senior associate deans who conducted the probe were told by Karen Gil, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, to focus on that time frame.

The NCAA sanctioned the football program for improper benefits and academic misconduct involving a tutor, but the athletic department's sports programs largely emerged from the academic scandal penalty-free.

In a statement to "Outside the Lines" on Thursday, UNC athletics director Bubba Cunningham said: "It is disappointing any time a student is dissatisfied with his or her experience. I welcome the opportunity to speak with Rashad McCants about returning to UNC to continue his academic career -- just as we have welcomed many former student-athletes interested in completing their degrees.

"The university hired former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein in January to conduct an independent investigation into past academic and athletic irregularities. While these are the first allegations we have heard from Mr. McCants, I encourage him to speak with Mr. Wainstein. ...

"I have gotten to know some of Mr. McCants' teammates, and I know that claims about their academic experience have affected them deeply. They are adamant that they had a different experience at UNC-Chapel Hill than has been portrayed by Mr. McCants and others."

Williams also issued a statement, saying: "With respect to the comments made today, I strongly disagree with what Rashad [McCants] has said. In no way did I know about or do anything close to what he says and I think the players whom I have coached over the years will agree with me. I have spent 63 years on this earth trying to do things the right way and the picture he portrays is not fair to the university or me."

A copy of McCants' university transcript, labeled "unofficial" and obtained by "Outside the Lines," shows that in his non-African-American Studies classes, McCants received six C's, one D and three F's. In his African-American Studies classes, 10 of his grades were A's, six B's, one a C and one a D. The UNC registrar's office declined to send McCants an official, signed transcript because of a May 2005 hold on its release. According to the UNC athletic department, McCants had university property that had never been returned.

A second copy of his transcript obtained from a different source by "Outside the Lines" is identical to the first and is also not signed by the registrar but does not contain the label "unofficial."

McCants, who said it was common for basketball players to major in African-American Studies, said he assumed tutors writing papers for athletes was to be expected and he didn't question it while he attended UNC.

"I thought it was a part of the college experience, just like watching it on a movie from 'He Got Game' or 'Blue Chips,'" McCants said. "... When you get to college, you don't go to class, you don't do nothing, you just show up and play. That's exactly how it was, you know, and I think that was the tradition of college basketball, or college, period, any sport. You're not there to get an education, though they tell you that.

"You're there to make revenue for the college. You're there to put fans in the seats. You're there to bring prestige to the university by winning games."

McCants said his first year he did go to class and took several legitimate, core-curriculum courses. But overall, his transcript shows he ended up with more than 50 percent of his courses being African-American Studies classes.

McCants said he was headed toward ineligibility during the championship season because he had failed algebra and psychology, which accounted for half of his credits, in the fall of 2004. He had two A's in African-American Studies classes in addition to the F's. He said coach Roy Williams informed him of his academic troubles during a meeting ahead of the spring semester.

"There was a slight panic on my part ... [he] said, you know, we're going to be able to figure out how to make it happen, but you need to buckle down on your academics."

He said Williams told him "we're going to be able to change a class from, you know, your summer session class and swap it out with the class that you failed, just so the GPA could reflect that you are in good standing."

McCants ended up in four African-American Studies classes in the following semester, earning straight A's. He said he didn't know what Williams was getting at with the summer school class replacement reference, and he never talked with Williams about it again. The transcripts show he had received one A in an African-American Studies class in the summer of 2004.

"I remained eligible to finish out and win the championship, his first championship, and everything was peaches and cream," McCants said.

He said he is sure Williams and the athletic department as a whole knew "100 percent" about the paper class system.

"I mean, you have to know about the education of your players and ... who's eligible, who's not and ... who goes to this class and missing that class. We had to run sprints for missing classes if we got caught, so you know, they were very aware of what was going on."

Former Tar Heels player Sean May, who said he received his degree in 2009, disagreed that the McCants' experience was the norm for players. He said he met with Wainstein, the investigator, last month.

"I hate people calling it paper classes," May said. "It makes it seem like we didn't do anything. I know work was done. I had to write 25-page papers for independent study."

May said he'd met with a number of teammates in anticipation of the story running, and talked about a statement he said was reflective of the views of teammates on the 2005 championship team other than McCants.

"By no means does what Rashad said reflect our views and experiences about North Carolina," May said. "We knew that something was coming out. But in a million years, we didn't think this was it. It's unfortunate."

The statement released to ESPN said that the players attended class and did their own academic work. It also said: "We also want to make it clear that Coach Williams and his staff operated with the highest level of ethics and integrity within their respective roles."

"Outside the Lines" tried repeatedly to reach May for an interview over the past several weeks. Through a spokesperson at his charitable foundation, he declined to comment. Several players, who May on Friday says he met with, also were contacted by "Outside the Lines," and they either declined to comment or did not respond to interview requests.

In a statement released late Friday, Wainstein said: " We have interviewed or attempted to interview a number of current and former UNC student athletes and we have received valuable insights and information from those who have agreed to speak with us. We would welcome the opportunity to speak to Mr. McCants or anybody else who can shed light on the issues we are investigating."

McCants left UNC after his third year and played four seasons in the NBA, before moving to play overseas. In the 90-minute "Outside the Lines" interview last month, McCants said he is planning to write a book about his basketball and collegiate experience.

McCants played as a freshman for coach Matt Doherty, who resigned under pressure and was succeeded by Williams in April 2003. McCants led the ACC in scoring his sophomore year and was the second-leading scorer his junior year as the Tar Heels won the national title. Still, he was often described as mercurial and enigmatic. In one local TV interview that ended up drawing national media coverage, McCants angered the basketball program's fans by equating UNC with being in jail: "You're not allowed to do certain things, you're not allowed to say certain things." He later said his statements were misinterpreted.

He acknowledged the difficult times at UNC when he spoke with "Outside the Lines," but spoke fondly about his time there overall. He discussed his suspect college education, describing himself as self-educated, and talked generally about how student athletes are treated at major sports programs. He spoke from memory without referring to his transcript. While he remembered most details correctly in terms of his transcript, he got other details incorrect, such as saying he had made the Dean's List twice instead of once.

"Outside the Lines" contacted or attempted to contact other players, and tutors and advisers from the Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes, but all either didn't respond or declined to comment.

Mary Willingham, a former UNC learning specialist who is often described as a whistleblower about the UNC academic fraud scandal, said she believes McCants' allegations.

"What he is saying absolutely lines up with what I have found: tutors writing papers for players, and advisers and tutors steering players to AFAM," she said. "I think the coaches knew about the paper class system. Of course they did.

"The system will only change when our athletes have a voice and begin to step forward, and that's what Rashad is doing. It was the adults who failed the athletes."

Doherty said Friday that "I did not see any problems while I was at UNC as a player or a coach. I feel sorry for Rashad. He has had a lot of ups and downs during his career. If there are any issues, I trust that Bubba Cunningham and the university will get to the bottom of it."

Willingham said she and other colleagues openly discussed their concerns about the African-American Studies paper class system in 2006, the same year The New York Times published an investigation about an independent studies scandal at Auburn. By 2007, Willingham said basketball players had started moving away from paper classes, and by 2009, when the basketball program hired a new academic adviser, the UNC paper-class system had all-but ended.

McCants said he's coming forward now because he is concerned about the future.

"It's about my kids, about your kids. It's about their kids. It's about knowing the education that I received and knowing that something needs to change," he said. "This has nothing to do with the Carolina fans or the Carolina program. It has everything to do with the system, and Carolina just so happened to be a part of the system and they participated in the system, so in retrospect, you have to look at it and say, 'Hey, you know what you did wrong.'

"Stand up. It's time for everybody to really just be accountable."

He said he is prepared for a backlash from UNC fans.

"If there are Carolina fans that don't like what's I'm saying and don't like what's happening right now, they need to look in the mirror, see that it's a bigger picture," he said. "... I'm putting my life on the line for the younger generation right now, and I know that nobody else wants to step up and speak out because everybody's afraid, fear, submission, especially the black athletes ...

"College was a great experience, but looking back at it, now it's almost a tragedy because I spent a lot of my time in a class I didn't do anything in."

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/1...am-classes

[cooledcannon]

Was an interesting piece.

Still, I think if guys are successful at whatever they do(including sports), it seems like there is no point for them to go to college/classes. I know its standard redpill advice that college is a scam... But if you are already successful, its even more of a scam. Why the fuck would you spend time/effort on classes when you can train/play.

[L M McCoy]

Look at Dez Bryant, this shit happens all the time

[bacan]

I hope the UNC basketball program gets destroyed for this

[Days of Broken Arrows]

Interesting article. There's fraud going on way beyond the athletes -- in the frats, with the legacy admissions, and in other areas.

Also, the Boston Globe ran a story in December about grade inflation: "A" is the most common grade at Harvard. How can that be? Courses are too easy? Everyone is so smart? Ha. If everyone is brilliant, no one is brilliant. That's your problem with America right there.

[puckerman]

This is par for the course in college sports. It's why I hardly pay any attention at all to it anymore.

[cooledcannon]

Not familiar with the American college sports scene.

But how is this fraud or immoral in any way? it just seems like the college only wants them for their sports abilities, not really for their ability to take tests.

[Brosemite]

Why would this guy go extra mile to rat out his alma mater that gave him all those benefits (including high end tang) and an opportunity to play professional Bball?

Perhaps attention whoring?

[eradicator]

(06-06-2014 06:16 PM)Days of Broken Arrows Wrote:  

Interesting article. There's fraud going on way beyond the athletes -- in the frats, with the legacy admissions, and in other areas.

Also, the Boston Globe ran a story in December about grade inflation: "A" is the most common grade at Harvard. How can that be? Courses are too easy? Everyone is so smart? Ha. If everyone is brilliant, no one is brilliant. That's your problem with America right there.

to get into an ivy league, you need close to straight A's in high school. Why are you assuming that a lot of the straight A students are going to let their study habits turn to shit as soon as they get to college?

[Ensam]

(06-06-2014 06:18 PM)cooledcannon Wrote:  

Not familiar with the American college sports scene.

But how is this fraud or immoral in any way? it just seems like the college only wants them for their sports abilities, not really for their ability to take tests.

It's immoral because the NCAA justifies not paying it's players and in fact punishing them for gaining even the slightest advantage from their playing ability during their time as college players by stating that they're getting a free education. It's fraud because it lowers the value of degrees issued by the university - especially for students athletes who actually play by the rules. There are indeed athletes who manage to play at an elite level and still maintain 4.0s. These kind of shenanigans tarnish that image. Universities should either be proper academic institutions where earning a degree means the same for every student or they should be semi-pro leagues were their players get compensated appropriately and they drop the charade of providing an education.

[cooledcannon]

(06-06-2014 06:29 PM)Ensam Wrote:  

It's immoral because the NCAA justifies not paying it's players and in fact punishing them for gaining even the slightest advantage from their playing ability during their time as college players by stating that they're getting a free education. It's fraud because it lowers the value of degrees issued by the university - especially for students athletes who actually play by the rules. There are indeed athletes who manage to play at an elite level and still maintain 4.0s. These kind of shenanigans tarnish that image. Universities should either be proper academic institutions where earning a degree means the same for every student or they should be semi-pro leagues were their players get compensated appropriately and they drop the charade of providing an education.

I sorta understand the watering down of the degrees. So employers(and high school graduates looking to go to college) need to watch out.

I assume athletes already know this. If they do, why dont they play for a paid league instead of a college league? If they cant, could it be argued that the colleges are doing them a service because of the increased publicity?

[Ensam]

It's the reason the pros have unions. If unions weren't there only the very star players would get paid a living wage. Everyone else would get paid next to nothing with the justification that they were being given access to the potential to be a star player. Same thing with actors and other fields where the supply of talent way exceeds the demand.

[whoishe]

(06-06-2014 06:35 PM)cooledcannon Wrote:  

(06-06-2014 06:29 PM)Ensam Wrote:  

It's immoral because the NCAA justifies not paying it's players and in fact punishing them for gaining even the slightest advantage from their playing ability during their time as college players by stating that they're getting a free education. It's fraud because it lowers the value of degrees issued by the university - especially for students athletes who actually play by the rules. There are indeed athletes who manage to play at an elite level and still maintain 4.0s. These kind of shenanigans tarnish that image. Universities should either be proper academic institutions where earning a degree means the same for every student or they should be semi-pro leagues were their players get compensated appropriately and they drop the charade of providing an education.

I sorta understand the watering down of the degrees. So employers(and high school graduates looking to go to college) need to watch out.

I assume athletes already know this. If they do, why dont they play for a paid league instead of a college league? If they cant, could it be argued that the colleges are doing them a service because of the increased publicity?

The NBA requires players to be at least 19 years old and one year removed from high school before entering the league,
So if US player wouldnt be interested in going to NBA through NCAA his only option is to come through Europe. There are professionals leagues here where he can get a very good money (especially comparing to officially zero money at NCAA level), but it;s extremely difficult for High School kid to adjust to Europe - on the court as well as off the court. Basketball is so different here and even players from NBA or after full NCAA careers are struggling here aften.

There are examples of it - Brandon Jennings comes to mind. He was bench warmer for Lottomatica Rome after he decided to not join any NCAA team and go to NBA through Europe - "In the Italian Serie A 2008–09 season, Jennings averaged in 27 games, 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.5 steals in 17.0 minutes per game. He shot 35.1 percent from the field and 20.7 percent from 3 point range in Serie A play."
After this horrific season (when he aften complained about multiple stuff) he was drafted as 10th pick by Milwaukee Bucks and averaged 15,5 ppg in his rookie season. Clear example of someone not ready for Europe (mentally and skills wise), but talented enough to have a good season for weak NBA team.

Europe it's very difficult environment for 18-year old players to succeed. And there is no opportunity to earn any decent money in US Basketball leagues outside NBA, for example D-League pays absolute peanuts (not sure now, but a few years ago contracts there were for 12k, 18k and 24k per season).

There were a times when NBA was accepting players straight after HS. At beginning many of them were hits: Shawn Kemp, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, etc...

But soon more and more HS players wanted to take this route and they were far from being ready. This fact combined with NCAA pressure (and ESPN pressure from having huge TV Contract for NCAA competition) made NBA changing their mind and accepting rule which is still valid today.

I am only familiar with NCAAB/NBA from US Sports, so used this leagues for example.

[SheriffBart]

The best part of this is the implication of athletes being advised to take African American Studies as their ghost program.

It's easy to fake taking a class that doesn't have any real substance or value to begin with. Just have tutors write papers complaining about whitey.

[kosko]

(06-06-2014 06:24 PM)eradicator Wrote:  

(06-06-2014 06:16 PM)Days of Broken Arrows Wrote:  

Interesting article. There's fraud going on way beyond the athletes -- in the frats, with the legacy admissions, and in other areas.

Also, the Boston Globe ran a story in December about grade inflation: "A" is the most common grade at Harvard. How can that be? Courses are too easy? Everyone is so smart? Ha. If everyone is brilliant, no one is brilliant. That's your problem with America right there.

to get into an ivy league, you need close to straight A's in high school. Why are you assuming that a lot of the straight A students are going to let their study habits turn to shit as soon as they get to college?

The American study habits start to look tame in comparison to the International kids. Grade inflation is rampant in American schools Ivy League, to bottom tier. To many times Canadians go down there and fart out 3.0 GPAs without even trying.

Harvard is Pay for play for marks. If you have the connections and the cash you will get something out of it.

[Switch]

College sports are fucked up. Until somebody comes up with a better system for recruiting and rewarding players, this type of stuff s going to happen. The problem is that there isn't a better system, so it will continue to happen. But I don't think the guy actually got a degree, did he? It's not like UNC just dropped a BS in Mechanical engineering on the guy--they gave him a few A's in African American studies. Who cares. Every University does this so it shouldn't be a huge shock. For them it's either forge some grades or go bankrupt.

[assman]

(06-06-2014 06:22 PM)Brosemite Wrote:  

Why would this guy go extra mile to rat out his alma mater that gave him all those benefits (including high end tang) and an opportunity to play professional Bball?

Perhaps attention whoring?

McCants explained why in the article. Maybe he's attention whoring, maybe not.

That investigation only went back to 2007, according to the school's review, because the two senior associate deans who conducted the probe were told by Karen Gil, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, to focus on that time frame.

Why did the dean instruct the internal probe to only go back to 2007, when McCants claims were for 2004-2005? If his claims are BS, why not go right to the heart of the matter and demonstrate that he's full of shit?

[Feisbook Control]

There is massive academic fraud from/amongst overseas students also. I used to be in a large club where probably 80%+ of the members were overseas students. There is no way those guys were writing either essays or exams in English and getting good marks all by themselves because their English was crap.

Of course, the cheating/gaming process begins even before then. I had a friend in Taiwan whose girlfriend wanted to go to America to study for post grad, so she had to do an exam (GMAT?). Apparently, there are/were (they were talking about phasing it out) two forms of the exam: paper and computer. Supposedly, there's a difference in that one form uses the same limited questions far more frequently than the other. People in East Asia were gaming the system like that by posting the questions and answers online, so the officials stopped administering that form of the test in East Asian countries. Yet they did not stop doing that in Southeast Asian countries. So guess what? All the East Asian students now go to Thailand, the Philippines, etc. to take the test. My friend's girlfriend wanted to go to Thailand to take it, but the test was booked out for months, so she went to the Philippines instead.

Then, of course, there's the massive cram school culture, both outside Western countries and inside Western countries. There are lots of such places attached in one way or another to my former university that do a "foundation year" (i.e. suck more money out of overseas students in a one year preparatory course).

Academia in the West is a massive whorehouse. Athletes are the least of the problem.

[Excelsior]

(06-06-2014 06:16 PM)Days of Broken Arrows Wrote:  

Interesting article. There's fraud going on way beyond the athletes -- in the frats, with the legacy admissions, and in other areas.

Also, the Boston Globe ran a story in December about grade inflation: "A" is the most common grade at Harvard. How can that be? Courses are too easy? Everyone is so smart?

Yes.

Quote:

Ha. If everyone is brilliant, no one is brilliant. That's your problem with America right there.

Everyone is not brilliant. Everyone (or almost everyone) at Harvard (or similar schools) is brilliant. There's a big difference. That says nothing about America either, because Harvard's student body is not generally representative of America.

The reality of any given class of Harvard students is as follows:

1. Their average SAT scores surpass the 99th percentile

2. With few exceptions, they've been A students for most of their lives. A wildly disproportionate number of students at Harvard and other Ivies are salutarians or valedictorians.

3. Most come highly decorated academically (honor roll awards, merit scholarships, etc, etc)

4. Most come from relatively affluent backgrounds (average class of 2016 Harvard admit came from a household with between $125,000 and $250,000 in income; 14% came from household incomes of $500,000 or more; median household income in the US is not even $50,000). This is important because it illustrates a big reason why many of these kids are so good in school: resources. These kids have been going to the very best schools and receiving the very best academic tutoring and preparation for most of their lives. They can afford it. Many have been prepping for college entry since middle school, and doing so with an intensity that most students can neither afford nor tolerate.

The increase in the number of "A's" given at Harvard and other elite schools is not a product of an "everybody wins" culture or of undeserved charity on the part of academia. It is a result of a college entrance process that has gotten vastly more competitive in recent decades as a result of an increasingly more capable, more well prepared pool of applicants to these schools. These kids just don't write C or B- papers very often, which is why the curve has had to go up at these schools.

TL;DR: Yes, they are that good.

[Samseau]

^ Even if they are that good, giving everyone A's defeats the purpose of grades because there is no way to separate the top-tier Harvard students from the bottom tier.

If they are going with the "everyone is so smart route," which may be true, then they should just go like Yale and only give pass/fail.

[kmhour]

the idea that there is no grade inflation at Ivies because everyone is smart, is silly. setting aside that exams and evaluations should be set up to create a proper grade distribution (the classic 'bell curve' for example) anyway, wealthy parents don't contribute to the biggest endowments in the nation if Alistair Dalrymple III is pulling down Cs. and of course the people are smarter - but if you go to a good school, you suddenly go from being one of the smarter people in your class to more than likely middle of the pack. there will be outliers but it simply creates a 'new normal' that is by definition average. Or a C, to put it in letter grade terms.

and if it was a case of wealthy parents providing significant resources explaining the inflated grades, the diversity admissions would be crushed. which obviously can't be allowed.

the simple fact is that if everyone gets an A on the test, it's a shitty test. to put it in game terms, nobody wants the girl who isn't a challenge to get into bed.

[Samseau]

(06-07-2014 02:49 PM)kmhour Wrote:  

the simple fact is that if everyone gets an A on the test, it's a shitty test. to put it in game terms, nobody wants the girl who isn't a challenge to get into bed.

Speak for yourself

[la_mode]

Shouldn't be any surprises here, when it's a good program, most of those guys goto the school just for that sport.

[kmhour]

(06-07-2014 02:52 PM)Samseau Wrote:  

Speak for yourself

Hah! Okay, for a relationship.

[weambulance]

(06-07-2014 02:27 PM)Excelsior Wrote:  

(06-06-2014 06:16 PM)Days of Broken Arrows Wrote:  

Interesting article. There's fraud going on way beyond the athletes -- in the frats, with the legacy admissions, and in other areas.

Also, the Boston Globe ran a story in December about grade inflation: "A" is the most common grade at Harvard. How can that be? Courses are too easy? Everyone is so smart?

Yes.

Quote:

Ha. If everyone is brilliant, no one is brilliant. That's your problem with America right there.

Everyone is not brilliant. Everyone (or almost everyone) at Harvard (or similar schools) is brilliant.... snip.

TL;DR: Yes, they are that good.

Brilliant is quite the exaggeration. I went to a very good public high school, I was part of the honors programs, etc. Half my social circle went to ivy league schools. Kids who get into ivy league schools are smart, they work hard, they do extra bullshit to pad their applications, and if they're lucky they're the right race or sex to fit the agenda. But on the whole, they're not brilliant.

How many truly brilliant people do you meet in a life? So far, I've only met one, and he's one of my professors. He's the only man I've ever met who I think is a true genius. He is one of the top scientists in the world in his field, he went to MIT and Stanford... and now he teaches at a small state university.

I've never scored below 99th percentile on a standardized test in my life. Yet, I don't consider myself brilliant. I am merely very smart.

Anyway, your logic about As doesn't make sense to me. If the students are sooo good that they're all pulling down As, make the freaking classes harder! You're not doing them any favors by keeping the intensity down if they're capable of more. That's just going through the motions, you need to challenge students if you want some to excel.

Also, in my experience extremely intelligent people don't have a lot of patience for bullshit. What I'd expect to see when looking at a really smart kid's transcript, say one majoring in physics, is a whole bunch of As in math and physics and a bunch of Bs or Cs in the crap he has to take that he doesn't care about. Dude's there to learn physics and get into Caltech, not learn about the Wiggy-woggy people of Bumfuckistan or read shitty literature he can't identify with at all by some villager in northern Africa.

Anyway, IMO ivy league schools are about networking, not education. It's foolish to pedestalize people just because they went to an ivy league school.