The combination of the holiday break, #dcRising* and the looming snap elections in Greece have prompted me to blog again, for the the first time since the World Cup believe it or not.
Of course, in the ensuing six months the big story has been the Wainstein report and the embarrassing academic and athletic scandal at THE university of the people in Chapel Hill. I drafted two blogs right after the report came out, neither of which were good enough even for the low standards of this blog. But my few quick takeaways are:
- I've never been more embarrassed. This scandal is deeper than just blaming football, though the timeline does correspond with FSU joining the ACC thus turning a basketball conference into another SEC wannabe. How it could span 20 years is beyond me or any another UNC alum to comprehend
- The silver lining has been Chancellor Folt. I was predisposed to like her since she is an enviro and it's great to see Carolina hire a female chancellor, but her performance and dedication to transparency in this matter has been inspiring. Moving forward I am confident that she and Carolina will get this right.
- Another silver lining has been, believe or not, Roy Williams. To his credit, when he took over from Matt Doherty he smelled something funny when he saw how many players were majoring in African-American studies (check out the 2005 national champs roster). With Roy at the helm the basketball office started steering players away from that department in 2007, and there haven't been any Af-Am majors since.
- No one knows what the NCAA will do, but many of you may recall that I think it would be great for Carolina to self-police itself. Academically that has already started to happen, as male athletes (has there EVER been an academic scandal involving female athletes?) have to constantly check in with academic counselors on home work assignments, tests, etc.
This scandal has so tarnished the University that I'd support radical steps such as dropping out to the ACC and having Carolina join the no-athletic scholarship Patriot League, and give out scholarships solely based on need similar to the Carolina Covenant program.
Of course, that is not going to happen.
I did email Chancellor Folt about Carolina dropping football for a year, and surprisingly received a personal email back on that topic. It was a nice reply, pasted below, and though we will not drop football I am confident about her oversight of our athletic program and the African-American department. Go Heels (to class, that is)!
On Nov 9, 2014, at 2:56 PM, Chancellor Folt wrote:
Dear Mr. Manuel,Thank you for your email. I apologize for my delay in responding.What is revealed in Mr. Wainstein's report was difficult for all of us to hear. I am deeply disappointed by the duration and extent of the wrongdoing and the lack of oversight that could have identified and corrected these wrongdoings much sooner and saved you and our entire community so much anguish and embarrassment.I understand your concerns about big time college football and the role of athletics at a great public university. Without question, our core mission as an institution is academics. However, I believe we can offer strong academics and a successful athletic program. In fact, I believe that athletics advances our academic mission.That being said, we must do a better job of integrating academics and athletics. Moving forward, faculty will be involved more directly in reviewing our student-athletes’ eligibility and progress toward degree. We also are enhancing our efforts to align and enrich existing advising and support programs for student-athletes, and integrate them more fully with advising programs across campus. Further, athletics director Bubba Cunningham began over two years ago to execute a plan to bolster integrity and accountability throughout the Athletics organization
This has been a very painful time for Carolina, but we have accepted responsibility and our leadership is united in moving forward with meaningful, long-term reforms. You can learn more about the reforms we have implemented and the new initiatives just announced by visiting Carolinacommitment.unc.edu.Those who know our university best understand that this most unpleasant chapter does not define Carolina. Our remarkable service to our state, nation, and world will continue to thrive.Please keep your faith in Carolina. We pledge to do better and to make the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill even stronger.Best,Chancellor Carol Folt
