Bloomberg: UNC says "we made mistakes", issues apology

[pap49cba]

“We made mistakes. Horrible things happened that I’m ashamed of,” he said over coffee in our newsroom, sparsely populated on a weekend. “Student-athletes and other students, too, were hurt” as a result of hundreds of phony classes offered beginning sometime in the 1990s. “The integrity of our university was badly damaged.” (Emphasis added)

LINK

 

[pinotbear]

Very good read - thanks, Pap!

 

[UcMiami]

Interesting piece and probably not exactly what UNC hoped for when they gave the exclusive 'sit down'. While they get some of their points across, Barrett is still nailing them to the wall on a number of points, and calling for the NCAA to get involved.

 

[DobbsRover2]

The NCAA should initiate an investigation of the NCAA, and then move on to dig out all of the system of abuses that reigned at UNC, and determine how much of it remains in place there.

Nothing much has changed at UNC except possibly a heightened sense of persecution and a loathing of anyone that they can pin the blame on for past transgressions. Instead of moving forcefully to root out how all this corruption happened, the admin is trying to pin all of it on a few wayward types (shades of a current situation in NJ; oh sorry Boo, no politics allowed here, I know), while saying that the people at the top knew nothing, nothing, and didn't have even the mildest bit of interest to check into past allegations.

Then of course UNC brings in some fresh faces to handle the mess so that they can say they have turned a new leaf with leaders who had no connection with the abuses, while at the same time slandering their own whistle-blowers and calling them liars and also suing the department head that did the school's bidding for so many years. How many national championships were won in sports during the corrupt era, with almost certainly none that will ever be vacated, because UNC is UNC, and the NCAA is the NCAA?

When I see the repulsive actions and cover-ups of schools like UNC, I feel pride that UConn never got admitted into the ACC. I can live with a few missing laptops and $19.00 larceny, unfortunate though those acts are, but if the school I rooted for had committed the UNC brand of lower education, I would have a tough time wearing the 39-0 jerseys.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

See, Dobbs, we agree on so much. The OH So Sorry from UNC does not cut it. Faculty and administrator heads must roll. Otherwise, it is just be more clever next time folks and don't get caught.

 

[UcMiami]

I do think the choice of an Ivy Leaguer from Dartmouth signals at least a little bit of seriousness - don't know anything about her but that credential does stand out. Not unlike what U of Miami did when the crap hit the fan. But ...

Agree that the circle the wagons and kill the messengers attitudes still prevail.

 

[Icebear]

I think that all sports teams involved should be banned from post season play for two seasons. To date from what I have read it includes football, men's and women's hoops.

Athletes can hardly claim they were unaware of receiving credits for non-existent courses. It was a thoroughly systemic problem.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I think that all sports teams involved should be banned from post season play for two seasons. To date from what I have read it includes football, men's and women's hoops.

Athletes can hardly claim they were unaware of receiving credits for non-existent courses. It was a thoroughly systemic problem.

Agree 100%. It's so ridiculous that the NCAA can't do anything because non-student-athletes were able to cheat too therefore there was no benefit or special treatment given to student-athletes. Just wondering what special treatment Penn State football players received when Sandusky was committing his crimes, because the NCAA had the lawyers working over time in drawing up some of the harshest penalties in its history in a matter of days and without any sort of investigation.

 

[CL82]

Minimally, absolutely minimally, UNC should be forced to recomputed their APR with zero for those courses. I don't see how they can proffer anything less. If the university, as it appears, fraudulently participated in academic fraud, it hard to see how anything short of the penalty applied to PSU can be justified. Though the act at PSU was horrific, the underlying pattern of institutional deception is the same.

JMHO.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Well, I just want to know what Triad thinks about this. What is it that he calls UNC ? Something that rhymes with heat, I believe.

 

[pap49cba]

So, bottom line, it's okay to set up "hundreds" of phoney, non-existent classes going back decades and as long as some non-athletes also are enrolled everything is hunky-dory as far as the NCAA is concerned. What a joke.

 

[Woof 101]

So, bottom line, it's okay to set up "hundreds" of phoney, non-existent classes going back decades and as long as some non-athletes also are enrolled everything is hunky-dory as far as the NCAA is concerned. What a joke.

The non-athletes were probably listed as tutors...

 

[cabbie191]

If my memory serves me correctly, wasn't there an official at UNC who acted the role of whistleblower, and was hounded out of her position? If so, I would hope that the new administration would be offering a huge and very public apology.

 

[pap49cba]

If my memory serves me correctly, wasn't there an official at UNC who acted the role of whistleblower, and was hounded out of her position? If so, I would hope that the new administration would be offering a huge and very public apology.

She is still there. She is mentioned in the article.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Minimally, absolutely minimally, UNC should be forced to recomputed their APR with zero for those courses. I don't see how they can proffer anything less. If the university, as it appears, fraudulently participated in academic fraud, it hard to see how anything short of the penalty applied to PSU can be justified. Though the act at PSU was horrific, the underlying pattern of institutional deception is the same.

JMHO.

I disagree with the implication that there was a pattern of institutional deception at Penn State. While there are still trials coming, I've seen nothing concrete or definitive thus far that proves any attempt to cover up Sandusky's crimes for the sake of saving face for the football program. Maybe it makes for sensational headlines, but where is the evidence? The NCAA looks a little silly calling Penn State a model institution and praising their Athletic Department for its compliance and transparency, then dropping the hammer on them for whatever just months later.

 

[CL82]

I disagree with the implication that there was a pattern of institutional deception at Penn State. While there are still trials coming, I've seen nothing concrete or definitive thus far that proves any attempt to cover up Sandusky's crimes for the sake of saving face for the football program. Maybe it makes for sensational headlines, but where is the evidence? The NCAA looks a little silly calling Penn State a model institution and praising their Athletic Department for its compliance and transparency, then dropping the hammer on them for whatever just months later.

Well I guess we'll see soon enough, I'm not going to hijack the thread over it though. The 'accusation' regarding the programs is essentially the same a coordinated cover up, so should the proposed punishment be the same. One could argue that UNC's cover up was more wide spread, more institutional, and accordingly the punishment for it should be more severe. That said, this will be my last post on the comparison, unless the conversation is moved to its own thread in the Cesspool.

 

[huskyharry]

Response from NCAA President Mark Emmert: Wow, that apology sounds really sincere! Certainly no need for any further punishment...especially because I have no axe to grind against UNC!

 

[hjoerring]

Wow! Do you really think that the NCAA has the power and will to bring UNC (and schools like Duke) down. No no. The NCAA wants to survive as an institution. Schools like UNC are untouchable-- they will be given the right to investigate themselves and dish-out whatever penalities they deem appropriate. It's only the others (the less privileged) who get kicked out like whores, by the NCAA, in the early dawn of mornings. At the same time, we are delusional in thinking that big time sports-- a money making machine-- is compatible with the mission of a univ. Let us look at WCBB. WBB at Uconn avoids this problem by going after the very top of the class. Here it finds v.good players and students who can handle the demand of a top program and academic life simultaneously. And I am saying this as someone who think that we focus to heavily on grades; but, having some experience with top track-and-field, footballers, etc at major univ., it is clear to me that they are pawns. College is the only road to a professional life in sports. Perhaps the big 5 are onto something in their desire to break away from the NCAA and become a private farm system (giving their players a salary) to prof. sports. Leaving the NCAA for schools giving their student athletes a scholarship and an educ. Of course the UCONN diehards are going to cry about not being with the big boys while lying to themselves that they can compete with the likes of Ala., TX etc., without succumbing to corruption. Good luck and tell me another good story.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Remember when the NCAA let UConn off the hook for failing to meet a retroactively applied academic standard? Yeah, me neither.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Minimally, absolutely minimally, UNC should be forced to recomputed their APR with zero for those courses. I don't see how they can proffer anything less. If the university, as it appears, fraudulently participated in academic fraud, it hard to see how anything short of the penalty applied to PSU can be justified. Though the act at PSU was horrific, the underlying pattern of institutional deception is the same.

JMHO.

Fraudulent fraud? Isn't that the opposite of fraud?

 

[UcMiami]

The non-athletes were probably listed as tutors...

Of course the tutors had to enroll in the classes - how else were they supposed to be able to write the non-existent term papers for the athletes!!!?

 

[msf22b]

There is a level of concern here (that this will all be swept…) that in my view is uncalled for.
This thing is not going away, it's just started.
The admission by the Pres is his acceptance that the transgressions are outed and much more is to come.

With the 24-hour news cycle and a couple of reporters on it like wild dogs; politicians are next.
As well as faculty whistleblowers.
The whole truth eventually will prevail and crimes will be punished (in some manner).

 

[UcMiami]

Well I guess we'll see soon enough, I'm not going to hijack the thread over it though. The 'accusation' regarding the programs is essentially the same a coordinated cover up, so should the proposed punishment be the same. One could argue that UNC's cover up was more wide spread, more institutional, and accordingly the punishment for it should be more severe. That said, this will be my last post on the comparison, unless the conversation is moved to its own thread in the Cesspool.

What I would say is that serious crimes were committed at PSU. And yes, the HC, AD and others enabled those crimes to continue for a long time, but they did not involve the student athletes nor their eligibility for sports and therefore really fell outside the purview of the NCAA. It was such a high profile and horrible situation that Emert couldn't resist inserting himself. Would he have done the same if it turned out a coach was involved in some ponzi scheme that defrauded hundreds of people of their life savings?

 

[pap49cba]

Bloomberg's Paul Barrett slams UNC in a follow-up article....

 

[Icebear]

There is a perverse implication in the material. All one has to do to slide on NCAA charges is to make sure the corruption includes a few students from the wider student body and then it is OK because it was an equal opportunity offense even it was designed to slip athletes through requirements and keep them GPA eligible.