UNC Settles with Whistleblower

[j66kicker]

UNC Settled Mary Willingham's whistleblower retaliation suit for $335K and says the settlement, "...is in the best interest of the university and allows us to move forward and fully focus on other important issues." Short ESPN.com article was on their front page this morning, but is already off the front page. Article doesn't mention she just published a book this month about the scandal, positions the whole thing mostly as an "academics" issue, in which both non-athletes and athletes participated (this is the university's position - that it was NOT an "athletics" issue).

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/s...olina-pay-335000-academic-fraud-whistleblower

BTW I have read a little more than half of Willlingham's book. She goes into great detail about UNC, but the premise is that this kind of thing is rampant in bigtime for-profit college sports (football & men's bball) in general. What might be different or shocking about UNC is how systematic and organized it was over such a long period of time - including part of Dean Smith's tenure, all of Butch Davis's and Roy Williams' tenures, etc. And a big part of her book is about the coverup at the highest levels of the U and beyond, including NC's Governor.

But even with the book's release timing - just before the FF when the BBall press is active but has to come up with non-game material - the UNC story is just not getting any press at all. ???

 

[DobbsRover2]

It's made front page of the NY Times a couple times. Not sure what the story is around the country though, especially in a certain part of the country where football is bigger than religion and the UNC situation may well be playing out many times over.

 

[j66kicker]

The Raleigh News & Observer has been pretty diligent in reporting/exposing the thing, but you'd think it would be more of a national story.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/unc-scandal/article12601562.html

You might be right - folks down in Tuscaloosa & Gainesville & Tallahassee & Baton Rouge & Auburn might be a little worried about covering their own tracks if/when it hits the fan.

 

[tomcat]

It would be interesting to see who UNC hired to do crisis communications for them. Whoever it is has been doing a great job, IMHO. (Full disclosure: Part of my job is crisis communications, so I can admire, from a distance, what they did. Does not mean I'm not disgusted with the end result, which has less to do with athletics and more to do with an academic institution gone wrong.)

 

[j66kicker]

It would be interesting to see who UNC hired to do crisis communications for them. Whoever it is has been doing a great job, IMHO. (Full disclosure: Part of my job is crisis communications, so I can admire, from a distance, what they did. Does not mean I'm not disgusted with the end result, which has less to do with athletics and more to do with an academic institution gone wrong.)

Willingham's book says the Raleigh paper reported in 2013 that UNC spent over $500K over two years "for PR help in the academic fraud scandal", but she never says who they hired.

 

[tomcat]

$500 K seems about right, maybe a little light for the extent of the problem. I'll bet it was more over the last two years.

 

[j66kicker]

They also had huge legal expenses, as their attorneys basically supervised all the internal investigations, and "hosted" external inquiries. They were spinning before they even found out what it was they were spinning.

 

[Beemer]

Sports Illustrated has an article in last week's issue. I will try to find the link.

Here it is: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...oIHQBQ&usg=AFQjCNEx8Mw-UkoryQ65u1QC1WdSJukNbA

 

[j66kicker]

Sports Illustrated has an article in last week's issue. I will try to find the link.

Here it is: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCkQqQIoADAE&url=http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2015/03/13/north-carolina-tar-heels-paper-classes-ncaa&ei=e3sJVdSzB4P2yQSooIHQBQ&usg=AFQjCNEx8Mw-UkoryQ65u1QC1WdSJukNbA

Great article

 

[DobbsRover2]

Wow, great read. And the comments by the UNC grads that follow the article does tell you unfortunately what a Tar Heel education has become worth. Very little.

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

I cannot wait to see UNC's response if there are discussions about UConn joining the ACC. There was some debate about "academic reputation" amongst fan bases and a previous discussion about it in the conference back when FSU was added (and later the former Big East schools).

It would be the height of hypocrisy and wanton hubris for UNC to even bring up any discussion about academics, given the systemic nature of the academic scandal over the course of 18 years.

 

[loneycafe]

It would be interesting to see who UNC hired to do crisis communications for them. Whoever it is has been doing a great job, IMHO. (Full disclosure: Part of my job is crisis communications, so I can admire, from a distance, what they did. Does not mean I'm not disgusted with the end result, which has less to do with athletics and more to do with an academic institution gone wrong.)

It was Edelman.

 

[Beemer]

I cannot wait to see UNC's response if there are discussions about UConn joining the ACC. There was some debate about "academic reputation" amongst fan bases and a previous discussion about it in the conference back when FSU was added (and later the former Big East schools).

It would be the height of hypocrisy and wanton hubris for UNC to even bring up any discussion about academics, given the systemic nature of the academic scandal over the course of 18 years.

You are right but that won't stop them from doing it.

 

[DobbsRover2]

I cannot wait to see UNC's response if there are discussions about UConn joining the ACC. There was some debate about "academic reputation" amongst fan bases and a previous discussion about it in the conference back when FSU was added (and later the former Big East schools).

It would be the height of hypocrisy and wanton hubris for UNC to even bring up any discussion about academics, given the systemic nature of the academic scandal over the course of 18 years.

Again, check the comments following the article. From them my guess would be that 99.998% of UNC grads believe that whatever academic irregularities that occurred -- if they even did occur -- were encompassed by 0.002% of the student population, and that probably things are 1000% worse at any of the SEC schools and at that pretentious school up the road in Durham. When the roots of your identity get yanked up, that's the time you lash out most violently.

A sand box out back is an easy place to bury your head, even if the local dog pack just visited it.

 

[tomcat]

It was Edelman.

Not surprised, really. They can bring a lot of horsepower to the client.

 

[ocoandasoc]

There is one community in upstate New York that is now closely following the NC situation and will be very interested to see what kind of penalties the NCAA winds up issuing. The Syracuse fans will be livid if NC skates out after they've been handled such severe penalties. (And remember, there are MANY 'Cuse grads working as commentators on ESPN!)

My feeling is that what has been PROVEN to have transpired at NC is MUCH WORSE than anything that went on at Syracuse. Athletes are coddled and academic corners are cut at other major conference schools. I know that first hand. But the blatant level of academic fraud that existed at North Carolina and the lengths the University went to to cover it up are unparalleled.

 

[Zorro]

The "logic" employe by a lot of the posters of those comments sounded like it had come right out of the Cesspool. The article itself was excellent, imo.