North Carolina cleared of scandal

The NCAA announced Friday that it “could not conclude that the University of North Carolina violated NCAA academic rules” in what is widely considered the worst academic scandal in college sports history.

The organization, which governs the top tier of college sports in the United States, did not levy any penalties against North Carolina.

According to a university-commissioned investigation, North Carolina had for nearly two decades offered a “shadow curriculum” of fake classes into which athletes were steered. The university appeared guilty of subverting the NCAA’s central tenet that college athletics are a mere component of education.

UNC was charged with a “lack of institutional control” resulting in violations of bylaws governing extra benefits to athletes and ethical conduct.

The scheme involved nearly 200 laxly administered and graded classes — frequently requiring no attendance and just one paper — over nearly two decades. Their students were disproportionately athletes, especially in the lucrative, highprofile sports of football and men’s basketball. They were mostly administered by a staff member named Deborah Crowder. In many cases, athletes were steered to the classes by athletics academic advisers.

The scandal was so serious that the university’s accreditation body briefly placed the institution on probation.

In its latest notice of allegations, which is the NCAA equivalent of a lawsuit or indictment, the NCAA’s enforcement staff pointed to the high enrolment of athletes in the classes — nearly half, according to the university-commissioned investigation led by Kenneth L. Wainstein — and emails in which advisers requested spots for athletes.

UNC had contended that the case was fundamentally academic in nature, and that athletics staffers were at most tangential to it.

They cited instances in which similar misconduct was alleged at Auburn and Michigan, and the NCAA did not act.