Against Impossible Odds, Fraternities Saved UNC’s Athletics Programs From The Death Penalty

ItalianStallion7 years ago

According to an NCAA investigation, UNC-Chapel Hill offered fake courses, called “paper courses,” to athletes. These courses never met, and only required a half-assed final paper for a grade. They were easy as all shit to pass, and athletes subsequently took them to maintain a certain GPA. This of course is a violation of NCAA rules, as athletes getting preferential academic treatment as a means of keeping them enrolled (and thus playing) is a big no-no. Paper courses were an open secret on campus, and when the NCAA got wind of them and started their investigation, everyone was expecting sanctions out the ass with death penalties in multiple sports very much on the table.

Except UNC just got off essentially scot-free after the NCAA couldn’t determine that paper courses only benefitted UNC’s athletes. Why? Because it wasn’t only student-athletes that were taking them. Paper courses’ other main source of pupils? UNC fraternity members.

And because of their heroic (lack of) effort, the NCAA couldn’t take any action against UNC.

From Business Insider:

While the public response to the report focused on the school’s athletes, the report found that more than half of the students enrolled in the paper courses were nonathletes — many of them referred through the campus’ fraternity system.

Fraternities saved your college sports, UNC. Had these classes been filled with the water polo team and no one else, say goodbye to basketball season. UNC owes a debt of gratitude to Greek life and its swarmy ways, and we’re ready to collect on it once the statute of limitations is up for this case.

My favorite tidbit from this story is this one regarding fraternity members’ relationship to the African and Afro-American Studies (AFAM) department, which hosted the paper courses.

From Business Insider:

The investigators said they spoke with several fraternity members about the courses, and the report described the recollection of two of them:

“Both fraternity members explained that they saw these classes as somewhat of a ‘loophole’ in Chapel Hill’s otherwise demanding curriculum, and they never conceived of these classes as being in any way tailored to athletes. In fact, they recalled that a number of their non-athlete fraternity members took so many AFAM classes that they inadvertently ended up with AFAM minors by the time they graduated.”

Taking so many easy classes that you unintentionally end up with a minor is INCREDIBLE. So much respect it hurts.

While these classes seem like they were probably way too easy, I’m sure they’re a hell of a lot more challenging than anything you can presently take at the University of Arizona..

[via Business Insider]

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