More problems at UNC

A rather serious case of education fraud at UNC, tied to the previous football program scandal.

An internal investigation into UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of African and Afro-American Studies has found evidence of academic fraud involving more than 50 classes that range from no-show professors to unauthorized grade changes for students.

One of the no-show classes is the Swahili course taken by former football player Michael McAdoo that prompted NCAA findings of impermissible tutoring, and drew more controversy when the final paper he submitted was found to have been heavily plagiarized.

The investigation found many of the suspect classes were taught in the summer by former department chairman Julius Nyang’oro, who resigned from that post in September. The university now says Nyang’oro, 57, who was the department’s first-ever chairman, is retiring July 1.

Either major college athletic programs need closer internal and external review, or there needs to be a conscious decision to split athletics into two groups. A minor league program, with education focused on life skills, for those looking to practice for future play, and college scholarships, guaranteed for five years (i.e. not cancelled for injury, only for bad behavior), for those who are capable of both athletic and academic endeavors.

Architectural Find!

While digging to put in a new storm pipe, workers at UNC discovered the remains of what might be an old inn or home from centuries past.

After realizing that the historical remnants were not of a well, the group speculated that the site could be a large cellar or possibly an outhouse.

Now that they are further into the project, Davis and the group believe they have come across a backyard cellar they suspect was associated with a detached kitchen from a house that stood in the first half of the 1800s.

“As we get more exposed, we’re able to narrow down the likelihood of what it is,” he said.

“We have more confidence in our current interpretations.”

The first house built on the lot was constructed before 1797, Davis said.

He said the group also found a drain that might be from a hotel that stood after the Civil War before the University bought it and tore it down.

A fitting discovery for the nation's oldest public university!

Dominance

One coach. Twenty national titles. That's what UNC women's soccer coach Anson Dorrance has now, after beating Stanford 1-0 in the 2009 national championship. While one can argue which college sports dynasty is the greatest, Dorrance now holds the numerical record for most championships won in one sport. Congratulations!

Covering, again

The University of North Carolina's Summer Reading Program, where incoming students are encouraged to read a book and discuss it during orientation, has selected Covering for next year's freshman class. I bring up this news because I posted my reaction to Covering here.

I disagree that covering is any form of threat to minorities or to civil rights. I'll again post my conclusion on the subject:

Covering is the civil thing to do. If we didn't, we'd be at each others' throats. If you're strongly anti-tobacco, you don't get in the face of the smokers. If you love cats, you don't try to convert everyone into a cat lover. And if you think homosexuality is a sin, you don't send protesters to a gay man's funeral.

(A few people don't follow these standards of decency. We call them "assholes.")

To elaborate, very few would defend exhibitionists. But those who make no attempt to cover at any time are participating in a different form of exhibitionism. They enjoy parading their differences, even if it hurts other people. As I mentioned in the comments, the polite thing to do is acknowledge another's interests, but don't talk on and on about a topic that someone else isn't interested in.

One of the other books considered for the Summer Reading Program, and unfortunately not chosen, is Escape from Slavery by Francis Bok, a novel that I believe is more important. The book, a recounting of a black Sudanese boy's enslavement by Arabs in modern times, is relevant to important issues for America and the world, particularly the impact of slavery on current race relations and the struggles between Western and Islamic cultures.