The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has not upheld its commitment to educate student-athletes, former Interim College President and current Chapel Hill chancellor Carol Folt said in a statement to the University’s board of trustees late last month.
Since Folt assumed the chancellorship last summer, she has faced criticism of the university’s handling of deep academic fraud, which came to light in 2011.
Her response to the most recent allegations, a finding by instructor and academic counselor Mary Willingham that 60 percent of 183 Chapel Hill student-athlete study participants read between a fourth- and eighth-grade level, have elicited a wide range of reactions from the UNC community. CNN first publicized the research, which also included a finding that between 8 and 10 percent of study participants read below a third-grade level, in an article published Jan. 8 .
At a faculty council meeting on Jan. 17, Folt and other administrators refuted Willingham’s claims, questioning the study’s scientific validity and explaining that UNC’s institutional review board had suspended the study for collecting identifying information about participants without authorization.
On Jan. 23 Folt told trustees that the university accepted responsibility for a “failure in academic oversight.” Students received credit for African and Afro-American studies courses that never met for over a decade. Many of these students were athletes.
Students and faculty say that Folt’s handling of Willingham’s findings has shaped their perception of her leadership. Some say that Folt’s response was driven by a desire to boost the university’s image.
Jay Smith, a UNC history professor, said that these concerns are especially seen in administrators’ dismissal of Willingham.
“They subjected Mary Willingham to a public flogging,” he said. “It was unseemly, it was irresponsible and I would like to see the administrators apologize for that performance.”
Sasha Seymore, a Chapel Hill junior and a junior varsity basketball player, wrote a letter to the editor in The Daily Tar Heel, voicing frustration with the paper’s coverage of the scandal and summarizing the administration’s remarks.
“It’s pretty much come down to whether or not you believe her or whether or not you believe the administration,” he said in an interview. “Personally, I’m more inclined to believe the administration.”
Chapel Hill sociology professor Andrew Perrin said Folt has spent a lot of time and energy on her response to Willingham’s findings. He said he is looking forward to what Folt will do for the university.
Zoe Skinner, a Chapel Hill senior and a women’s lacrosse player, said she was frustrated that student-athlete accomplishments off the field are rarely celebrated as much as those on the field, she said.
Skinner said she had mixed feelings about Folt’s Jan. 23 statement on academic fraud at the university.
“Even if she said it’s in the past, it affects us now, and it’s putting down all of the past generations of student-athletes,” Skinner said. “I think that she needed to say something, but I think that it does kind of take a stab at past Carolina student-athletes.”
Smith said he would like the administration apologize for its treatment of Willingham and engage with her in a discussion of common ground shared by the University and its critics.
“That’s would I would like to see,” he said. “I’m not holding my breath.”
