Mary Willingham

The University of North Carolina academic-athletic scandal is an ongoing controversy about fraud and academic dishonesty committed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), which has become one of the most widely publicized academic fraud cases in United States history. Following a lesser scandal that began in 2010 involving academic fraud and improper benefits with the university's football program, two hundred fraudulent classes offered by the university's African and Afro-American Studies department (commonly known as AFAM) came to light. While initially the media focused more on the implications for the famous UNC men's basketball program, the university as a whole was placed on probation by its accrediting organization.

An internal investigation by the university released in 2011 and another investigation commissioned by former North Carolina governor Jim Martin in 2012 found numerous academic and ethical issues with the AFAM department, including unauthorized grade changes and faculty signatures, classes with very little teaching taking place, and a disproportionate proportion of the student-athletes enrolled in affected classes. Then in 2014 began charges and counter-charges between university officials and former learning specialist Mary Willingham, including disputes about statistics and methods of analysis by Willingham alleging that certain student-athletes are not academically qualified for college. Additionally, former basketball player Rashad McCants, a member of the North Carolina basketball team that won the 2005 NCAA championship, said that he took substandard classes and had much of his classwork done by tutors. As a result of these revelations, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed the university on probation for one year, which ended in June 2016. The NCAA is currently proceeding with its own investigation, which could lead to a variety of athletic punishments. It affects a variety of different people in different ways, including coaches, players, judges, politicians, academics, rivals, whistleblowers, lawyers, alumni, mascots, college administrators, the NCAA, state governors, and journalists. This controversy has also sparked debate about whether the university is educating some of its student-athletes properly and the role of NCAA Division I athletics in colleges.

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