There has been an atmospheric change on campus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after an independent report was released revealing that thousands of students, mostly athletes, were able to take fake classes for 18 years to boost their GPA’s. No classes, no lectures, no office hours- these students were only required to write one ‘lieniently graded’ paper and they were three credits closer towards graduation.

The university hired outside attorney, former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein, to perform an independent investigation, discovering that these so called “paper classes” were all within the University’s former Department of African and Afro-American Studies Department. 

This eight-month investigation included interviews with 120 witnesses, review of 1.6 million emails and electronic documents, and examination of all course records and transcripts since the 1980’s. 

Approximately 3,100 students received entirely inadequate instruction devoid of any faculty involvement or class attendance. The grades obtained during these classes were highly inflated and reflected nothing of the quality of work demonstrated. 

In fact, a vast amount of the papers submitted contained plagiarized material after it became common knowledge that the woman responsible for grading the material read only the introduction and conclusion, simply skimming the body of the paper. 

Students at UNC-Chapel Hill have been overcome with a variety of emotions after the publication of the report, and the campus has been buzzing with conversations regarding the scandal. 

Overall it seems that many students are angry that a serious act of academic forgery has been occurring for so long, when they themselves have been proudly upholding the honor code set in place by the University. 

“Now we look like idiots,” said UNC-Chapel Hill sophomore, Julia Walters.  “Now people are are saying our degrees aren’t worth as much because of this entire scandal, which is not fair to the students. It’s not fair to the professors who work here. It’s not fair to anybody.” 

The two professors in question are Deborah Crowder and Julius Nyang’oro. Crowder was a “Student Services Manager” in the AFAM Department—essentially an office secretary and curriculum administrator—who believed it was her responsibility to assist struggling students, particularly student-athletes. Nyang’oro became chair of the curriculum for the AFAM Department 13 years after Crowder came to UNC-Chapel Hill and with his rather lax management policy, allowed Crowder to coordinate the “paper classes.” 

Attorney Wainstein broadens the blame to include some academic counselors in the Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes (ASPSA) who encouraged many students to take these paper classes in order to maintain athletic eligibility, and in some cases to graduate. 

Amidst this fury and perhaps embarrassment the student body is still remaining fiercely dedicated to its school. 

On Yik Yak, a popular social media app where users can anonymously read and post comments, students have been quite outspoken with their thoughts and have remained a united, supportive student body. 

One anonymous comment stated that, “UNC is not defined by those [3,100] cases.” 

Chancellor, Carol Folt, has been an extremely crucial in upping campus morale, providing the students with optimistic words but also an acceptance of responsibility. 

Perhaps it is her words best define this situation. 

“We already are stronger as a result of our journey, not only from the reforms, but because of our willingness to accept responsibility,” said Chancelor Folt. “Now is our time to show how resilient we can be – how we are going to continue the process of deep soul-searching and self-reflection, and how we are going to use what we have learned to become better, stronger and even more proud of who we are as an institution.” 

Although the Tar Heels have a long and onerous road ahead of them and this scandal has greatly affected students, faculty, and athletes alike, they all will forever claim “It’s always a Great Day to be a Tar Heel.”