Dive Brief:
- A felony charge against the former chairman of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's African and Afro-American Studies Department has been dropped because of his cooperation with two investigations into alleged no-show classes.
- Julius Nyang'oro was charged with obtaining property by false pretenses, a low-level felony, but he has been working with the Orange County, NC, district attorney and a former federal prosecutor hired by the university, both of whom are investigating allegations of academic fraud, the News & Observer reported.
- Nyang’oro headed the African and Afro-American Studies Department for 15 years, during which it allegedly had more than 200 no-show classes that never met and required only an end-of-semester paper to earn a grade.
Dive Insight:
The no-show courses were allegedly created to help keep student-athletes eligible to play, with 45% of the students in the class coming from the university’s athletic programs. Nyang'oro's criminal charge came from a no-show class that he was accused of receiving $12,000 for, in the summer of 2011, when he actually never taught the course.