Dive Brief:
- The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill is firing or attempting to force out four employees connected to its fake-classes-for-athletes scandal, the News & Observer reported.
- The four employees were identified as part of a settlement of a public records lawsuit filed by 10 media organizations.
- Another six employees are facing disciplinary proceedings, and the university will identify any employee who is disciplined.
Dive Insight:
It will be interesting to see if anyone at a higher level is held responsible for the scandal. One of the four newly revealed employees is Jan Boxill, a faculty leader who was able to influence a faculty report and remove references that connected the developer of the paper classes to athletics. An investigation backed by the university concluded that Boxill, a philosophy professor and former counselor for athletes, knew about the fake classes and helped enroll athletes in them. Boxill is appealing her firing.
Also on the list of four is a senior lecturer at the Department of African and Afro-American Studies who allowed paper classes to be created using his name as the instructor, an academic counselor who steered athletes to the paper classes and asked for one to be created (whose job was discontinued), and another counselor who warned football coaches that the paper classes would be ending in 2009.