NCAA says it is currently investigating 20 schools for academic fraud
While North Carolina has been the most notable university to be investigated for academic fraud in recent years, the NCAA maintains that UNC is not being singled out.
In fact, representatives from the NCAA’s enforcement department told The Chronicle that is currently investigating academic misconduct in athletic programs at 20 schools – 18 from Division I, one from Division II and one from Division III.
From The Chronicle:
The cases are at various stages, from preliminary inquiry to awaiting a hearing with the Division I Committee on Infractions, and they involve a variety of missteps, including allegations that players received impermissible assistance from professors, academic advisers, or people outside of an athletic department.
Last year, the NCAA named Katherine Sulentic, a former academic adviser at Colorado, the chair of a new academic integrity group in its enforcement department. Now, the NCAA’s vice president for enforcement, Jonathan Duncan, says that unit will be beefed up while the NCAA’s investigators receive additional training on “what constitutes academic fraud and how to handle potential academic violations.”
“The timing is right to dedicate more resources to this,” Sulentic said. “Everyone’s antenna is up about academic fraud on a college campus in general.”
Academic misconduct is on the rise in college sports and the NCAA says many of the recent cases follow a similar pattern.
Mr. Duncan and Ms. Sulentic attributed the increase in alleged academic violations to a variety of factors, including stricter NCAA academic standards and a rise in cheating among college students in general. They said that many of their current cases involved people who had relationships with an athletic department or a particular sports program, but who were not necessarily employed by the department. Those include professors, academic advisers who work outside of athletics, and people in the registrar’s office.
Coaches get involved sometimes, too.
In some cases, head coaches have urged members of their staff—secretaries, athletic trainers, people in the weight room—to "get this young man or woman eligible," Ms. Sulentic said.
"It’s not necessarily a directive about what to do—‘I need you to write this kid’s paper,’" she said. But she said coaches were making "proclamations" to a broad network of people, encouraging them to cheat on behalf of current players or recruits.
Unsurprisingly, Sulentic says others like agents and financial planners can also attempt to get involved with an athlete.
“They might say, ‘I exchange for you working with me in the future, I’m going to get you eligible to play Division I ball,’” Sulentic said. “What consistently surprises me is the definition of the word ‘help.’”
While none of these things seem like very new issues, at least the NCAA is bolstering its resources and focus on academic fraud. And if we know anything about the NCAA, the results of these investigations won’t come to light for quite a while.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
