Two former UNC student-athletes sue school, NCAA over academic welfare
Two former University of North Carolina student-athletes have filed a lawsuit against the university and the NCAA claiming that neither entity is doing enough to ensure that student-athletes are receiving a proper education.
The suit is seeking damages for all student-athletes affected by UNC academic scandal.
According to CNN’s Sarah Ganim, the suit was filed by Michael Hausfeld, one of the lawyer’s in the O’Bannon suit against the NCAA.
Rashanda McCants, a former women’s basketball player, and Devon Ramsay, a former football player, are named as plaintiffs, though the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday afternoon in Durham County court, is seeking class-action status. McCants is also the sister of Rashad McCants, a starter on the 2005 UNC men’s basketball team that won the national championship.
Ramsey was kicked off the football team in 2010 after receiving improper help from a tutor. Ramsey's attorney, Robert Orr, convinced the NCAA that his client had been wrongly accused and Ramsey was allowed to return to the team. However, he then suffered a career-ending knee injury.
This is the second lawsuit to emerge from North Carolina’s academic fraud scandal.
Former football player Michael McAdoo filed his lawsuit against the schoolin U.S. District Court in Charlotte in November. McAdoo was a former football player who had been kicked off the team in 2010 after the NCAA determined he had received improper help from a tutor.
Last October, UNC acknowledged that 3,100 students – approximately 1,500 of them student-athletes – were steered into bogus classes that were geared toward gaining easy grades and keeping student-athletes eligible. The school also said that many academic and athletic officials knew about the scheme, which went on for 18 years (1993-2011).
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