The Hypocrisy of the NCAA
posted by Ja'Shawn Steward-Johnson | November 29, 2017 | In Opinion, SportsRecently, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has made two very different rulings and two very different issues regarding the universities of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. Over the past few months, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has had to navigate many different scandals/incidents. The NCAA’s latest rulings on UNC and NC State highlight the NCAA’s power or lack thereof, (depending on your opinion) and the hypocrisy of the association.
At UNC-Chapel Hill, the university escaped any real penalties after it was discovered that the university had offered “shadow curriculums,” of “paper classes,” for nearly two decades. Almost 200 classes in total, in the African and Afro-American studies, were a sham that required no attendance and one paper. These classes existed for 18 years and 3,100 students attended these classes– 1,500 of those students being student-athletes from many different sports. Student-athletes with struggling grades were then steered towards these classes that kept them eligible.
There was a prevailing belief in college athletics that the “hammer” would drop on UNC, a powerhouse, blue-blood basketball program. Some people even believed there was a chance for their basketball wins and championships (2005, 2009, and 2017) to be vacated due to student-athletes receiving “improper benefits.” The NCAA spent three-plus years investigating these allegations. However, this month the NCAA ruled that they do not have jurisdiction to make a ruling on UNC’s sham classes declaring that UNC broke no rules:
While student-athletes likely benefited from the so-called ‘paper courses’ offered by North Carolina, the information available in the record did not establish that the courses were solely created, offered, and maintained as an orchestrated effort to benefit student-athletes.
Translation: because the “paper classes” were open to everyone and weren’t just for student-athletes, it was not extra benefits, which was UNC’s argument.
Being unable to punish UNC for such large-scale academic fraud makes the NCAA look weak and powerless by allowing the university to skate-by thanks to what amounts to a loophole.
Meanwhile, shortly after that decision, in a totally separate ruling, Braxton Beverly, a basketball player at NC State was ruled ineligible to play basketball this school year. The freshman point guard has been ruled ineligible because he attended summer classes at Ohio State University before transferring to NC State. He transferred once Ohio State head coach Thad Matta abruptly resigned in the summer. (Ohio State granted him his release from the university.) The NCAA rule is that a player must sit if they attended a class at another school before they transferred. Beverly intends to appeal the decision.
Continuing with the theme of ineligibility, at University of Central Florida, kicker Donald De La Haye was declared ineligible for not demonetizing his YouTube channel.
Elsewhere this month, in the world of college athletics, the FBI stepped in to investigate the corruption of college basketball. The FBI have charged ten individuals, including four college assistant coaches, in the corruption and fraud scheme. In essence, those individuals lied and used their power and influence to lure, bribe, and recruit high school players to sign with certain schools. The investigation has already cost two high profile people– Hall of Fame Louisville head coach Rick Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich had both been fired for their involvement/negligence.
These episodes expose how the NCAA cherry-picks it’s ethics: stepping in to punish individual players for trying to further their own career and education, while “forgiving” large, powerful programs, while their members literally engage in illegal activities to line their pockets. Clearly, the NCAA doesn’t care about the students at its core. It’s all about the money.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.