Mary Willingham is being quite contrary

[Monbo Jumbo]

Willingham resigns following meeting with chancellor. 
 

 
The flames just rose again beneath the $16 billion-a-year college sports industry’s scandal du jour. Mary Willingham, the academic-fraud whistleblower at the University of North Carolina, announced her resignation from the prestigious Chapel Hill, N.C., campus.
 
Willingham confirmed her imminent departure after an hour-long meeting with Carol Folt, the university’s chancellor. UNC described the encounter as “productive,” but Willingham indicated it had been acrimonious.
 
A former tutor to top Tar Heel athletes, Willingham helped reveal that the university had for years steered football and basketball players into fake classes that never met. She said that she and other academic advisers did so as a way of keeping the athletes eligible to play. The former chairman of UNC’s black-studies department is under criminal indictment in connection with the scandal....

 
“It was time to end this hostility,” Willingham said. “This chancellor has totally sold out.”

 

[cromulence]

Where's Greg29fan to come tell us how she's an evil liar who hates UNC?

 

[DukeSox]

'05 championship bball team starters took nearly 70 fake classes, according to MW:
 
http://coachingthemind.blogspot.com/2014/04/mary-willinghams-brilliantly-unethical.html

 

[Greg29fan]

She had previously announced she was leaving the university at the end of the semester and her "research" had been proven to be bunk by three independent researchers last week.  She's violated FERPA on several occasions and I hope like hell she sues the university so all the e-mails she's been sharing with Dan Kane and the rest of the enablers of this story are revealed.
 
She got her 15 minutes.

 

[DukeSox]

Also, UNC exploits black male athletes, according to lawsuit:
 

 
 
DURHAM, N.C. — The Student Athletes Human Rights Project filed a complaint Friday with the federal Office for Civil Rights alleging the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill discriminated against male athletes, especially black, male athletes, in assigning more of them to so-called 'paper classes.' In directing athletes to those classes, the complaint says, the university deprived them of the same quality education available to other student-athletes.

 
http://www.wralsportsfan.com/athlete-advocate-group-files-civil-complaint-against-unc/13547718/

 

[cromulence]

She had previously announced she was leaving the university at the end of the semester and her "research" had been proven to be bunk by three independent researchers last week.  She's violated FERPA on several occasions and I hope like hell she sues the university so all the e-mails she's been sharing with Dan Kane and the rest of the enablers of this story are revealed.
 
She got her 15 minutes.

 
Wow. Your bias is truly impressive.

 

[Reverend]

It's hard to say, but I think there's an argument to be made here that this isn't an NCAA UNC scandal even though it may well be a UNC academic scandal.
 
There are always shit classes at some universities, and when that happens, word on which classes get out. What's unclear to me in reading any of this is what is meant by "the university" funneled the athletes to these bunk classes. I mean, the range goes from word of mouth on up to official actions. But at some point, if it's something like people keeping tabs on which classes are easy--or basically non-existent--that's a normal part of student life and not an athletic department issue so much as on the university to maintain its standards.

 

[Reverend]

 
Wow. Your bias is truly impressive.

 
I'm looking at the report now and it's kinda interesting and it does suggest that the statistical basis for the claims were bunk. But that doesn't mean what he thinks it means.
 
It looks like, like many schools, UNC has done an absolute shit job of developing assessment tools so that no rigorous conclusions can be made from the data. Here's the thing: that's bad. It means the school hasn't made any effort to find out whether or not education is actually occurring.
 

 

1. “The SATA RV subtest, a 25-question multiple choice vocabulary test is not a true reading test and should not be used to draw conclusions about student reading ability.”
2. “The data do not support the public claims about the students’ reading ability.
3. “Reading ability should not be reported as grade equivalents.”
4. “The difference in demographics between the SATA test norm and the demographics of the UNC student-athletes is important to understanding conclusions that can be drawn from the data.”
5. “The SATA subtests were administered in low-stakes settings, meaning that the result of the test had relatively unimportant consequences to the taker. Low-stakes settings are thought to influence test results.”
6. “While SATA RV (the 25-question, multiple choice vocabulary subtest) results can be informative as part of screening for learning differences and/or disabilities, they are not accepted by the psychological community as an appropriate measure of reading grade level and literacy.”

 
 
 

 
Basically, NC's defense of charges of substandard education is, "You don't know that!! Because we don't actually bother to find out."

 

[Average Reds]

 
I'm looking at the report now and it's kinda interesting and it does suggest that the statistical basis for the claims were bunk. But that doesn't mean what he thinks it means.
 
It looks like, like many schools, UNC has done an absolute shit job of developing assessment tools so that no rigorous conclusions can be made from the data. Here's the thing: that's bad. It means the school hasn't made any effort to find out whether or not education is actually occurring.
 
 
Basically, NC's defense of charges of substandard education is, "You don't know that!! Because we don't actually bother to find out."

 
For the provost to put out a statement that is as transparently disingenuous as this makes me wonder just what they are covering up. 
 
Makes me very sad, as I've always thought highly of UNC as an academic institution.  At least I did before this.

 

[JMDurron]

It's hard to say, but I think there's an argument to be made here that this isn't an NCAA UNC scandal even though it may well be a UNC academic scandal.
 
There are always shit classes at some universities, and when that happens, word on which classes get out. What's unclear to me in reading any of this is what is meant by "the university" funneled the athletes to these bunk classes. I mean, the range goes from word of mouth on up to official actions. But at some point, if it's something like people keeping tabs on which classes are easy--or basically non-existent--that's a normal part of student life and not an athletic department issue so much as on the university to maintain its standards.

I saw an interview with two former football players (from last month, I just happened to see it today), and both said that they were handed completed schedules with specific classes for them to take from the Athletic Department when they arrived on campus. I can't speak to the credibility of that interview, though, because it comes from an outlet that hasn't been above doing targeted hits on specific schools in the past. The problem with former players with no meaningful job prospects is that they could speak out because

A) They never had a chance to get a real education that might have prepared them for the real world, and want the truth to be know

B ) They were vulnerable to being enticed to speak against their former school by someone who has a bone to pick with UNC, due mostly to their previously mentioned lack of job prospects

C) Both - Somebody "encouraged" them to speak up, and they are telling the truth.

Pretending that this is a UNC-specific problem because UNC's sports teams happen to not be particularly popular here is a bit of a stretch, though. The NCAA's graduation rate requirement is what's driving this behavior, if said behavior is actually institutionalized. I don't understand why they switched from a standardized testing requirement to a graduation rate requirement, instead of requiring both. Neither of those requirements will take kids that have somehow gone through K-12 schools with effectively no reading skills and turn them into successful college students, though.

 

[Old Fart Tree]

She had previously announced she was leaving the university at the end of the semester and her "research" had been proven to be bunk by three independent researchers last week.  She's violated FERPA on several occasions and I hope like hell she sues the university so all the e-mails she's been sharing with Dan Kane and the rest of the enablers of this story are revealed.
 
She got her 15 minutes.

 
Honestly, dude...

 

[wibi]

She had previously announced she was leaving the university at the end of the semester and her "research" had been proven to be bunk by three independent researchers last week.  She's violated FERPA on several occasions and I hope like hell she sues the university so all the e-mails she's been sharing with Dan Kane and the rest of the enablers of this story are revealed.
 
She got her 15 minutes.

 
You might want to read the reports before you follow the executive summary's assessment that the research is bunk.  

 

[Greg29fan]

Trust me I can hear all of you.
 
I would refer anybody to Bradley Bethel (a current reading/writing/learning specialist at UNC) who has been offering up fair blog pieces (like this one specifically about the Willingham research) about the situation.  He's critical of Mary and her research but also UNC's original handling of what happened in the AFAM department and the need for the reforms UNC has already taken and needs to continue to take.
 
The university is now on their eighth (I think) independent investigation of everything that's happened - they've gone above and beyond what institutions like Auburn University did when similar events took place.
 
I think the university screwed up - I've said that repeatedly, but I also think this second wave of allegations about athletes being overly dumb or not getting an education was over exaggerated and based on faulty research.  And I will continue to stand with the university, so if you're expecting me to swallow what's been going on, I'm not going to.

 

[Reverend]

Trust me I can hear all of you.
 
I would refer anybody to Bradley Bethel (a current reading/writing/learning specialist at UNC) who has been offering up fair blog pieces (like this one specifically about the Willingham research) about the situation.  He's critical of Mary and her research but also UNC's original handling of what happened in the AFAM department and the need for the reforms UNC has already taken and needs to continue to take.
 
The university is now on their eighth (I think) independent investigation of everything that's happened - they've gone above and beyond what institutions like Auburn University did when similar events took place.
 
I think the university screwed up - I've said that repeatedly, but I also think this second wave of allegations about athletes being overly dumb or not getting an education was over exaggerated and based on faulty research.  And I will continue to stand with the university, so if you're expecting me to swallow what's been going on, I'm not going to.

 
I've only been following this more recently, but one thing strikes me above all else about UNC's response: almost all of the focus is on a single claim made by Willingham with percentage of the athletes who couldn't read above a certain level.
 
But that was one claim among multiple. This is an ancient debating strategy where you identify a single thing that doesn't scan and belabor the wrongness of that point and then claim the whole issue has been disposed of. The reality is, only that single point has been discredited--and in this case, yes, it appears that specific claim is not supported by the evidence.
 
To expect everyone else to ignore everything else over a single point being wrong is somewhat puerile though--absurd really. Though perhaps not so much as the bolded. It seems UNC wants to render this a contrived dualism of all the athletes are morons or its overblown and not something to worry about, when what gets lost in that formulation is what's really going on.

 

[Greg29fan]

 
I've only been following this more recently, but one thing strikes me above all else about UNC's response: almost all of the focus is on a single claim made by Willingham with percentage of the athletes who couldn't read above a certain level.
 
But that was one claim among multiple. This is an ancient debating strategy where you identify a single thing that doesn't scan and belabor the wrongness of that point and then claim the whole issue has been disposed of. The reality is, only that single point has been discredited--and in this case, yes, it appears that specific claim is not supported by the evidence.
 
To expect everyone else to ignore everything else over a single point being wrong is somewhat puerile though--absurd really. Though perhaps not so much as the bolded. It seems UNC wants to render this a contrived dualism of all the athletes are morons or its overblown and not something to worry about, when what gets lost in that formulation is what's really going on.

 
I believe nearly all or maybe even all of her other claims had been addressed in the Martin Report (and like I said there's another report coming and the gentleman interviewed Mary) or other places.  There has been so much written by the university itself and by outside people on this whole situation I can't imagine anything not being addressed by somebody.

 

[DukeSox]

Did or did UNC not have fake classes that they put athletes in?

 

[Reverend]

 
I believe nearly all or maybe even all of her other claims had been addressed in the Martin Report (and like I said there's another report coming and the gentleman interviewed Mary) or other places.  There has been so much written by the university itself and by outside people on this whole situation I can't imagine anything not being addressed by somebody.

 
I don't just mean Willingham's claims but others, such as the one that pertains to DukeSox's question. And you are right, the Martin Report does address them:
 

Spoiler

[p. 35 - 39; charts and graphs omitted]
 
2A. Type 1 Academic Misconduct within a Lecture Course Section Offered by the 
Department of African and Afro-American Studies 
 
We identified 39 Type 1 course sections offered in the Department between the 1997 Fall academic term and the 2009 Summer II term, representing 1.7 percent of all course sections The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill offered by AFRI/AFAM during the period of review. Of these course sections, 23 were offered during the Summer academic terms, while the remaining 16 were offered during a Fall or Spring academic term. Figure 2.1 below details the number of course sections identified as academic misconduct, based on: 1) interviews conducted with the instructor of record where s/he denied teaching the course section and signing the grade roll, or 2) the chair stated that the course section had not been taught. 
 
The 39 Type 1 course sections mentioned above had a combined 464 student enrollments (updated from 459 originally reported, to reconcile timing differences between manual and electronic grade rolls). As seen in Figures 2.1 and 2.2, the course sections offered, and related enrollment, hit a peak between the 2004-2005 and 2007-2008 academic years. 
 
We identified academic misconduct for these course sections because the instructor denied teaching the course section and signing the grade roll or the chair stated that the course section had not been taught. However, in relation to these Type 1 course sections, we noted that in relation to similar course anomalies, the Hartlyn-Andrews Report did not identify any evidence of an instance when a student enrolled in a course section received a grade without performing associated written work. The issue at hand is that the instructors and administrators involved in establishing these course sections created the instances of academic misconduct, and fault should not be assigned to students who enrolled in the course section or instructors who may have been presented as instructors of record without their knowledge. 
 
The percentage of student-athletes enrolled in Type 1 Lecture Course Sections was consistent with the percentage of student-athletes enrolled in all courses offered by the Department. 
  
2B. Type 2 Anomalous Lecture Course Sections Offered by the Department of African and Afro-American Studies 
 
We identified 167 Type 2 course sections offered in the Department between the 1996 Summer II term and the 2011 Summer II term, which equals 7.2 percent of the course sections offered in the Department during the period of review. These course sections could not be confirmed as academic misconduct, but had associated characteristics, such as the lack of an identified instructor of record or a high number of grade changes as a percentage of total student enrollments, which match course sections found to be anomalous. Of these course sections, 77 were offered during the Summer sessions, while the remaining 90 were offered during a Fall or Spring academic term. Figure 2.3 on the following page details the number of course sections found to be anomalous, listed as a count of the number of course sections in each academic year and term: 
 
These 167 course sections accounted for a combined 3,760 student enrollments (updated from 3,735 in original reported, to reconcile timing differences between manual and electronic grade rolls). Figure 2.4 below shows the related trends in student enrollments based on the increased number of Type 2 course sections identified between Fall 2000 and Summer II 2009, when the Type 2 course sections severely decreased in frequency. 
 
The percentage of student-athletes enrolled in Type 2 Lecture Course Sections was consistent with the percentage of student-athletes enrolled in all courses offered by the Department. 

 
They had whole courses where no instructor is even identified? That's impressive. But the real kicker is in the addendum where they elaborate on why this is not an athletic department scandal for the school:
 

[p. 2 - 3]
Our prior statements that student-athlete enrollments were “consistent” in a number of respects summarized our extensive analysis indicating that student-athlete enrollments related to anomalous courses and grade changes in the Department were reflective of patterns noted elsewhere in the Department and other departments. As this Addendum further describes, the “clustering” patterns shown in student-athlete enrollments in anomalous courses are repeated in other cluster groupings of “cleared” courses, both in and outside of the Department.
 
. . .
 
An athletic scandal led to the initial discovery of “serious anomalies” related to the course offerings and methods of instruction within the Department of African and Afro-American Studies (the Department). How could we state that the findings of our review represent not an athletic scandal, but an academic scandal? As illustrated in this Addendum, the proportion of student-athletes in anomalous course sections varied widely, ranging from none to all. Many student-athletes enrolled in courses in the Department, as did many non-athlete students. Unauthorized and suspected unauthorized grade changes affected both student-athletes and non-athlete students. We concluded that these anomalies were academic in nature because many undergraduates were affected, no evidence was found of any other parties’ involvement in making these anomalous courses available, and the decentralized University-wide academic environment created an opportunity for an administrator and a department chair to schedule classes and change grades with limited oversight. 
 
Student-athletes were not the primary beneficiaries of these course sections. Non-athlete student enrollments in anomalous course sections exceeded student-athlete enrollments; non-athlete students comprised approximately 55% of the anomalous course sections. Additionally, only 26% of the total student-athlete enrollments in the Department were in anomalous courses. The opportunity to enroll in these anomalous course sections was equally available to all students. The student-athlete enrollment patterns noted in anomalous courses (e.g., “clustering”) are repeated in other cluster groupings of “cleared” course sections, both in the Department as well as in other departments at the University. 
 

 
It's not an athletic department scandal because it's way worse than that!! It's an indictment of academics at the university itself, or at least, that one department.
 
So sure, the athletic department may have taken advantage of the academic misconduct of that department, but hey, the athletes also congregated on lots of other courses known to be easy and other people took advantage of it too! So it's all good. Oh, and it's almost nobody's fault--decentralization, y'know.
 
Average Reds is gonna love this...

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

Well slaves were not "Americans" until 1868, but I'll let the Black Caucus slide on that as its clearly something they would have learned in class.

 

[Greg29fan]

Did or did UNC not have fake classes that they put athletes in?

 
The final answer to that question (although it's been addressed sort of in the Martin Report) will likely also be coming out in the Wainstein report given that he interviewed Debbie Crowder, the AFAM dept. secretary who had not been talking to anybody because of her legal issues in regards to the entire debacle.  The rumors are there will not be any bombshells like the AFAM department and the athletic department were working in cahoots, but I guess we'll find out.
 
Julius N'yagoro's (the corrupt department chair) trial is also coming up.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

I assume I can read that answer as boiling down to "yeah, apparently".

 

[wibi]

Well slaves were not "Americans" until 1868, but I'll let the Black Caucus slide on that as its clearly something they would have learned in class.

 

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

If you want to argue slaves were citizens prior to the 14th amendment have at it. I was being tongue in cheek..and the quote I was referencing is gone. Not a big deal.

 

[JayMags71]

I think he was speaking to your implication that the BLACK CAUCUS didn't learn about the 14th amendment. And your apparent implication that they either didn't attend or refused to pay attention in class.

 

[Buffalo Head]

If you want to argue slaves were citizens prior to the 14th amendment have at it. I was being tongue in cheek..and the quote I was referencing is gone. Not a big deal.

In a statement dated Feb. 1, the Carolina Black Caucus,  a campus group, declared: “We stand united for black Americans, both enslaved and free, who built this university and who were also barred from its doors.” The caucus added that it stands united for “black athletes who face stereotype, threat, and are targets of ridicule”; “the Department of African, African American and Diaspora Studies, which has been unfairly attacked, overly investigated, and whose legitimacy has been repeatedly questioned”; [and] “courageous administrators, faculty, staff, and students who press on despite impatience, media inaccuracies, gossip, and public attacks on our institution.”

 

[Reverend]

If you want to argue slaves were citizens prior to the 14th amendment have at it. I was being tongue in cheek..and the quote I was referencing is gone. Not a big deal.

 
But were they Americans?

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

I'm going to take the stance that you need to be a citizen, not a resident to be "American". Otherwise we've got to claim Justin Bieber. And yes JayMags has it right. I was making a tongue in cheek reference to the fact that the Black Caucus, had they attended class, if they exist, would have a better understanding of the 14th Amendment and its effect on slaves.

 

[NortheasternPJ]

I'm going to take the stance that you need to be a citizen, not a resident to be "American". Otherwise we've got to claim Justin Bieber. And yes JayMags has it right. I was making a tongue in cheek reference to the fact that the Black Caucus, had they attended class, if they exist, would have a better understanding of the 14th Amendment and its effect on slaves.

 
Dan,
 
With all the debate going on around your team, are you concerned about ticket prices and fans coming to games? What about RGIII's health? The NFC East should be pretty strong this year, what are the chances you make the playoffs?
 
I'll hang up and listen. Thanks.

 

[Reverend]

I'm going to take the stance that you need to be a citizen, not a resident to be "American". Otherwise we've got to claim Justin Bieber. And yes JayMags has it right. I was making a tongue in cheek reference to the fact that the Black Caucus, had they attended class, if they exist, would have a better understanding of the 14th Amendment and its effect on slaves.

 
So free black men who had been born in the United States, owned land, and were allowed to vote in several states in the early 1800s were not Americans? And neither were the black men who held US passports?
 
I'm glad we've clarified this under the Bieber Rule. We may now end this hijack.

 

[PaulinMyrBch]

 
So free black men who had been born in the United States, owned land, and were allowed to vote in several states in the early 1800s were not Americans? And neither were the black men who held US passports?
 
I'm glad we've clarified this under the Bieber Rule. We may now end this hijack.

Nope. Didn't say that. I said this.

Well slaves were not "Americans" until 1868, but I'll let the Black Caucus slide on that as its clearly something they would have learned in class.

 

[Buffalo Head]

Yup. You said that.

 

[JayMags71]

Thanks for the clarification, Mr. Cowherd.

 

[Old Fart Tree]

In a last minute shocking upset, Paul is making a bid to steal the "Dumbest Things Posted in This Thread" title from Greg29! They're neck and neck into the turn! Who wants it more???

 

[Greg29fan]

In a last minute shocking upset, Paul is making a bid to steal the "Dumbest Things Posted in This Thread" title from Greg29! They're neck and neck into the turn! Who wants it more???

 
Yeah I'm sure if somebody within Stanford University was constantly shitting all over Stanford in the media, on Twitter, and violating federally protected student's rights behind research that was faulty at best you'd just roll over at take it.  I guess I'll probably "take the lead again" but whatever.

 

[Buffalo Head]

Someone needs a hug!

 

[kenneycb]

Yeah I'm sure if somebody within Stanford University was constantly shitting all over Stanford in the media, on Twitter, and violating federally protected student's rights behind research that was faulty at best you'd just roll over at take it.  I guess I'll probably "take the lead again" but whatever.

Are people up in arms about her research?  You keep bringing that up but I'm more curious about the fact there were non-existent classes that a significant portion of UNC's athletes took in order to obtain NCAA eligibility.  Which UNC has conceded to.  And is extremely messed up, even beyond the run of the mill "joke" courses athletes take at universities all across the country.

 

[wibi]

 
Yeah I'm sure if somebody within Stanford University was constantly shitting all over Stanford in the media, on Twitter, and violating federally protected student's rights behind research that was faulty at best you'd just roll over at take it.  I guess I'll probably "take the lead again" but whatever.

 
Can you provide non-faulty research that disproves the claims being made?
 
EDIT: Speeling

 

[TheGazelle]

 
Can you provide non-faulty research that disproves the claims being made?
 
EDIT: Speeling

 
Of course not.  Rev pointed out above what Greg29 is doing:  Using one problem with an argument to argue that the entirety of the claim is flawed.  UNC fucked up, badly, and one incorrect datapoint in a study won't change that conclusion. 

 

[wibi]

 
Of course not.  Rev pointed out above what Greg29 is doing:  Using one problem with an argument to argue that the entirety of the claim is flawed.  UNC fucked up, badly, and one incorrect datapoint in a study won't change that conclusion. 

 
Rev has his method and I have mine.  I tend to be much more blunt about things than he does

 

[Greg29fan]

Mary Willingham "invented" a way to determine reading level that isn't mentioned in the SATA reading manual or has any basis in research.  As Bradley Bethel wrote -
 

As Willingham already has, she will likely claim her findings are "100% correct" and that the independent review is another example of the university's conspiring to "squash" her research. Yet unless she can provide a legitimate explanation of her methodology, her assertions will remain empty. 

In academia, unlike journalism, methodology matters. Typically, before research is accepted as legitimate, it goes through a rigorous peer-review process in which other scholars closely scrutinize the methodology. Willingham has never submitted her research to such a process.

Willingham has, nonethless, revealed enough about her methodology for knowledgeable professionals and scholars to scrutinize it. In a January 17 article, she was quoted explaining her findings were based on a "combination of the SATA reading and writing (tests) and the SAT and ACT scores." As I countered in my essay "Truth and Literacy at UNC," combining such scores to determine grade equivalents has no basis in either the SATA manual or the research on educational assessment.

In a WUNC story two weeks later, Willingham offered another explanation of her methodology, claiming she "used a sliding scale to draw a connection between performance on the test and reading level." Again, I can find no such mention of a sliding scale for determining grade equivalents in the SATA manual, nor am I aware of any research validating such a method.

Frankly and unsarcastically, unless Willingham can provide a research-informed explanation of her methodology, her findings may best be explained as a reading specialist's failing to read instructions.

 
And I'm not ducking, ignoring, or anything else about what the university screwed up, but as I've stated numerous times, all of Mary's or anybody else's claims were already addressed in the Martin Report and/or a subsequent report that will likely come out before the end of the year that includes new information from Debbie Crowder.
 

 

[Reverend]

Mary Willingham "invented" a way to determine reading level that isn't mentioned in the SATA reading manual or has any basis in research.  As Bradley Bethel wrote -
 
 
 
And I'm not ducking, ignoring, or anything else about what the university screwed up, but as I've stated numerous times, all of Mary's or anybody else's claims were already addressed in the Martin Report and/or a subsequent report that will likely come out before the end of the year that includes new information from Debbie Crowder.
 

 
Well, as far as the Willingham stuff...

Spoiler

NOBODY'S TALKING ABOUT MARY WILLINGHAM ANYMORE BUT YOU.

 
As for claims made by others, yes, they were addressed in the Martin report. Specifically, they were conceded as true. Key portions of such are posted above.
 
Although it's kind of amusing to investigate why UNC was administering SATA to anyone in the first place. It wasn't a first rate tool in the first place, hasn't been updated since 1991, and appears to have initially been developed to identify mental disabilities in students.

 

[Greg29fan]

Although it's kind of amusing to investigate why UNC was administering SATA to anyone in the first place. It wasn't a first rate tool in the first place, hasn't been updated since 1991, and appears to have initially been developed to identify mental disabilities in students.

 
"UNC" wasn't

 

[Reverend]

Ah, I see.
 
I still don't really care about Mary Willingham though.

 

[Reverend]

 
"UNC" wasn't

 
 
Is this link the UNC website?

The University’s Academic Support Program for Student Athletes (ASPSA), which serves Carolina’s 800 student-athletes with tutoring services and academic support and reports directly to the provost, used the Scholastic Abilities Test for Adults (SATA) as a tool to screen some student-athletes for potential learning differences/learning disabilities until 2012-2013.
 

 

[Greg29fan]

 
 
Is this link the UNC website?

 
Sorry yes, I misunderstood you.

 

[Reverend]

 
Sorry yes, I misunderstood you.

 
Right. Fair enough.
 
I've done college assessment work. It looks to me like UNC may have violated FERPA by letting Willingham know the identities of the students when they let her develop her dataset. That's not to say that she didn't violate FERPA too, but generally speaking, the university is not supposed to do that--she shouldn't have had that information in the first place.

 

[Bernie Carbohydrate]

UNC's FERPA problems go at least as far back as the time thye published the transcript of Julius Peppers.
 
I mean, the University published a transcript -- pretty big academic fail.
 
And the transcript contained fraudulent courses that the student didn't attend -- which is a different (and surely worse) fuckup.
 
Willingham's importance here is not the recent dubious "research" using SATA-- it was her initial 2011 whistle-blowing that blew this open.
 
But given what UNC has already admitted-- that an entire academic unit was run by a criminal and pimped out to the Athletic Department-- the later charge that there are student athletes who are "functionally illiterate" doesn't seem that far-fetched. 

 

[Old Fart Tree]

 
Yeah I'm sure if somebody within Stanford University was constantly shitting all over Stanford in the media, on Twitter, and violating federally protected student's rights behind research that was faulty at best you'd just roll over at take it.  I guess I'll probably "take the lead again" but whatever.

 
I'm pretty critical of many of the things Stanford does. It's because I'm able to separate my rooting interest from an objective, rational evaluation of facts, even if they are sometimes uncomfortable. I would go so far as to say that I pride myself on that fact.

 

[DukeSox]

And now the New York Times:
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/opinion/nocera-she-had-to-tell-what-she-knew.html
 

 
Mary Willingham remembers the exact moment when she realized she had to go public. It was at the memorial service in the fall of 2012 for Bill Friday, the former president of the University of North Carolina. During his long career, Friday had championed the amateur ideal — the notion that college athletes needed also to be students, and that academics mattered as much as wins.

 

[DukeSox]

And now NCAA-championship winner Rashad McCants.  
 
UNC is TOAST.
 
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/11036924/former-north-carolina-basketball-star-rashad-mccants-says-took-sham-classes
 

 
Rashad McCants, the second-leading scorer on the North Carolina basketball team that won the 2004-05 national title, told ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that tutors wrote his term papers, he rarely went to class for about half his time at UNC, and he remained able to play largely because he took bogus classes designed to keep athletes academically eligible.
 
McCants told "Outside the Lines" that he could have been academically ineligible to play during the championship season had he not been provided the assistance. Further, he said head basketball coach Roy Williams knew about the "paper-class" system at UNC. The so-called paper classes didn't require students to go to class; rather, students were required to submit only one term paper to receive a grade.
McCants also told "Outside the Lines" that he even made the Dean's List in Spring 2005 despite not attending any of his four classes for which he received straight-A grades. He said advisers and tutors who worked with the basketball program steered him to take the paper classes within the African-American Studies program.

 
Hey Greg29fan, Rasad has some words for you:
 

 
"If there are Carolina fans that don't like what's I'm saying and don't like what's happening right now, they need to look in the mirror, see that it's a bigger picture," he said. "... I'm putting my life on the line for the younger generation right now, and I know that nobody else wants to step up and speak out because everybody's afraid, fear, submission, especially the black athletes ... .
 
"College was a great experience, but looking back at it, now it's almost a tragedy because I spent a lot of my time in a class I didn't do anything in."

 

[Average Reds]

Sounds like McCants is shitting all over UNC.  Also, he appears to have violated his own FERPA rights. 
 
His credibility is zero and his entire statement is worthless.