RALEIGH, N.C. ― The University of North Carolina faces more scrutiny by an accrediting agency after details emerged on an academic scandal.
The president of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges said the school is being sent a letter about a new investigation, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.
Belle Wheelan said the new investigation will focus on the findings of an Oct. 22 independent review that found nearly two decades of academic fraud.
That investigation found hundreds of fake independent studies and no-show classes in African and Afro-American Studies taken by more than 3,100 students, about half of them athletes.
The review by the accrediting agency is expected to last for months. No decision by the agency’s board is expected until June.
The association had ordered in 2012 extensive monitoring reports after the scandal first emerged.
The latest report documents an extensive pattern of fraudulent classes in which students had no contact with faculty. A department office manager graded student papers and gave them high grades for little to no work.
