As the NCAA faces attacks on all sides from players wishing to be paid and having the right to unionize, the NCAA now has an old foe resurfacing in the form of poor academic performance.

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ESPN’s Outside The Lines sat down with Mary Willingham a former employee of the UNC Academic Support Program for Student Athletes and spoke about the alleged fake classes UNC offered to help athletes stay academically eligible.

During the interview Willingham showed a photo of a student-athletes final paper in an “independent studies” course that look as if a grade school student wrote it.

Photo courtesy of ESPN.

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Now you would expect this paper to get an F and the player, hopefully, being placed on academic suspension and have to seek tutoring to improve his grades, right? No the player in question received a A- and passed the course. Willingham went on to say that the course does not require attendance and the final paper is the only piece you need for the course.

Appalling as it may be, who is to blame here? The University is the first place that comes to mind. How can a school like UNC let a student like this man into their school and later not grade his paper as a college student? The NCAA has made it incredibly easy for these things to occur and has done nothing to stop this from occurring. The worst part is that if the NCAA did step in and help they would punish the rest of the University when they themselves allow this to happen.

The NCAA is facing quite an uphill battle and when the schools are self governing look for these cases to get a huge overhaul.

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