The NCAA has ruled that UNC did not violate academic fraud rules

In a decision anxiously awaited by UNC faculty, staff and students, the NCAA released a statement regarding the academic violations allegations toward "paper classes" and their benefits for student-athletes.

The committee could not conclude that UNC violated NCAA rules due to the notion that these classes did not exist solely to benefit student-athletes.

These African and Afro-American Studies "paper courses" could not be found to have violated NCAA academic rules due to the entire student body being able to take these courses.

According to the official statement, "the panel found two violations: the former department chair and a former curriculum secretary failed to cooperate during the investigation." The former chair did not participate in the panel's investigation at all, but the former secretary cooperated three years after the investigation began. The secretary's participation in "benefitted the panel's ability to decide the case."

"The panel noted that its ability to determine whether academic fraud violations occurred at UNC was limited by the NCAA principle relying on individual member schools to determine whether academic fraud occurred on their own campuses."

This investigation is complete, but that does not stop anyone who believes UNC should be punished for the existence of the "paper courses." The primary concern is that this decision allows NCAA member schools to do as they please when it comes to student-athletes as long as they involve members of the general student body as well.