TO THE EDITOR:
Typically faculty members do not have positive things to say about athletic departments. In the case of the appeal of UNC football student-athlete Devon Ramsay and UNC Athletics I can say the Heels have “done good.”
Recently, the NCAA reinstated Devon Ramsay to play next year. In November, Ramsay was ruled permanently ineligible for alleged academic infractions involving controversial UNC tutor Jennifer Wiley, on a paper about industrialized nations.
UNC made some mistakes in their internal investigation. For a minute, it was understandable if the UNC athletic department got caught up in its efforts to appease the NCAA and avoid future sanctions.
Nonetheless, the UNC athletic department spoke out that the NCAA’s ruling of permanent ineligibility was too harsh.
Dick Baddour listened to Sharon Lee, Devon’s mother, who explained her son did not need improper help and that “he knows how to write a paper.”
Baddour, Jack Evans and John Blanchard also listened to former N.C. Supreme Court Justice and N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law Executive Director Robert Orr, who recognized the lack of procedural due process and the flawed NCAA appeal procedures in Ramsay’s case.
Lee and Orr demanded UNC take on the NCAA and fight for Devon’s rights and their athletic department should be commended for listening.
Professor Emmett L. Gill, Jr.
NCCU
Social Work
