Faculty Council suggest solutions to academic problems

At Friday’s Faculty Council meeting, faculty members voiced a range of frustrations and disappointment in a system that allowed for the creation of paper classes and bogus grades.

Provost Jim Dean asked faculty for their ideas, support and patience as the University works to make changes. Faculty responded with their opinions on best next-steps, some of which included vacating national championships, increasing oversight and changing the University’s admissions standards.

“There has really emerged a feeling that we need to accept this report, we need to make no excuses,” Chancellor Carol Folt said “The most important thing for us to think about now is not just what we read but who we know ourselves to be and, even more, how we will aspire to see ourselves move forward.”

One major concern faculty members shared was the pressure placed on student-athletes.

“It’s really hard to be a student-athlete in general, and we really need to be taking better care of them as students as well as as athletes,” said Nancy Fisher, a Faculty Council member from the UNC School of Medicine.

Hassan Melehy, a professor of French, said student-athletes are not given enough time to study, despite the time limit on athletics set by National Collegiate Athletic Association.

“Seriously competitive athletics doesn’t leave the time to study enough,” Melehy said.

He said UNC should enforce stricter time limits to allow athletes to be students.

“We should, in fact, reduce those hours at the price of losing a competitive edge, at the price of being a less successful athletic school,” he said, receiving rousing applause.

Joy Renner, faculty athletics committee chairwoman, said the committee has put the topic of time commitment into its work plan for the year. She also called for faculty to protect the students’ right to an education, citing complaints that some professors have asked student-athletes to drop their class on the first day of class.

Frank Baumgartner, a political science professor, asked that the University be proactive, rather than defensive, in leading a national conversation about special admissions for athletes.

Folt said there were only nine students admitted through the special admission system in 2013, compared to 40 in 2001.

Beth Moracco from the Gillings School of Global Public Health said UNC should consider how it will improve transparency and oversight.

Folt said there were some processes in place that could have prevented the problem — such as department review for non-graduate programs and a post-tenure review system — though there were some holes.

Jay Smith, a history professor, said it was the system rather than the people that was responsible for what happened.

“It was the result of a bunch of good people working in a corrupt system that forced them into unethical action,” Smith said. “We have to confront the cultural issues, the systemic issues that relate to this.”

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