Letter: ?Boxill’s departure far from honorable

TO THE EDITOR:

In an astonishingly self-serving statement, Jan Boxill, former chairwoman of the faculty, says, “I’ve given 30 years of honor and commitment,” presumably to UNC. 

She came to UNC in 1988 when her husband was recruited for a professorship in the Department of Philosophy.

She was appointed as “Learning Skills Coordinator” in the Student Athlete Development Center along with what looks like a courtesy appointment as a lecturer in philosophy. 

She continued her association with athletics until her removal with the issuance of the Wainstein Report last October. She also (ironically) taught a philosophy course on ethics of sports and was director of the Parr Center for Ethics since 2006.

How someone with such a meager academic record could be nominated as chairwoman of the faculty, only the insiders on the Faculty Council can say. It is not clear when her years of honor began, though they certainly ended with the first of “114 enrollments of women’s basketball players in the paper classes between 1999 and 2009.” 

The Wainstein Report also says that the players were encouraged to take these classes by Boxill and that “Nyang’oro would not consider a women’s basketball player’s request to enroll in one of his paper classes unless Boxill explicitly supported her request.” In addition, The Daily Tar Heel reported that there were 160 independent studies courses of her own between 2004 and 2014. 

If Boxill had any honor, she would have resigned in October.

Elliot Cramer

Professor Emeritus

Psychology