The University should hear back from both the NCAA and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in the coming summer months about a revised Notice of Allegations and UNC’s accreditation standing, respectively.
At the Final Four in Houston, NCAA president Mark Emmert told reporters the investigation into UNC and the paper class scheme conducted in the former Department of African and Afro-American Studies was progressing and that the University could expect to receive the amended NOA within the month.
“It’s a great, big, complicated case, and it’s taking a long time to get all the information in place,’' Emmert said during a press conference before the Final Four. “We’re not putting a timetable on it.’'
The original NOA was received in May 2015 and claimed that the University lacked institutional control, one of the highest offenses the NCAA can allege against a school. The University was set to respond to the notice in August, but instead found more potential infractions that needed to be reported to the NCAA.
This forced the NCAA to create a revised notice, which the University is currently waiting on.
A more concrete timeline is in place for the University’s accreditation standards.
This summer, at the SACS annual meeting, the accrediting agency’s board of trustees will vote on whether to revoke UNC’s accreditation, restore it in full or place the University on a yearlong probation identical to the one that it is currently under. The meeting will be in June.
“There are people whose hearts have been feeling broken that all their work could be something that they can’t be proud of, and I am so proud of them,” Folt said last summer when the accreditation agency announced that UNC would be placed on probation. “We are doing everything we can, and we are resting on the work of all who brought us here.”
