I was looking forward to more columns like Hometowns. I am tired of chronicling society’s septic seepage where “not all that bad” is considered “pretty good”. I wanted more feel-good columns…. but nope. The Swahili Slimeball – “Uncle Julius” Nyang’oro crawled out of his hidey-hole and shat upon what was left of The Carolina Way……… Why Julius?
“Academic Fraud” ?? I don’t get it.
I understand a college student “cheating” on a test….. with answers written on parts of his body or hidden in his clothing. I understand a group of students devising some “group cheat” with runners scurrying over campus with purloined copies of exams…. breaking into a professor office to steal a quiz. I even understand plagiarism.
The pressure to make a certain grade on an exam can be overwhelming. The need to make a certain grade in a course to maintain a certain GPA…. to get into a coveted graduate program; or, with athletes, to remain eligible. I “get” why a college student would resort to the option of “cheating”. But I don’t understand “academic fraud”.
Why would a veteran professor of 25+ years be a willing party to changing grades and giving unearned credits for undone classwork?
Conveying knowledge and measuring students’ assimilation of that knowledge is the basic tenet of “teaching”. When that relatively simple process is so intentionally corrupted, what does that say about the professor? …. and the institution that employs him?
What does that say about that same institution that then exacts no penalty on the corrupt professor? Will Julius get a Farewell Festival like Dickie got?
Julius, were you paid for committing academic fraud? Did Butch Davis or John Blake or some intermediary “make it worth your while” to “cheat”?
Julius, did they threaten you or your family if you did not “cooperate”?
Julius, did you think you were helping African-American athletes “beat a system” that enslaved their ancestors? Was this Reparation Academics in your twisted mind?
Julius, were you pissed off at UNC for some unresolved grievance gnawing in your gut? Did you intentionally drag the reputation of a proud institution into the worst sewer imaginable for an academic entity?
Julius, were you bored with teaching whatever the hell you were suppose to be teaching and decided to add a risk factor to your daily life….. see what you could get away with?
Julius, were you raised in a family culture where cheating ain’t cheating unless you get caught…. where “everybody does it”? Is it “a Swahili thing”?
Julius, did you do what you did confident that “they” would not dare discipline / penalize you because….. of that infamous “tenure thingy”. PLUS, you are African and the students are African American
…. and because UNC’s administration is scared spitless to ever do ANYTHING that might offend African Americans? You knew you had a “race card” in your pocket that was a “retire with full benefits” guarantee…..
Was this some weird “Obama will protect me” thing?
Which combination of the above fits, Julius?
Whatever the reason(s), Julius, I really was not surprised to see the glaring headline late Friday. I was on record that giving you nothing but a minor wrist slap some months ago would eventually bite UNC in the butt BIG TIME. I knew you were like a fire in a peat bog that never was really extinguished…. and will surely flare up again. I really hate it that I was right about you, Julius.
Now you get to ride off into the sunset with full retirement benefits. UNC might well receive more NCAA or ACC penalties. More student-athletes might have their college careers interrupted. For certain the reputation of the University of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill just took the single most embarrassing kick-in-the-teeth in its 200+ year history. ….. and you get to ride off into the sunset with full retirement benefits.
Sure UNC has lost big “games” before including five consecutive football games to rival neighbor NC State; but those really are “just games”. The institution’s academic integrity is a bit more critical than that, Julius. UNC really is an academic institution much more than it is a collegiate sports power. You just squatted down and crapped right in the middle of that Julius. How come?
I wonder who drew the short straw and had to tell Kindly Old Bill Friday what you did, Julius? I hope Kindly Old Bill was sitting down when he heard. I doubt you care, Julius, but I do.
How many UNC athletes have taken your classes over 25 years? I’m going out on a limb and saying 99%+ of them at least in Football and Basketball. Even if they weren’t “majoring” (wink, wink) in African American Studies, everyone can use an automatic “A”.
May I assume that the “academic advisors” for these student athletes knew that you were an automatic “A”. If so they have been willing co-conspirators in your fraud, Julius. Will they all “ride off into the sunset with full retirement benefits” too, Julius?
You skedaddle into the sunset July 1, but your stink will be all over UNC and Chapel Hill for a long long time. Julius, you will not be forgotten any time soon.
