Former UNC official Nyang'oro will fight felony charge

[alp227]

Source: Raleigh News & Observer

HILLSBOROUGH — The attorney for former UNC-Chapel Hill African studies chairman Julius Nyang’oro said Tuesday that his client intends to fight a felony charge filed against him in a long-running academic fraud case.

“Dr. Nyang’oro is presumed to be innocent under our law,” Bill Thomas, a Durham lawyer, said. “There’s been one side of this story that has been put forth in the press, but he’s going to have an opportunity to present his side. We intend to present his case in court. He is going to contest these charges.”

An Orange County grand jury on Monday indicted Nyang’oro on a charge of obtaining property by false pretenses. It is a low-level felony with a maximum sentence of 30 months in prison but would likely result in probation for Nyang’oro if he were convicted.

Nyang’oro, 59, of Durham, had his first appearance in District Court on Tuesday afternoon. He did not speak in court and offered no comment as he entered and exited the Orange County courthouse with his wife, Alu, and several other family members. Earlier in the day, he appeared before a magistrate and was released on a $30,000 bail bond.

...

Athletes – particularly those in the revenue-generating sports of football and men’s basketball – had a disproportionate presence in the classes, and correspondence from the tutoring program for athletes showed staff members there knew the classes didn’t meet and were not challenging. Among the athletes they helped place in the classes were academically challenged freshmen, records show.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/12/03/3428802/nyangoro-appears-before-orange.html

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1. Not making a statement on his guilt, but I'm tired of these college athlete scam classes!

When you have schools like Notre Dame, who graduate a very high percentage of their athletes, able to compete at a high level with great success, it shows you dont have to fudge "education" to get a good team. There are other examples too, I just know ND has always had a 90%+ grad rate.
When these guys and girls get more special treatment with free passing grades, they continue to expect it when they get OUT of school.

[KamaAina]

3. Stanford and Duke also have good teams

Both are in their respective conference championship games. And one of Duke's division rivals is -- you guessed it -- UNC.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

2. Some of these 'classes' were not classes at all

in that they didn't even exist. Yet, these 'classes' are how many student-athletes were able to remain academically eligible despite abysmal grades in other courses (Julius Peppers comes to mind).