North Carolina was not a fan of the investigative report published by CNN earlier this week. In the report, CNN quotes a UNC reading specialist suggesting 10 percent of the football and basketball players at UNC read and write below a third grade level. UNC, previously at the center of an investigation regarding academic fraud (no violations were discovered by the NCAA), says they do not believe the findings reported by the faculty member.
“We do not believe that claim and find it patently unfair to the many student-athletes who have worked hard in the classroom and on the court and represented our University with distinction,” the statement said, as shared by ESPN.com. “Our students have earned their place at Carolina and we respect what they bring to the University both academically and athletically.”
The CNN report initially sought information from 37 universities to conduct their research on literacy within athletics programs at some of the nation’s largest universities including Alabama, Florida State, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, and more. A total os 21 universities supplied data for the report and many submitted a response to the findings of the report.
UNC football coach Larry Fedora has not been quoted on this story’s latest developments, but men’s basketball coach Roy Williams did.
“It’s totally unfair,” Williams said in the report by ESPN.com. “Anybody can make any statement they want to make, but that is not fair. The University of North Carolina doesn’t do that. The University of North Carolina doesn’t stand for that.”