Make room, North Carolina. It appears you could soon have some company in the NCAA’s academic doghouse.
Jonathan Duncan, the NCAA’s new head of enforcement, confirmed to the Chronicle of Higher Education that it’s investigating allegations of academic misconduct involving 20 different athletic departments. The schools under investigation weren’t identified, nor were the sports involved; rather the numbers were broken down by divisions: 18 Div. I schools, and one each at the Div. II and Div. III levels.
There was no breakdown as to which Div. I schools were from the FBS and which were from the FCS.
The CHE writes that "[t]he cases are at various stages, from preliminary inquiry to awaiting a hearing with the Division I Committee on Infractions, and they involve a variety of missteps, including allegations that players received impermissible assistance from professors, academic advisers, or people outside of an athletic department.” The widespread improprieties at UNC appears to have been the impetus for the increased focus on academic fraud.
“The timing is right to dedicate more resources to this,” Katherine Sulentic, chairperson of the enforcement division’s academic-integrity group, said. “Everyone’s antenna is up about academic fraud on a college campus in general.”