Why don't you answer his question?
I will let this guys site answer it. Jiggletooth didn't answer mine about SACs because it leads into the reason. This bluedevilicious guy has dedicated a great deal more time to this than I have so I will let his site explain it.
http://www.bluedevilicious.com/updates-on-unc-ncaa-case.html
Why did the NCAA not charge UNC with academic fraud in the Notice of Allegations (NOA)? This is a common question that merits answering.
Let's start step by step.
- First, how does the NCAA define "academic fraud"? Answer: it doesn't. It leaves the definition of academic misconduct, including academic fraud (e.g., changing grades, coaches taking tests for athletes, etc.), up to the member institutions.
- If the institution admits that misconduct occurred, the NCAA can allege that such misconduct rose to the level of academic fraud or not. For more on how the NCAA addresses academic misconduct, click on the blue button on the "Athletics Involvement in Fraud" page.
- Note the word "allegation". This is somewhat analogous to a legal complaint. The Plaintiff claims/alleges some sort of injury/damages have occurred to it as a result of some actions by the Defendant. Unlike a legal case, where injury and damages can be quantified at a later date based on the testimony of fact and expert witnesses, the NCAA provides the basis for its allegation in the NOA. The NCAA alleges the infraction has occurred, and the member institution can either a) stipulate to the fact (agree with NCAA that it occurred) in which case there is just the issue of punishment, or b) challenge all or part of the allegation.
- But what if an institution already admits to the fraud before the NOA is issued? Then there is no reason for the NCAA to "allege" something to which the institution has already stipulated. The parties both agree that fraud occurred.
- So did UNC already admit to academic fraud? YES. In its response to SACS, its accrediting body, UNC admitted to longstanding academic fraud. Since the NCAA uses the institution's own definition (in this case UNC's definition of fraud), if UNC says that it committed academic fraud, then that's academic fraud according to the NCAA as well. UNC's SACS response can be found by clicking on the "Carolina Commitment" link on the home page of this site.
- So, since UNC has already admitted to academic fraud, there is no reason for the NCAA to allege it.
- The question then becomes, did this academic fraud constitute impermissible benefits to any student-athletes at UNC? That question is indeed addressed in the NOA, and I won't beat a dead horse here, since it has been discussed ad nauseam (and yet, so many commentators at ESPN still don't seem to grasp it). But that's another story.
- Suffice it to say, that the NCAA and Wainstein both specifically named UNC's football and men's basketball programs (NCAA also named women's basketball) as particular beneficiaries of the decades-long academic fraud scheme at UNC. Both supported their claims with overwhelming documentary evidence, some of which has been publicly released. (Notably, the interviews with Wayne Walden, Boxill, etc. have NOT been released).
Some have also raised the argument that the NCAA does not get involved in the "academic rigor" of specific courses at member schools and has no authority over course content.
This is true, but it's also completely irrelevant. Academic rigor is not the issue here, because we are not talking about "easy classes". Accreditation bodies do not put schools on probation for "easy classes", they put them on probation for fraud, as SACS did to UNC. UNC has already admitted that it engaged in academic fraud so the "easy class" argument is entirely devoid of any relevance to this case.
With regard to the NCAA and its responsibility of ensuring student athletes at its institutions actually receive an education and are not merely shepherded through an eligibility curriculum designed to maximize the school's profits, that issue continues to make its way through the US legal system. The NCAA has simultaneously touted its commitment to education while refusing to accept any responsibility for ensuring it. As Gerald Gurney of the Drake Group so aptly put it, the NCAA "is talking out of both sides of their mouth" on this issue. More on this later.