Former UNC student on academic scandal: 'Nothing fake about the work I did'
John Nance remembers proudly the day in 2007 when he accepted his degree from the University of North Carolina. “My chest was about to bust,” he told Sporting News.
Nance was an atypical college student: in his 50s, working a full-time job, seizing an opportunity at an education that was not about trying to advance his career, but simply about learning and accomplishment. In the course of his time at UNC, he took an independent study class offered by the African and Afro-American Studies (AFAM) Department. It was one of the classes some in the media routinely describe now as “fake” as the NCAA investigation into the UNC athletic department's relationship with the AFAM department enters its fourth year.
NCAA investigation into the UNC athletic department's
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Nance decided it was time to tell his story and contacted Sporting News.
“I just felt the coverage of the scandal and everything was maybe a little one-sided, and the portrayal that it was a class for athletes was nowhere near accurate,” Nance said. “I still cherish my degree, and I feel very privileged to be able to go to Carolina. There’s just too much generalization going on. I’m not trying to OK or sanction anything that didn’t go the way it was supposed to, but there’s just too much generalization.
“There was nothing fake at all about the work I did.”
---
By John Nance
When discussing the AFAM “Paper Class” Scandal at UNC, it probably is tempting to put faces to the story. For most, the faces seen are those of young African American men, athletes in the highest profile intercollegiate sports of basketball and football. The casual observer links the AFAM scandal to young people who needed help to stay eligible for sports, a small subpopulation of the university allegedly participating in a “shadow curriculum” for the benefit of athletics revenue. The 2014 Wainstein Report describes the actual subpopulation as approximately 3,100 students, 48 percent of whom were athletes. In the university’s third response to the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations, UNC counters that the number of athletes was closer to 29 percent.
When putting a face to the story, however, you cannot have the full picture without my face. In 2006, I was a 54-year-old Caucasian male student at UNC, studying for my undergraduate degree in history. I had the good fortune of doing something many people never get to do. I was privileged to rewrite my personal history and go back to school. In my family, my daughter was the first to obtain a college degree. I proudly write that I was the second to receive my degree, 12 years after she did.
I graduated third in my class from Greenwood High School, Sanford, N.C., in 1970. My family struggled financially, so I worked over 30 hours per week in high school. When you live near the poverty level, however, even with scholarship offers it is hard to envision the path to college and beyond. Instead of college, I chose full-time employment. I married and had a wonderful family. From that perspective, I would not consider changing one thing in my life.
I eventually landed a great job at a fibers plant, working my way up from an entry-level position. After 20-plus years of working swing shift, I was promoted to a training position with the company. Through God’s blessings, I was earning a great salary, received terrific benefits and thoroughly enjoyed my job. And I was offered something far beyond what I could have imagined: the opportunity to obtain a bachelor’s degree totally paid by my employer. Never in a million years did I dream that I could recapture this missed opportunity.
The path to my degree would not be easy. I would continue to work 40 hours per week, more when necessary, and complete my studies on my own time. I worked full time, and also carried a full load academically each semester. After two years of community college, I completed my associate degree and was accepted as a transfer student at UNC.
There were times I felt overwhelmed with my workload; juggling a full-time job with commuting an hour as a full-time student was certainly challenging. I took nothing for granted. I savored every moment. When 18-year-old students complained about the workload, I bit my tongue, reminding myself that they really did not realize how fortunate they were. We were blessed to receive an education, of course, but even more blessed to receive a Carolina education.
In the summer of 2006, I was struggling to flex my work schedule in order to be available to commute to classes that were only offered during work hours. I met with my advisor to help determine the best way for me to fit in all my necessary courses for that semester. My advisor asked me if I had considered an independent study. I asked for more details, and she shared that the AFAM department had a number of independent study courses available that could be a good option for me. She stated athletes often took an AFAM independent study because it allowed them to have more flexibility with their schedules. With an independent study, she said, I could learn at my own pace, complete the work on my own time frame without driving in for another class, and demonstrate my learning with a culminating paper. Her suggestion seemed to be the perfect fit for me, so I enrolled in AFRI 120, with Dr. Julius Nyang’oro.
Given recent findings, I cannot say for certain who graded my paper. I can say I did learn a significant amount about Nelson Mandela and his legacy in South Africa and the world. I did the required reading, and some additional reading to help make the paper complete. I earned a good grade for the course — an A-minus. In re-reading the paper, it was not my best work, nor was it the worst paper I submitted for a course. It was, however, a meaningful learning experience for me, certainly as meaningful as some seated classes. I went on to graduate in the spring of 2007, with a GPA of 3.2, including the A-minus from my AFAM independent study.
Unfortunately, now the credibility of my learning experience is questioned. I enrolled in a class that might not have been properly supervised by Dr. Nyang’oro, the department head. Apparently, neither my class nor the AFAM department as a whole was supervised by deans or other high-ranking officials responsible for oversight of the university’s academic programs. I fulfilled all the requirements for that class, and I went on to obtain my degree, with the coursework from AFRI 120 counting towards the fulfillment of my degree. Make no mistake — no one gave me anything. I did the work and I earned it myself.
The next time you think about UNC’s AFAM scandal, you must also see my face, the face of a 54-year-old working full-time and studying full-time on a quest to fulfill a lifelong dream of a college degree from UNC. You must also see the face of the promising prestigious Morehead Scholar, who needed an “easier” course to balance out an overwhelming course load. In fact, if you take the time to listen to something other than media sound bites, you may discover this “shadow curriculum” was not created simply to keep athletes eligible.
The AFAM courses in question helped students from all backgrounds and all majors find a way to meet course objectives outside the classroom setting. In fact, it is probably similar to independent studies offerings on campuses across the nation. Obvious examples of abuse have been uncovered within this department, and of that I am deeply ashamed. I simply ask you not paint the scandal in such a way that it only suits the narrative of UNC sports betraying its student athletes. If we are talking betrayal, I must be included in that conversation. I did quality work in a so-called “paper class,” and the quality of my work should not be denigrated simply based upon who graded that work.
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By John Nance
2014 Wainstein Report
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John Nance remembers proudly the day in 2007 when he accepted his degree from the University of North Carolina. “My chest was about to bust,” he told Sporting News.
Nance was an atypical college student: in his 50s, working a full-time job, seizing an opportunity at an education that was not about trying to advance his career, but simply about learning and accomplishment. In the course of his time at UNC, he took an independent study class offered by the African and Afro-American Studies (AFAM) Department. It was one of the classes some in the media routinely describe now as “fake” as the NCAA investigation into the UNC athletic department's relationship with the AFAM department enters its fourth year.
NCAA investigation into the UNC athletic department's
MORE: A cure for Roy William's NCAA-sized headache
Nance decided it was time to tell his story and contacted Sporting News.
“I just felt the coverage of the scandal and everything was maybe a little one-sided, and the portrayal that it was a class for athletes was nowhere near accurate,” Nance said. “I still cherish my degree, and I feel very privileged to be able to go to Carolina. There’s just too much generalization going on. I’m not trying to OK or sanction anything that didn’t go the way it was supposed to, but there’s just too much generalization.
“There was nothing fake at all about the work I did.”
---
By John Nance
When discussing the AFAM “Paper Class” Scandal at UNC, it probably is tempting to put faces to the story. For most, the faces seen are those of young African American men, athletes in the highest profile intercollegiate sports of basketball and football. The casual observer links the AFAM scandal to young people who needed help to stay eligible for sports, a small subpopulation of the university allegedly participating in a “shadow curriculum” for the benefit of athletics revenue. The 2014 Wainstein Report describes the actual subpopulation as approximately 3,100 students, 48 percent of whom were athletes. In the university’s third response to the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations, UNC counters that the number of athletes was closer to 29 percent.
When putting a face to the story, however, you cannot have the full picture without my face. In 2006, I was a 54-year-old Caucasian male student at UNC, studying for my undergraduate degree in history. I had the good fortune of doing something many people never get to do. I was privileged to rewrite my personal history and go back to school. In my family, my daughter was the first to obtain a college degree. I proudly write that I was the second to receive my degree, 12 years after she did.
I graduated third in my class from Greenwood High School, Sanford, N.C., in 1970. My family struggled financially, so I worked over 30 hours per week in high school. When you live near the poverty level, however, even with scholarship offers it is hard to envision the path to college and beyond. Instead of college, I chose full-time employment. I married and had a wonderful family. From that perspective, I would not consider changing one thing in my life.
I eventually landed a great job at a fibers plant, working my way up from an entry-level position. After 20-plus years of working swing shift, I was promoted to a training position with the company. Through God’s blessings, I was earning a great salary, received terrific benefits and thoroughly enjoyed my job. And I was offered something far beyond what I could have imagined: the opportunity to obtain a bachelor’s degree totally paid by my employer. Never in a million years did I dream that I could recapture this missed opportunity.
The path to my degree would not be easy. I would continue to work 40 hours per week, more when necessary, and complete my studies on my own time. I worked full time, and also carried a full load academically each semester. After two years of community college, I completed my associate degree and was accepted as a transfer student at UNC.
There were times I felt overwhelmed with my workload; juggling a full-time job with commuting an hour as a full-time student was certainly challenging. I took nothing for granted. I savored every moment. When 18-year-old students complained about the workload, I bit my tongue, reminding myself that they really did not realize how fortunate they were. We were blessed to receive an education, of course, but even more blessed to receive a Carolina education.
In the summer of 2006, I was struggling to flex my work schedule in order to be available to commute to classes that were only offered during work hours. I met with my advisor to help determine the best way for me to fit in all my necessary courses for that semester. My advisor asked me if I had considered an independent study. I asked for more details, and she shared that the AFAM department had a number of independent study courses available that could be a good option for me. She stated athletes often took an AFAM independent study because it allowed them to have more flexibility with their schedules. With an independent study, she said, I could learn at my own pace, complete the work on my own time frame without driving in for another class, and demonstrate my learning with a culminating paper. Her suggestion seemed to be the perfect fit for me, so I enrolled in AFRI 120, with Dr. Julius Nyang’oro.
Given recent findings, I cannot say for certain who graded my paper. I can say I did learn a significant amount about Nelson Mandela and his legacy in South Africa and the world. I did the required reading, and some additional reading to help make the paper complete. I earned a good grade for the course — an A-minus. In re-reading the paper, it was not my best work, nor was it the worst paper I submitted for a course. It was, however, a meaningful learning experience for me, certainly as meaningful as some seated classes. I went on to graduate in the spring of 2007, with a GPA of 3.2, including the A-minus from my AFAM independent study.
Unfortunately, now the credibility of my learning experience is questioned. I enrolled in a class that might not have been properly supervised by Dr. Nyang’oro, the department head. Apparently, neither my class nor the AFAM department as a whole was supervised by deans or other high-ranking officials responsible for oversight of the university’s academic programs. I fulfilled all the requirements for that class, and I went on to obtain my degree, with the coursework from AFRI 120 counting towards the fulfillment of my degree. Make no mistake — no one gave me anything. I did the work and I earned it myself.
The next time you think about UNC’s AFAM scandal, you must also see my face, the face of a 54-year-old working full-time and studying full-time on a quest to fulfill a lifelong dream of a college degree from UNC. You must also see the face of the promising prestigious Morehead Scholar, who needed an “easier” course to balance out an overwhelming course load. In fact, if you take the time to listen to something other than media sound bites, you may discover this “shadow curriculum” was not created simply to keep athletes eligible.
The AFAM courses in question helped students from all backgrounds and all majors find a way to meet course objectives outside the classroom setting. In fact, it is probably similar to independent studies offerings on campuses across the nation. Obvious examples of abuse have been uncovered within this department, and of that I am deeply ashamed. I simply ask you not paint the scandal in such a way that it only suits the narrative of UNC sports betraying its student athletes. If we are talking betrayal, I must be included in that conversation. I did quality work in a so-called “paper class,” and the quality of my work should not be denigrated simply based upon who graded that work.
MORE: A cure for Roy William's NCAA-sized headacheA cure for Roy William's NCAA-sized headache
By John Nance
2014 Wainstein Report