The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill confirmed it received an official Notice of Allegations (NOA) in relation to the "paper class" scandal.
The school acknowledged the note in a press release Friday from Chancellor Carol L. Folt and Athletics Director Bubba Cunningham.
"We take these allegations very seriously, and we will carefully evaluate them to respond within the NCAA's 90-day deadline. The University will publicly release the NCAA's notice as soon as possible. The notice is lengthy and must be prepared for public dissemination to ensure we protect privacy rights as required by federal and state law," the two said in their statement. "When that review for redactions is complete, the University will post the notice on the Carolina Commitment website and notify the news media. When we respond to the NCAA's allegations, we will follow this same release process. Consistent with NCAA protocols, the University cannot comment on details of the investigation until it is completed."
According to ESPN, the NCAA first began its investigation in 2011 into no-show classes at UNC because student-athletes were apparently taking them to boost their GPAs and remain eligible for their respective sports. The NOA heralds the official reopening of the investigation, which came to light when Mary Willingham, a former reading specialist at UNC, brought these "paper classes" to light in Jan. 2011.
UNC then appointed Kenneth Wainstein, a former high-ranking official at the U.S. Justice Department, to look into the allegations. He completed his review in Oct. and concluded more than 3,000 students took these no-show classes for more than 20 years.
The false classes were housed in the African and African-American Studies Department and awarded students with high marks for doing little to no class work. A number of former UNC basketball and football players since supported Willingham's claims and the school eventually accepted responsibility when Wainstein completed his review.
