A former tutor at the University of Missouri has come out and admitted that she had taken exams and courses on behalf of the school's athletes. This comes after the institution sanctioned its men's basketball team for the violation of NCAA rules.
USA Today College reported that Yolanda Kumar, the former University of Missouri tutor, revealed that she can document several instances of serious academic fraud by the school's athletes during a 16-month period. She added that she was pressured to keep the players academically eligible.
Kumar initially took to Facebook to reveal how she took entrance exams and completed courses for the athletes. Hours after, the school announced that it has begun investigating the issue.
"The University of Missouri has received allegations of potential academic rules violations by a former tutor in the Athletics Academic Services area," University of Missouri's athletics department said in a statement. "Consistent with our commitment to rules compliance and to operating our athletics program with integrity, we are conducting a review of the allegations."
Deeming the issue as "academic dishonesty," Kumar described how she felt that she was being "groomed" by her superiors for the role. Since 2010, there have been 15 cases of serious academic fraud by Kumar and the athletes.
According to The Kansas City Star, Kumar worked as a tutor for the school's Total Person Program. Apparently, she also answered assessment questions on the athletes' behalf.
"I think about what I've done and I cry, not because I'm sad or I'm weak but because I'm so angry that I didn't use my voice to say no," she said. "I had pretty much had enough, and I felt good that I had told her. Then, I realized I had opened all the evil and now the evil was out of the box and you can't put it back in."
Moreover, she also revealed that at least two academic coordinators for athletes in revenue-generating sports encouraged the academic fraud activities. Kumar resigned last Nov. 7.
