SIAP "Confessions of a Fixer" Chronicle of Higher Ed article

[southalcat]

Very interesting (long) read about an insider's view of academic fraud among NCAA athletes.
http://chronicle.com/article/Confessions-of-a-Fixer/150891/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en


http://chronicle.com/article/Confessions-of-a-Fixer/150891/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

WOW.

Interesting reading. Thanks for the link. I know this is bald speculation on my part, but I'm going to list a few clips from the article and then follow each with the person or thought that came to my mind in parentheses.

1) "Dominique Ferguson, a top-ranked forward from Indianapolis who had offers from UCLA, Kentucky, and Duke, instead picked Florida International University, to play for Isiah Thomas, an NBA Hall of Famer." (wow, glad we avoided that bombshell)

2) "Hey Coach White this is a.d.," wrote another player in September that same year. "Me and my homeboy Earl was looking into taking online classes and working out with you what all do we need?" (I sure hope this wasn't Anthony Davis)

3) "...he got a call from a former player whose old teammate was in a jam.........he planned to enroll in graduate school at a higher-profile college, where he thought he would receive more television exposure.... .the player didn't have the necessary credits and needed to complete several online classes before he could graduate. And he had only a week before fall classes started.....Coaches in two of the biggest conferences made calls to Mr. White, according to phone logs he shared with The Chronicle. He says they discussed potentially impermissible visits, improper payments, and a plan to get the player's classes done that Mr. White did not think was possible.....when it was over, Mr. White says, multiple Adams State credits had made it onto the player's transcript and the transfer went through,.... (sounds a lot like Dez Wells)

 

[southalcat]

Thanks for the insights you offer. I too had that same reaction to "a.d." Let's hope not. Davis has always come across as very intelligent to me, though, and I can't imagine he would need this kind of "fixing" to get through his UK classes.

 

[WACB]

Originally posted by St.PatterSoN-54-:

2) "Hey Coach White this is a.d.," wrote another player in September that same year. "Me and my homeboy Earl was looking into taking online classes and working out with you what all do we need?" (I sure hope this wasn't Anthony Davis)

It wasn't Anthony Davis. It says "September that same year". The year in question was 2013. Davis was already in the NBA in Septemeber 2013 therefore wouldn't be looking into taking online classes with his homeboy Earl.

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This post was edited on 1/5 11:08 AM by icalfan

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

Originally posted by icalfan:

Originally posted by St.PatterSoN-54-:

2) "Hey Coach White this is a.d.," wrote another player in September that same year. "Me and my homeboy Earl was looking into taking online classes and working out with you what all do we need?" (I sure hope this wasn't Anthony Davis)

It wasn't Anthony Davis. It says "September that same year". The year in question was 2013. Davis was already in the NBA in Septemeber 2013 therefore wouldn't be looking into taking online classes with his homeboy Earl.

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This post was edited on 1/5 11:08 AM by icalfan

Thanks. I'm and idiot and should have further considered the timeline. I also believe that our AD is much too smart to need this kind of assistance. My bad and thanks for pointing it out.

 

[southalcat]

Thanks for that, icalfan. Tbh, I was still half asleep when I posted this and I wasn't thinking about the timeline of events. I didn't post this because I thought it was implicating Davis, just to be clear- it was about the scope of the problem and the unnerving details provided by the insider. It's kind of stunning.

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

Originally posted by southalcat:
Thanks for that, icalfan. Tbh, I was still half asleep when I posted this and I wasn't thinking about the timeline of events. I didn't post this because I thought it was implicating Davis, just to be clear- it was about the scope of the problem and the unnerving details provided by the insider. It's kind of stunning.

Agree. It's really incredibly detailed and damning in a few cases. We all know this stuff is going on, but to have people willing to spill the beans is crazy.

 

[far_away_fan]

That universities are willing to give and accept credit for online and correspondence courses is really kind of a joke. It's part of the money grab that is going on all across the academic landscape. These institutions have changed from being places that helped students learn what they need to know to be successful to places that give certification that students have paid enough money to graduate.

I assume employers can look at a transcript and tell the difference between students who took loads of online and correspondence courses and those who took all their course from actual instructors with subject matter expertise. If so, then the students who take these courses are the only ones that pay the price for the institutional greed.

 

[kritikalcat]

With probably 75% of employers now online doesn't make any difference as long as it's an accredited program. Brick and mortar is still preferred or required by the other 25%, and I believe confers other advantages over online - but the latter is definitely becoming widely accepted.

Personally I'd like to see at least the initial degree mostly done in a classroom / traditional campus setting and additional degrees online would be fine

 

[southalcat]

Actually, no, there's no way to tell the difference, unless the degree in its entirety is taken at a known online school, like Univ of Phoenix. The credits look exactly the same.

 

[Cr1spy]

Originally posted by St.PatterSoN-54-:

WOW.

...

3) "...he got a call from a former player whose old teammate was in a jam.........he planned to enroll in graduate school at a higher-profile college, where he thought he would receive more television exposure.... .the player didn't have the necessary credits and needed to complete several online classes before he could graduate. And he had only a week before fall classes started.....Coaches in two of the biggest conferences made calls to Mr. White, according to phone logs he shared with The Chronicle. He says they discussed potentially impermissible visits, improper payments, and a plan to get the player's classes done that Mr. White did not think was possible.....when it was over, Mr. White says, multiple Adams State credits had made it onto the player's transcript and the transfer went through,.... (sounds a lot like Dez Wells)

While Xavier is mentioned in the article, this is not Dez Wells. His situation was completely different. He was expelled from Xavier after one season, which was rescinded, after an alleged sexual assault. He was cleared, and not in a Jameis Winston kind of way - seems to be genuinely innocent. He decided to transfer and has been at Maryland for 3 years.