In defense of Rashad McCants
*UPDATE* The below was written several months before the release of the Wainstein report. Even after reading the report, and seeing all of the backlash, I stand by what is written below. I don't know what would qualify a student as one of the 3100 "implicated," but if taking a class qualifies you, I am qualified, and not ashamed. Nor was I ever contacted during said investigation, as a non-athlete student.
There was no way possible, as a student, to know that Ms. Crowder set up this system. Nor did I have any idea that she graded any papers, as outlined in the Wainstein report. The process of being in the classes worked just as I articulated below, while I was in school. I took the classes around 2000-2001.
Rashad McCants recently lamented his academic woes on OUTSIDE THE LINES. It was set as an expose' on alleged UNC academic fraud. McCants is at a point in his life where he CANT get right, CANT figure out where he should be, CANT find his way, CANT live the way he wants, and CANT figure out who's at fault for it. Or so it seems, to me.
From a failed four year stint in the NBA to a failed rap career and a flailing acting career...he's at that crossroads everyone seemingly comes to in life where your once dreams don't align with your present situation. According to many folks who have followed his career, McCants has been his own biggest stumbling block. But now, he says he's on a crusade to save kids from colleges that exploit them.
The allegations from Rashad McCants:
- I didn't go to class.
- I spent a lot of time in class that I did nothing in.
- Tutors wrote my papers (and those for my teammates).
- UNC was like jail. We couldn't do anything. We had to watch what we said and what we did.
- We would have to run sprints if we missed class.
- I made the Deans List without going to class.
- People would come by to make sure we were in class.
- Roy Williams told me I was about to become ineligible and needed to buckle down.
- Roy Williams said they could move my summer class A into my GPA to keep me eligible.
- I'm sure the administration had to know what I was doing because they had people checking up on us.
Let me be clear about something...I break testimony, evidence, speculation and innuendo down for a living and have been doing so for going on ten years. Like Erykah Badu says...Keep in mind...I'm an artist...and I'm serious about my sh....
Take what I write with a grain of salt. I am biased. I am an alum of UNC-Chapel Hill. I am a fan of Tar Heel sports. So go ahead and keep that in mind as you read this.
You see, many people will not reveal their biases to you, and would like you to believe that the messages they deliver are objective. To me, that is impossible. We all have biases and prejudices, perspectives and points of view. Writing merely brings forth our latent proclivities in prose or poetic form. Everyone has an angle.
The whole academic-athletic "scandal" that has "plagued" UNC sports for about four or five years now, has been funny to me. I matriculated at UNC right in the middle of some of the "suspect years". I was a student in the "sham" AFAM department as well as the Political Science and English departments. I entered UNC-Chapel Hill on academic scholarship (thank God), and lived on South Campus where many football players resided. As you've read here, my best guy friend on campus was a football player. I also had childhood friends who were athletes at UNC while I was there.
So now you have my angle
Getting to McCANTs. I don't know Rashad McCants or his sister Rashanda personally. Both were outstanding athletes, and from what I saw a while back were good to great academic students coming out of high school. (Rashad was an honor roll student in high school.) I was watching a local show (an old taping) here in western North Carolina and Rashad and Rashanda were on talking about their grades and excelling in the classroom and on the court.
Julius Hodge
Oh, and McCants having straight A's his final year? I believe it. The KID IS INTELLIGENT. No bull. Very smart! Like Josh Powell smart!
I was still in Chapel Hill when Rashad started school, but had just graduated. By all accounts, Rashad McCANTS is no "dumb jock". People love to play up athletes as stupid or lacking in the brain, but overly gifted in brawn...especially Black athletes. (Yes...I took you there...and make no qualms about it.)
Let me address the "SHAM AFAM DEPARTMENT":
I remember having this argument live and on air with some local sports radio personalities a couple years back. I hate when people think they know something and are unwilling to admit what they don't know. The issue centered around these "paper classes" that in the minds of everyone who was not there, were created specifically for athletes. They have also dubbed these paper classes as AFAM classes. When the truth of the matter is the majority (if not every single one) of the "paper classes" were African Studies classes taught by Julius Nyang'oro.
I think I took two or three of his classes in my final year to finish out school. I could have actually graduated early because I had more than enough credits. Professor Nyang'oro's classes were dubbed "easy As" because all you had to do was write a 25 or 35 page research paper depending on the particular subject matter. I honestly did not realize there was anything wrong with the class as it was, besides the fact that my only interaction with the professor was via email and phoning him from the AFAM department office.
Quite a few people took Nyang'oro's classes because of the "you only have to write a paper" aspect of it...not just athletes and not especially athletes. Not while I was at UNC. Most of the athletes at UNC were in the Communications, Exercise and Sports Science, or Sociology departments. There were only a sprinkle in the AFAM department.
Just like with any class that is dubbed an "Easy A", they tend to become popular. The word spreads about them being GPA boosters and people line up to take them. Nyang'oro's easy A classes were the only easy A classes I took at UNC besides my Phys A requirements. There were other easy A classes in the French Department and other departments at UNC.
Professor Nyang'oro's classes worked like this...you sign up for the class, but it was not listed as an independent studies class. You meet on the first day (or not at all). You communicated face to face through his assistant Deborah Crowder who would either call Nyang'oro for you or take a message. Nyang'oro allowed you to pick what you would write your paper about in line with the subject matter of the course; and you gave him a synopsis of the paper for approval before you began your research and writing. You would have to check in with him to let him know where you were on the paper and turn the paper in with proper citations and what not.
I communicated through Ms. Crowder and via email and phone with Professor Nyang'oro.
My first paper was on comparative economic and political systems in third world countries. I compared Zimbabwe with South Korea and a Latin American country that I cannot remember. It was a deep research on civil war, the IMF and the political structures of the countries. How do I remember this paper in particular? Because I received an A+ on it. And I literally wrote the paper in a day, but researched it for a good while beforehand. This was pre-Google research... I did another paper on Ghanaian Independence.
Not many people knew about Professor Nyang'oro's paper classes initially, but as the word spread, people signed up in droves. Why wouldn't you? You didn't have to go to class...and your only assignment for a final grade was a paper. If you check the roster of his classes (which they did...if you see the James Martin report), you would find that the vast majority of students in his classes were not athletes. So when I tell you that everyone and anyone who knew about Professor Nyang'oro's classes took them...I mean students from all walks of life who wanted an "easy A".
As far as paper writing, plagiarism and the lot goes...I can tell you this...I cannot speak for who wrote anyone's papers but my own...because I know I wrote them. I can also tell you I saw many students buying papers through websites online...or doing copy and paste. And these students for darn sure weren't athletes nor were they just UNC students. I worked off campus with students from many Triangle area schools. Plagiarism was common and more unauthorized academic assistance came from Frat Houses than athletic dorms from my perspective. Frat boys would have tests ahead of time for many of the classes at UNC.
Getting more personal on academic repsonsibility
I came to UNC-Chapel Hill as a NERD LOL. I had placed out of a full semester's worth of credit hours in History, English and Biology. I still had to take general college courses because I was a freshman and some of the credits I had did not count towards those requirements. As a freshman, I decided I would double major in Political Science and African-American Studies.
Some of the required courses I had to take were boring to me. So boring that I would fall asleep in class (mix that in with staying up late and not eating properly). I had several classes that I would just not go to because "I knew this stuff already". At UNC, many classes did not take attendance; the ones that did gave you a certain number of absences before your grade was impacted.
However, for athletes, their attendances were always under scrutiny. There would be a monitor who randomly popped up in classes to make sure they had their butts in their seats. Their advisers and tutors would also check in with their instructors about their progress. So I can kinda see what Rashad meant about feeling like he was in jail.
As a "regular" student, I had no monitor. I had the typical attitude of a young adult..."I can do what I want and there are no consequences." I also had (hope I still have) a high IQ that fed my ego...and people who always told me how smart I was (which fed into me not working as hard as I could have at first.) I hated the classes where "I already knew the stuff" so I just wouldn't go. I loved my AFAM classes. One of my favorite instructors was Ange-Marie Hancock...she taught a class on African-American Political Thought. I also had African, Afro-Caribbean and Caucasian instructors in that department.
While there, I learned about the history of the department and the struggle for it to come into existence. Seminar classes with Perry Hall and many others fueled my desire to come to class every day. Though the same desire did not exist in the classes where "I knew this stuff already". My first instructor was a Caucasian professor in AFAM 40 and 41. I excelled in these classes because I found the subject matter interesting and right up my revolutionary alley. We did not learn this stuff in high school or any other part of our primary education.
The only thing public education taught minority students about our existence in America was: Black People were slaves, MLK, Jr., the end. Chinese people worked on railroads...the end. Native Americans loved the Pilgrims...Trail of Tears...the end. Japanese people were in internment camps...the end. Hispanic people lost the Alamo...the end.
What whipped me into shape (fairly quickly) was getting my grades. I was SHOCKED that my typical As were now Cs and Ds. How is that possible? Well... you actually have to go to class to learn the way a particular instructor wanted to receive answers to his or her test questions. I may have "known the stuff already" but I darn sure didn't know it how they wanted me to know it.
I had a wake up call similar to the one Rashad had when he says Coach Roy Williams told him he was going to become academically ineligible. I was about to become academically ineligible for my scholarship and going to law school was going to be out of the question. I went to see my academic adviser, Dean Woodard...I love that man to this day, and we talked. He kinda laughed at what I had been doing and told me college success was not about to come as easily to me as success had in the past.
See, in the past, I had strict parents who monitored my grades, and I hardly had distractions like boys and parties and finding my own food and navigating a new place. I had to figure things out for myself that had usually been figured out for me by someone else. So Dean Woodard helped me figure out how to balance classes I actually enjoyed with the ones I would rather not be in. He helped me figure out how to change some classes around that would give me credit for required classes.
I dropped some classes that I didn't like with some assistance, so that my midpoint grade would not impact my GPA. I focused on studying more outside of class, even when I didn't want to go to those classes. By the time I matriculated from UNC, I went from almost losing my scholarship to making the Deans List regularly. So honestly, my transcript might reflect the transcripts of some of the athletes there... Yeah...really.
A different perspective
Rashad McCants, by being on the basketball team, had to live in Granville Towers. It was a private dorm isolated from the rest of campus...therefore isolated from the majority of what was going on on campus. Rashad may think, wholeheartedly, that athletes were receiving academic benefits that the rest of the campus were not privy to, but he's wrong if he feels that way.
Grade changes occurred with regular students. There was "freshman forgiveness" and taking a course "pass/fail". Rotating schedules and class selections happened with regular students. More frat house guys had access to tests and cheating methods than anyone I ever met on the campus of UNC... I'm just being honest.
I met people at UNC who couldn't even compete with my high school GPA and accolades, but who soared at UNC and made me look stupid. That includes athletes who have gone on to become business execs, doctors, lawyers, teachers and just regular folks with regular jobs. I started UNC with several of my high school classmates. We were all at the top of our class...by the time we finished there were a few of us who actually graduated...and my high school valedictorian was not one of us.
College is honestly about what you make of it and not something someone else can make of it for you. There will always be people around willing to give athletes a little "come up". ALWAYS... But the question in this scandal is: Did the school try to give athletes a come up or sanction the come up? I say no.
There will also always be people around who take every "come up" available to them. There will be people who look for the "easy A" or the skating way out. Then there are people who choose to make their own way...and put in all the effort necessary to achieve through hard work, dedication, and integrity.
I was an orientation counselor and minority student recruitment rep, who had a few athletes as my "mentees". There were a few in particular who I routinely implored to come out of their rooms, to get involved on campus and enjoy the college life. But they would just go back to their rooms and stay. One was always studying...I don't know what the other was doing, but I figure he was studying too.
The latter ended up becoming a Super Bowl champion record breaking running back.
I can say I never cheated, but I did get lazy and I took those aforementioned Nyang'oro easy A classes. At the end, I had to work hard to get myself back on track. I didn't become dumb or lose my IQ...I just stopped working hard and got lazy. I was homesick at times, and caught up in college life at other times. It happens.
But like many other people, I didn't see irregularities in the AFAM department...because I was doing what I was supposed to do in there....LOL
Back to Rashad...and his memories
This alleged scandal irritates me because a lot of the talking heads are going off of tertiary, quaternary, quinary, senary, septenary, octonary, nonary, and denary information. Yeah...it's that far removed. Even Rashad's "memory" is a little funky...or he's just exaggerating some points (it seems to me).
How can you spend time in paper classes that had no class meetings? (Unless that changed after I left...but it doesn't seem like that was the case.) How do you figure the staff knew you were cheating, when you would sneak around to not get caught? How do you skip all these classes without getting caught? And be in classes doing nothing at the same time? Or were you running sprints at every practice?
How did you conjure up many of these shenanigans that people didn't hear about on campus...the CNN (Carolina people know what CNN stands for...lol) knew all and told all...even what went on in and around Granville Towers...And the CNN kept things live even after people graduated.
Moreover...how do you blame other people for you choosing to not go to class and do your own work? It's funny that you never actually said anyone instructed you to do these things to keep your eligibility, but somehow the story has been cast to prove that to be the case.
Everything Rashad has stated dealt with choices he made, not choices that were made for him. It's odd to me.
I will try not to cast too many aspersions on McCants because I don't know the guy personally. Other people who know him are doing enough of that.
Long story short: if McCants says it's sunny outside? I'm wearing a rain jacket!
Through all of this, I'm not saying athletes didn't cheat. But I am saying I don't believe their cheating was UNC sanctioned or created by UNC. Could people have looked the other way? Heck yeah... Do I believe people did favors for athletes? Absolutely! I saw it. Namely other students.
Do I believe the athletic department set it up so that athletes would stay eligible? No. If there is evidence to the contrary, I haven't seen it yet. The school tried to keep everyone in school with the resources that were available...athlete and non-athlete alike. That's what happens at these fairly hard to get into schools. Heck if you don't make it...it is because you haven't tapped into the available resources to make it or you're having other personal struggles. (my opinion)
Is the AFAM Department a sham? No. The AFAM department was like other departments on campus...just a bit more interesting.
Rashad's book is coming out soon...something about the life of a college athlete.
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