Between 1993 and 2011, UNC operated a shadow curriculum—hundreds of courses and independent studies that never met, required no work, and awarded high grades. The reason? To keep athletes eligible for UNC's multi-million dollar sports program. Read Jay and Mary's book: https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/potomac-books/9781640122468/cheated/ For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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Every week on The Moth Podcast, we share stories that are funny, strange, heartbreaking, and above all, true. I myself have been married for 56 years. Unfortunately to four different women. You can work out a whole lot of s*** in the hours of Target. Follow and listen to The Moth on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.
In 2005, the University of North Carolina men's basketball team won the national championship. Rashad McCants was a standout player on the championship team, a star forward and the second leading scorer. McCants!
Remarkably, McCants didn't just thrive on the court that season. He got straight A's and made the Dean's List. But there was a secret to McCants' academic success. He didn't do much academic work that semester. In fact, he says he didn't complete a single assignment. Here's how he later explained it in an interview with ESPN.
I didn't write any papers. It was very simple. When it was time to turn in our papers, we would get a call from our tutors. We would all pack up in one big car or two or three cars, carpool over to the tutor's house and basically get our papers and go about our business.
McCamp says that not only did he not write a single paper that semester, but the lecture courses he was enrolled in never actually met. No assignments, no professor, no class. It's absurd, but it actually makes sense because it kept me eligible to play. You're not there to get an education. You're there to make revenue for the college.
I'm Margo Gray. This week on Campus Files, UNC's decades-long scheme to keep Rashad McCants and hundreds of other athletes eligible to play. Carolina is a place where students go because of the academics, but also because of the athletic entertainment. This is Mary Willingham. When she joined the University of North Carolina faculty in 2003, the school spirit was immediately apparent.
You can travel all over the world and you will see people with Carolina shirts and Carolina hats. And you're like, how on earth is this fan all the way over here in Okinawa, Japan, for example, or somewhere. But that's just the nature of it. And it's that big brand, that Carolina brand.
You're probably familiar with the Carolina brand, at least visually. It's pretty distinct. The overlapping NC, the signature baby blue outlined in navy, and the outline of a foot with a dark spot on the heel, a nod to the university's mascot, the Tar Heel. There's no doubt this brand largely owes its widespread recognition to UNC's athletic programs, especially basketball and football.
May for the win!
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