https://www.si.com/college-basketba...andal-ncaa-investigation-infractions-hearings
The NCAA has alleged that UNC used a fake African Studies course to help keep at-risk student-athletes academically eligible for the football and basketball seasons. Athletes in other sports have also been tied to the African Studies courses. This academic scandal spanned more than two decades and allegedly involved 3,100 students. It is estimated that 47 percent of those students were athletes, with 50 percent of those athletes being football players, 12 percent men's basketball players, 6 percent women's basketball players and the rest spread across other sports.
Deborah Crowder, a clerical employee in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies, allegedly registered students in these courses and would distribute grades that would help the athletes meet minimum GPA requirements. The "paper classes" never met and only required students to turn in a final paper. Crowder left the university in 2009 but former department chairman Julius Nyang'oro continued the "shadow curriculum."
The fake classes were discovered by rival N.C. State fans who noted a former football player's paper for a Swahili Class was plagiarized. Nyang'oro was his professor for the class.