So let me get this straight: going all the way back to 1993 there were thousands of students (a very large number of them student athletes) who took "paper classes" designed to keep their GPAs up. While GPA-boosting class aren't anything new, there appears to be obvious signs that a lot of these classes were bogus and made far too easy for college-level work just so student athletes could stay eligible. Some of these students couldn't even read a book or write a paragraph. The school knew about all this and didn't do anything to stop it until there was an actual investigation done that spans back to 2010. Also from the report (page 66):
A total of 2,152 individual students who enrolled in the paper classes were included in this impact analysis. Of that number, 329 students (including 169 student-athletes) had at least one semester in which the grade they received in their paper class either pushed or kept their GPA above 2.0. In other words, for at least one semester in their college career, each of those students had an actual cumulative GPA above a 2.0 but a recalculated GPA (excluding the paper class grade(s)) below a 2.0. This number includes 123 football players, 15 men’s basketball players, eight women’s basketball players, and 26 Olympic sport athletes. Of that number, we identified 81 students who earned degrees from Chapel Hill whose recalculated final GPA excluding the grade(s) from their paper class or classes was less than the 2.0 required to graduate.
This looks bad. Like, really bad. It may be even worse than the Penn State scandal, and that's saying something. Is this something that warrants consequences not just limited to the NCAA, but also with accrediting organizations?
I don't know why we pretend college sports and real college degrees should be joined together... Let colleges have a sports major that allows kids to participate in college sports without forcing them to attempt to go through a major they do not want and probably will never use.
I see 2 types of college athletes those that want a degree and to participate in sports and those that are just there for the sports. We try to force those from group two to be like those from group one and it's silly.
Keep college sports in college so those that do want traditional degrees to go with their sports can do that, but lets stop pretending that all college athletes are in college for a degree. Many of them are there because that's where they have to go to have a chance at the pros.
I don't know why we pretend college sports and real college degrees should be joined together... Let colleges have a sports major that allows kids to participate in college sports without forcing them to attempt to go through a major they do not want and probably will never use.
I see 2 types of college athletes those that want a degree and to participate in sports and those that are just there for the sports. We try to force those from group two to be like those from group one and it's silly.
Keep college sports in college so those that do want traditional degrees to go with their sports can do that, but lets stop pretending that all college athletes are in college for a degree. Many of them are there because that's where they have to go to have a chance at the pros.
Given the amount of money that is infused with college sports, it's almost certainly the main reason why we still have this idea that those who go to school mainly for the sport they get recruited in and normal students who are actually there to get a degree can go together without any real problems. Especially when you consider that UNC is a big-name school for basketball.
I don't know why we pretend college sports and real college degrees should be joined together... Let colleges have a sports major that allows kids to participate in college sports without forcing them to attempt to go through a major they do not want and probably will never use.
I see 2 types of college athletes those that want a degree and to participate in sports and those that are just there for the sports. We try to force those from group two to be like those from group one and it's silly.
Keep college sports in college so those that do want traditional degrees to go with their sports can do that, but lets stop pretending that all college athletes are in college for a degree. Many of them are there because that's where they have to go to have a chance at the pros.
Given the amount of money that is infused with college sports, it's almost certainly the main reason why we still have this idea that those who go to school mainly for the sport they get recruited in and normal students who are actually there to get a degree can go together without any real problems. Especially when you consider that UNC is a big-name school for basketball.
I think you may have missed the point I was trying to make. It's perfectly possible to leave everything about college sports the same and just remove the academic requirements. Some players on a college sports team will also go to school and get a useful degree. Some of them will just work to try to make it in the pros. I see no issue with that.
In a way this calls to mind the same attitudes that motivated the "active consent" issue discussed in another thread. Namely, the attitude that college students are "kids" rather than adults, and that the grown-ups who know better should make decisions for these kids who are incapable of making them for themselves.
But college students aren't kids. They're adults, and we expect them to live adult lives in almost every respect. So let schools treat student athletes the way adult athletes are treated in other contexts: let the school pay them if it wants to, let the school abolish or reduce academic requirements if it wants to. The double standard is absurd and patronizing; it invariably leads to schools cheating the system like UNC.
I don't know why we pretend college sports and real college degrees should be joined together... Let colleges have a sports major that allows kids to participate in college sports without forcing them to attempt to go through a major they do not want and probably will never use.
I see 2 types of college athletes those that want a degree and to participate in sports and those that are just there for the sports. We try to force those from group two to be like those from group one and it's silly.
Keep college sports in college so those that do want traditional degrees to go with their sports can do that, but lets stop pretending that all college athletes are in college for a degree. Many of them are there because that's where they have to go to have a chance at the pros.
So what is the difference between a school that has separated academics from their sports, and a minor league team?
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What's the big deal? You could have played multiple Righteous Avengers for years now.
I don't know why we pretend college sports and real college degrees should be joined together... Let colleges have a sports major that allows kids to participate in college sports without forcing them to attempt to go through a major they do not want and probably will never use.
I see 2 types of college athletes those that want a degree and to participate in sports and those that are just there for the sports. We try to force those from group two to be like those from group one and it's silly.
Keep college sports in college so those that do want traditional degrees to go with their sports can do that, but lets stop pretending that all college athletes are in college for a degree. Many of them are there because that's where they have to go to have a chance at the pros.
So what is the difference between a school that has separated academics from their sports, and a minor league team?
The students that do want to go to school and play sports will be able to do so. And not all sports have minor league teams. (such as the NFL) Schools with good sports programs also benefit from sports in other ways such as recruiting non-sports playing students that just enjoy going to a school with a good team.
Unless the entire degree is just "be a member of the Basketball team", you still run into the same issue. Someone who is good at playing Basketball (or Baseball or Gymnastics, etc.) is not necessarily any more interested in learning the history, cultural relevance or business of that sport, than they are interested in learning about Geology or Algebra.
Unless the entire degree is just "be a member of the Basketball team", you still run into the same issue. Someone who is good at playing Basketball (or Baseball or Gymnastics, etc.) is not necessarily any more interested in learning the history, cultural relevance or business of that sport, than they are interested in learning about Geology or Algebra.
Why not? Not all degrees have to be created equally (since they aren't). If Universities started giving out sport degrees it's not like businesses will get confused by what the degree means. It should be pretty obvious.
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Unless the entire degree is just "be a member of the Basketball team", you still run into the same issue. Someone who is good at playing Basketball (or Baseball or Gymnastics, etc.) is not necessarily any more interested in learning the history, cultural relevance or business of that sport, than they are interested in learning about Geology or Algebra.
If we can manage to create degree programs for dance, I'm sure we can manage to create a degree program in basketball.
I don't know why we pretend college sports and real college degrees should be joined together... Let colleges have a sports major that allows kids to participate in college sports without forcing them to attempt to go through a major they do not want and probably will never use.
Do you think being able to read is a useless skill that people probably will never use?
There are physical education majors. The thing is those are academic fields of study. They do not constitute, "Play the sport for the college team." College sports are meant to be extracurricular activities that students play in addition to being students. They're not supposed to be the only thing the students do. That's meant to be the distinction between student athletes and professional athletes.
So saying, "Why not let someone major in Basketball?" misses the point, the point being the students are being enrolled in fake classes to hide the fact that the university is giving them fake grades in order to make it seem like they're meeting the requirements to be eligible to be student athletes.
So, frankly, it doesn't matter whether their major is basketball or quantum physics. The problem is the university is lying about giving these kids an education, because they're not participating in an academic curriculum, they're just playing ball. Changing the subject of the fake education the university is giving them is not going to change things.
I'm pretty sure I wasn't suggesting we make a basketball major and then fill it with fake classes.
You're still completely missing the the point. I explained this all in the post I made.
The problem is UNC was artificially inflating the grades of its students by saying they were attending classes when they weren't, thereby having student athletes participating in their basketball program without actually taking part in academics.
Saying, "Why don't they just offer a different major?" is not actually a solution to the problem, because the whole point is that the university is not providing them an education, they're just pretending the students are going to class and getting the grades they need to play basketball without making the students engage in academics. It doesn't matter what academic track the students are on, the problem would still remain the same.
The problem is that the players are there to play basketball, but have to pretend they're there to be a communications major or whatever. If they're there to play basketball, let them be there to play basketball, and I think you'll have a lot fewer problems.
The problem is that the players are there to play basketball, but have to pretend they're there to be a communications major or whatever. If they're there to play basketball, let them be there to play basketball, and I think you'll have a lot fewer problems.
The problem is they're not students! That's the problem! Student athletes have to be enrolled in an academic program within the institution and maintain a certain GPA in order to play for the institution. Loosely translated, student athletes have to be students! That's why they're called student athletes!
That's the problem! Saying, "Well let's not make them have to be students," is not the solution to the problem because it is the problem!
It's astounding, really. You would look at an institution that has committed thousands of counts of academic fraud, and then say, well, let's make it no longer wrong to do what they were doing? NO! When someone does something wrong, the solution is not to allow them to continue to do it!
Why, exactly, can't you be a student of basketball? You can be a student of dance, you should be able to be a student of basketball. You take classes in basketball, you study basketball, you get a degree in basketball. It's not academic fraud, and it's not fake classes.
Why, exactly, can't you be a student of basketball? You can be a student of dance, you should be able to be a student of basketball. You take classes in basketball, you study basketball, you get a degree in basketball. It's not academic fraud, and it's not fake classes.
I didn't say you couldn't. I'm saying that what you're talking about has nothing to do with addressing the problem discussed in this thread. You need to actually read the thread, Tiax.
The problem is these students aren't receiving an education, they're just playing ball for the team. Enrolling them as a major in basketball isn't the issue because the issue is academic fraud, specifically that the athletes aren't actually part of an academic program, they're just being given grades and not an education in order to keep them as ballplayers and not students, which is entirely contrary to what a student-athlete is, and entirely contrary to the behavior we expect from an academic institution.
And so, as brasswire put it:
Quote from brasswire »
Unless the entire degree is just "be a member of the Basketball team", you still run into the same issue.
What I'm suggesting is that the reason we have academic fraud is that we force someone who wants to go to college to play basketball to also go to college to study something else. Studying that something else is just a charade - something they have to pretend to do to in order to play basketball. The result is that they don't actually study it, and the school has to either drop them, or fake it. If we can fix the "they don't actually study it" part, then the school is no longer faced with that choice. If we make basketball an academic and athletic pursuit, in the same way dance is, then I bet you'll significantly reduce the number of players who are looking to fake academics.
What I'm suggesting is that the reason we have academic fraud is that we force someone who wants to go to college to play basketball to also go to college to study something else.
Y-you're actually being serious, aren't you?
We're forcing someone who wants to go to college to attend classes? We're forcing someone who wants to go to college to actually take part in an academic program? We're forcing someone who wants to go to college to actually be a student?
That's your argument? That we're oppressing innocent ballplayers who want to go to college by expecting them to go to college?
That's what a college is, Tiax! It's an academic institution! And if a person doesn't want to attend classes, they shouldn't be enrolling!
Studying that something else is just a charade - something they have to pretend to do to in order to play basketball. The result is that they don't actually study it, and the school has to either drop them, or fake it.
A school is committing academic fraud, and you're making them out to be the victims of a corrupt system that... Expects college student-athletes to actually be real students attending college?
What about any of this is meant to be taken seriously, Tiax?
If we can fix the "they don't actually study it" part, then the school is no longer faced with that choice. If we make basketball an academic and athletic pursuit, in the same way dance is, then I bet you'll significantly reduce the number of players who are looking to fake academics.
You still don't get it.
The school is committing academic fraud. The academic fraud consists of not actually teaching their athletes anything, instead just putting fake classes down to make it seem like the students are going to class, when all they're doing is just playing ball for them.
Changing their major is not going to do a damn thing. Their major could be English, Art, Brain Surgery, it wouldn't matter, because the problem is the university isn't making them go to classes, and is lying about their going to classes and getting the grades they need to compete in college ball. You're trying to say, "Well maybe if we changed the classes the university offers..." No, that obviously wouldn't solve the problem if the problem is the students aren't going to real classes and the university is lying about their doing so.
And no, just playing on the basketball team is not a freaking class.
Honestly, Tiax, why are you defending this? Why are you defending this practice? These are kids who are being given degrees who cannot compete academically in a classroom, some of them can't even read. This is a university that prioritized the money that college sports gave them over the integrity of its academic institutions and the education of its athletes. And you're defending this? Why?!
What I'm saying is that we currently have a system that incentivizes academic fraud. If your goal is to get the NBA or NFL, unless you're one of the best high school players in the country, you're probably going to have go through a college team to get there. For their part, the top tier college teams make huge amounts of money for their schools. So, Bob wants to play for a college team so that he can have a shot at being a professional, and the college wants Bob to play so that they can win and make money. We've decided that in order for this arrangement to be legitimate, Bob has to also take some communications classes. Bob doesn't want to take communications classes, and the school just wants him to be eligible to play. So, the incentive to enroll Bob in fake classes is pretty high. I'm not saying that makes it okay to do, mind you.
But what if Bob didn't have to take communications classes? What if Bob could study the thing he wants to study - basketball or football. This is a win for everyone. Bob doesn't have to take communications classes, the school doesn't have to come up with easy classes for Bob to take. Bob is an actual student, not a "student" going through the motions. Hopefully, the school doesn't have to deal with the same eligibility concerns, because Bob is taking classes he cares about. They don't have an incentive to make up fake grades, because Bob is a capable basketball student.
Even if you crack down and make sure there are no "paper classes", you'll still have these athletes finding the easy-A blow-off classes, because they are there to be an athlete. Make classes for athletes, however, and you might not have as much of that problem.
That's exactly what you're doing, what are you talking about?
"Oh, it's not the school's fault, it's the fault of a corrupt society, a corrupt society that expects academic institutions to be academic institutions."
I mean, really?
What I'm saying is that we currently have a system that incentivizes academic fraud.
There's always an incentive for fraud, Tiax. Fraud is lying in order to get *****. There's always ***** that people want to get. There is never a lack of incentive for fraud.
We should, however, expect institutions to have integrity. We should expect people to not commit fraud.
If your goal is to get the NBA or NFL, unless you're one of the best high school players in the country, you're probably going to have go through a college team to get there. For their part, the top tier college teams make huge amounts of money for their schools. So, Bob wants to play for a college team so that he can have a shot at being a professional, and the college wants Bob to play so that they can win and make money. We've decided that in order for this arrangement to be legitimate, Bob has to also take some communications classes. Bob doesn't want to take communications classes, and the school just wants him to be eligible to play.
Oh no, how tyrannous we are to actually expect Bob to have to do work in order to get what he wants...
So, the incentive to enroll Bob in fake classes is pretty high. I'm not saying that makes it okay to do, mind you.
No, it's not ok, and the fact that it's not ok kills any argument you might think you have.
There is zero justification for what UNC did. It disgraces them as an academic institution. They let the education of their student athletes slide in the interests of more money, committed fraud to do so, defamed the character of the woman who did the right thing by bringing this to light, and gave a bunch of students degrees who were not academically capable of performing at a collegiate level. At least one student was incapable of reading multi-syllabic words.
There's no defense for that.
But what if Bob didn't have to take communications classes?
He doesn't. He doesn't have to enroll in a college. No one is forcing him to do so. No one has made him do so against his will, no one is pointing a gun to his head and making him go there.
Bob chooses to go to college. He is choosing to be an athlete at that college. He is choosing therefore to perform to the level that is expected of him academically. That's why there are GPA requirements to be a student-athlete: specifically to keep crap like this from happening. If he doesn't want to do that, then tough for him. Bob is not entitled to a spot on the NBA, and if he's not willing to do the work to maintain a legitimate spot on the basketball team like plenty of other athletes around the country do, there's someone else who will.
There are semi-professional basketball institutions. Bob's welcome to try out for one of those.
What if Bob could study the thing he wants to study - basketball or football. This is a win for everyone. Bob doesn't have to take communications classes, the school doesn't have to come up with easy classes for Bob to take. Bob is an actual student, not a "student" going through the motions. Hopefully, the school doesn't have to deal with the same eligibility concerns, because Bob is taking classes he cares about. They don't have an incentive to make up fake grades, because Bob is a capable basketball student.
You still aren't getting it.
First of all, there are physical education majors. Moreover, those majors would still have to have classes. They would still have academic requirements. The entire point is that these kids did not have the ability to academically perform at a collegiate level — that's why UNC bumped their GPAs up with fake classes. It doesn't matter what the major is, if the kids cannot or are not willing to perform academically to the level they are expected to, changing their major isn't going to help. If the university is lying about giving these kids an education, changing their major is not going to help.
Here is the official report: http://advancingrefor.staging.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/UNC-FINAL-REPORT.pdf
So let me get this straight: going all the way back to 1993 there were thousands of students (a very large number of them student athletes) who took "paper classes" designed to keep their GPAs up. While GPA-boosting class aren't anything new, there appears to be obvious signs that a lot of these classes were bogus and made far too easy for college-level work just so student athletes could stay eligible. Some of these students couldn't even read a book or write a paragraph. The school knew about all this and didn't do anything to stop it until there was an actual investigation done that spans back to 2010. Also from the report (page 66):
This looks bad. Like, really bad. It may be even worse than the Penn State scandal, and that's saying something. Is this something that warrants consequences not just limited to the NCAA, but also with accrediting organizations?
I see 2 types of college athletes those that want a degree and to participate in sports and those that are just there for the sports. We try to force those from group two to be like those from group one and it's silly.
Keep college sports in college so those that do want traditional degrees to go with their sports can do that, but lets stop pretending that all college athletes are in college for a degree. Many of them are there because that's where they have to go to have a chance at the pros.
Given the amount of money that is infused with college sports, it's almost certainly the main reason why we still have this idea that those who go to school mainly for the sport they get recruited in and normal students who are actually there to get a degree can go together without any real problems. Especially when you consider that UNC is a big-name school for basketball.
I think you may have missed the point I was trying to make. It's perfectly possible to leave everything about college sports the same and just remove the academic requirements. Some players on a college sports team will also go to school and get a useful degree. Some of them will just work to try to make it in the pros. I see no issue with that.
But college students aren't kids. They're adults, and we expect them to live adult lives in almost every respect. So let schools treat student athletes the way adult athletes are treated in other contexts: let the school pay them if it wants to, let the school abolish or reduce academic requirements if it wants to. The double standard is absurd and patronizing; it invariably leads to schools cheating the system like UNC.
So what is the difference between a school that has separated academics from their sports, and a minor league team?
The students that do want to go to school and play sports will be able to do so. And not all sports have minor league teams. (such as the NFL) Schools with good sports programs also benefit from sports in other ways such as recruiting non-sports playing students that just enjoy going to a school with a good team.
Unless the entire degree is just "be a member of the Basketball team", you still run into the same issue. Someone who is good at playing Basketball (or Baseball or Gymnastics, etc.) is not necessarily any more interested in learning the history, cultural relevance or business of that sport, than they are interested in learning about Geology or Algebra.
Why not? Not all degrees have to be created equally (since they aren't). If Universities started giving out sport degrees it's not like businesses will get confused by what the degree means. It should be pretty obvious.
If we can manage to create degree programs for dance, I'm sure we can manage to create a degree program in basketball.
You've missed the point, Tiax.
There are physical education majors. The thing is those are academic fields of study. They do not constitute, "Play the sport for the college team." College sports are meant to be extracurricular activities that students play in addition to being students. They're not supposed to be the only thing the students do. That's meant to be the distinction between student athletes and professional athletes.
So saying, "Why not let someone major in Basketball?" misses the point, the point being the students are being enrolled in fake classes to hide the fact that the university is giving them fake grades in order to make it seem like they're meeting the requirements to be eligible to be student athletes.
So, frankly, it doesn't matter whether their major is basketball or quantum physics. The problem is the university is lying about giving these kids an education, because they're not participating in an academic curriculum, they're just playing ball. Changing the subject of the fake education the university is giving them is not going to change things.
The problem is UNC was artificially inflating the grades of its students by saying they were attending classes when they weren't, thereby having student athletes participating in their basketball program without actually taking part in academics.
Saying, "Why don't they just offer a different major?" is not actually a solution to the problem, because the whole point is that the university is not providing them an education, they're just pretending the students are going to class and getting the grades they need to play basketball without making the students engage in academics. It doesn't matter what academic track the students are on, the problem would still remain the same.
That's the problem! Saying, "Well let's not make them have to be students," is not the solution to the problem because it is the problem!
It's astounding, really. You would look at an institution that has committed thousands of counts of academic fraud, and then say, well, let's make it no longer wrong to do what they were doing? NO! When someone does something wrong, the solution is not to allow them to continue to do it!
The problem is these students aren't receiving an education, they're just playing ball for the team. Enrolling them as a major in basketball isn't the issue because the issue is academic fraud, specifically that the athletes aren't actually part of an academic program, they're just being given grades and not an education in order to keep them as ballplayers and not students, which is entirely contrary to what a student-athlete is, and entirely contrary to the behavior we expect from an academic institution.
And so, as brasswire put it:
What I'm suggesting is that the reason we have academic fraud is that we force someone who wants to go to college to play basketball to also go to college to study something else. Studying that something else is just a charade - something they have to pretend to do to in order to play basketball. The result is that they don't actually study it, and the school has to either drop them, or fake it. If we can fix the "they don't actually study it" part, then the school is no longer faced with that choice. If we make basketball an academic and athletic pursuit, in the same way dance is, then I bet you'll significantly reduce the number of players who are looking to fake academics.
We're forcing someone who wants to go to college to attend classes? We're forcing someone who wants to go to college to actually take part in an academic program? We're forcing someone who wants to go to college to actually be a student?
That's your argument? That we're oppressing innocent ballplayers who want to go to college by expecting them to go to college?
That's what a college is, Tiax! It's an academic institution! And if a person doesn't want to attend classes, they shouldn't be enrolling!
A school is committing academic fraud, and you're making them out to be the victims of a corrupt system that... Expects college student-athletes to actually be real students attending college?
What about any of this is meant to be taken seriously, Tiax?
You still don't get it.
The school is committing academic fraud. The academic fraud consists of not actually teaching their athletes anything, instead just putting fake classes down to make it seem like the students are going to class, when all they're doing is just playing ball for them.
Changing their major is not going to do a damn thing. Their major could be English, Art, Brain Surgery, it wouldn't matter, because the problem is the university isn't making them go to classes, and is lying about their going to classes and getting the grades they need to compete in college ball. You're trying to say, "Well maybe if we changed the classes the university offers..." No, that obviously wouldn't solve the problem if the problem is the students aren't going to real classes and the university is lying about their doing so.
And no, just playing on the basketball team is not a freaking class.
Honestly, Tiax, why are you defending this? Why are you defending this practice? These are kids who are being given degrees who cannot compete academically in a classroom, some of them can't even read. This is a university that prioritized the money that college sports gave them over the integrity of its academic institutions and the education of its athletes. And you're defending this? Why?!
What I'm saying is that we currently have a system that incentivizes academic fraud. If your goal is to get the NBA or NFL, unless you're one of the best high school players in the country, you're probably going to have go through a college team to get there. For their part, the top tier college teams make huge amounts of money for their schools. So, Bob wants to play for a college team so that he can have a shot at being a professional, and the college wants Bob to play so that they can win and make money. We've decided that in order for this arrangement to be legitimate, Bob has to also take some communications classes. Bob doesn't want to take communications classes, and the school just wants him to be eligible to play. So, the incentive to enroll Bob in fake classes is pretty high. I'm not saying that makes it okay to do, mind you.
But what if Bob didn't have to take communications classes? What if Bob could study the thing he wants to study - basketball or football. This is a win for everyone. Bob doesn't have to take communications classes, the school doesn't have to come up with easy classes for Bob to take. Bob is an actual student, not a "student" going through the motions. Hopefully, the school doesn't have to deal with the same eligibility concerns, because Bob is taking classes he cares about. They don't have an incentive to make up fake grades, because Bob is a capable basketball student.
Even if you crack down and make sure there are no "paper classes", you'll still have these athletes finding the easy-A blow-off classes, because they are there to be an athlete. Make classes for athletes, however, and you might not have as much of that problem.
EDIT: This article does a pretty good job of laying out the argument: http://chronicle.com/article/End-the-Charade-Let-Athletes/135894/
"Oh, it's not the school's fault, it's the fault of a corrupt society, a corrupt society that expects academic institutions to be academic institutions."
I mean, really?
There's always an incentive for fraud, Tiax. Fraud is lying in order to get *****. There's always ***** that people want to get. There is never a lack of incentive for fraud.
We should, however, expect institutions to have integrity. We should expect people to not commit fraud.
Oh no, how tyrannous we are to actually expect Bob to have to do work in order to get what he wants...
No, it's not ok, and the fact that it's not ok kills any argument you might think you have.
There is zero justification for what UNC did. It disgraces them as an academic institution. They let the education of their student athletes slide in the interests of more money, committed fraud to do so, defamed the character of the woman who did the right thing by bringing this to light, and gave a bunch of students degrees who were not academically capable of performing at a collegiate level. At least one student was incapable of reading multi-syllabic words.
There's no defense for that.
He doesn't. He doesn't have to enroll in a college. No one is forcing him to do so. No one has made him do so against his will, no one is pointing a gun to his head and making him go there.
Bob chooses to go to college. He is choosing to be an athlete at that college. He is choosing therefore to perform to the level that is expected of him academically. That's why there are GPA requirements to be a student-athlete: specifically to keep crap like this from happening. If he doesn't want to do that, then tough for him. Bob is not entitled to a spot on the NBA, and if he's not willing to do the work to maintain a legitimate spot on the basketball team like plenty of other athletes around the country do, there's someone else who will.
There are semi-professional basketball institutions. Bob's welcome to try out for one of those.
You still aren't getting it.
First of all, there are physical education majors. Moreover, those majors would still have to have classes. They would still have academic requirements. The entire point is that these kids did not have the ability to academically perform at a collegiate level — that's why UNC bumped their GPAs up with fake classes. It doesn't matter what the major is, if the kids cannot or are not willing to perform academically to the level they are expected to, changing their major isn't going to help. If the university is lying about giving these kids an education, changing their major is not going to help.