At Least 9 UNC Employees Have Been Fired Or Disciplined Following Report On Fake Classes Scandal

At least nine University of North Carolina Chapel Hill employees have been fired or had disciplinary procedures started against them following a report detailing a widespread academic scandal involving fake classes, chancellor Carol Folt said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

Folt would not name the employees who have been fired or disciplined, the AP reports. A UNC report released Wednesday revealed that a previously reported system of fake "paper classes" - which never met and only required a final paper - was much more widespread than previously thought.

Wednesday's report, based on an investigation led by former Justice Department official Kenneth Wainstein, notably implicated members of both the university's academic and athletic departments. Previously the scandal was thought to be contained within the African and Afro-American Studies department.

It appears that at least one academic official has lost her position over the scandal. One email included in the report highlights how UNC philosophy professor Jan Boxill - a women's basketball academic counselor - worked with an AFAM administrator to inflate the grades of a student athlete.

Boxill was also director of UNC's Parr Center for Ethics, a position she no longer appears to hold:

Additionally, the AP reports, "Beth Bridger, one of the former football counselors named in Wainstein's report, was fired Wednesday as an academic adviser for athletes at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. A school spokeswoman Janine Iamunno said it would not comment further. Bridger was hired there in January."