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We now have a White House petition to investigate UNC athletics

Villanova v North Carolina

KANSAS CITY, MO - MARCH 22: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels watches play alongside the bench in the second half against the Villanova Wildcats during the second round of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Sprint Center on March 22, 2013 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

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The North Carolina athletics department has had their fair share of negative publicity in recent years.

There were the football players that were tied to NFL agents and declared ineligible or kicked off the team. There was the firing of football coach Butch Davis for his ties to NFL agents. There still is the issue of the association between the football and basketball teams and an Afro-American studies professor that allegedly gave out fake grades.

And now there is the PJ Hairston drama, who was pulled over driving without a license in a car where weed and a gun were found outside. All charges from that incident got dropped, but it launched an investigation into where Hairston got a rented 2013 GMC Yukon, which has led to his association with Haydn ‘Fats’ Thomas and Thomas’ penchant for renting expensive cars.

All of this has fans of Duke and NC State quite riled up, enough so that they’ve created a petition on WhiteHouse.gov to get the university investigated:

For 3+ years, a series of scandals have uncovered systemic academic fraud at UNC as far back as 1997. The fraud includes 200+ lecture-style classes that never met, as well as hundreds of suspect independent studies enrollments and unauthorized grade changes. In some cases, classes only benefited members of the athletic program.

Meanwhile, UNC has received significant federal funding for research and allowed students to maintain eligibility for federal loans and grants. Federal funding for research at UNC accounted for $544.9 million (9th in federal R&D expenditures) in 2012.

UNC has reacted to inquiries by stalling the release of information and hiding behind FERPA for failing to disclose. A comprehensive investigation is required to ensure that federal funds are not being misused.


As of this posting, there are less than 100 signatures, which means they need about 99,900 more.

But there are a lot of NC State and Duke fans out there -- not to mention Kentucky fans, who are crazy enough to take out their displeasure with the public portrayal of John Calipari on the Tar Heels.