… would I guess be the word for what we seem to be dealing with in American culture for the last few years. As in — everybody seems to be plagiarizing to some extent… Including, it appears, Mary Willingham, the University of North Carolina tutor who blew the whistle on that school’s fake courses for athletes. Her online UNC Greensboro master’s thesis seems to include quite a number of lifted sentences…
This is too bad, since Willingham has been one of the strongest, most trustworthy voices protesting the corruption of entire academic departments by sports.
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UPDATE: The best commentary so far:
Whatever Willingham’s graduate work does to her own reputation is no doubt gratifying to UNC fans of a certain type, but the questions about Tar Heel integrity?
… [R]uining Willingham, fun though it may be, is just another side show beside the smoldering wreck of UNC athletics. It’s a small, mean victory, like cutting boots and rings off of the dead at El Alamein.
The battle has moved on. Bigger things are afoot.
August 5th, 2014 at 12:13AM
Willingsham trustworthy? Are you being serious with that comment?
She gave stats to CNN that started her own story campaign which when reviewed by UNC and then 3 independent experts in the field could not even come close to be proven. Mary 70%. Experts at most (but the one giving this figure said it would be a stretch) 7%.
To this day, willingsham refuses to give her methodology.
She told ESPN outside the lines that a 1 paragraph paper earned a student an A- on said “paper” and it was the only thing they had to turn in for a “paper only class”. Then days later tweeted what she implied was not true. The paper she showed was only a draft of a partial response to a question. And then admitted she did not know the grade on this exercise; that the student actually made the A- for all the work done in the class – which based on the course # at the top of this “student’s” paper is a first year class, typically held with over 250 students with 2 papers and 3 exams. (So not quite the paper only class she told ESPN).
Her IRB application for her said research study in no way matches what she reported. And, she therefore violated HIPPA.
She has admittedly accessed and discussed athletes transcripts for 4 years after she stopped working with athletes. FERBA violation? She has gone on record in multiple interviews discussing this and also just sent Congress proactively a written statement “admitting to this”.
Basically EVERYTHING she says comes down to I saw it. She is great at telling stories. Like, “I worked with over 700 athletes while in that position”. The national association says an average caseload would be about 7 students per year for a tutor at her level. She didn’t just exaggerate that in one interview. When she found out she was questioned on it, she restated several times it was hundreds and hundreds. Oh by the way – during her time in that position, there were not even 200 unique scholarship football and basketball players during that time.
Also, none of her peers at the time have agreed with anything she has said. Only 1 professor has come out saying he saw what she tells stories on. By the way this is a professor who refuses to teach athletes and also happens to be her co-author on a book. And, admitted in his blog that her data conclusions were false and per him, that was still ethical as it was done to get the story discussed. His position at UNC seems to be in jeperaty for this admission and a few other things, like unauthorized data dumps of grades.
SOOOOOOOO, that is my side on her trustworthyness. How do you see her as trustworthy in your opinion?
Basically she told a “story” that newspapers have run as sensational news.
August 5th, 2014 at 12:32AM
Well said Billy. You covered the numerous times Mary Willingham has been exposed as a liar, a cheat, a fraud, an incompetent worker, and deliberately shady.
Only someone completely ignorant of the last 6 months worth of revelations would call Mary “trustworthy.” A better description would be that Mary is adept at suckering in trusting people into buying her BS. Through her lies and fraud she has suckered in at least a few UNC-Greensboro professors, some UNC Chapel Hill administrators, and several journalists.
August 5th, 2014 at 12:39AM
As an NC State grad, I admit it warmed my heart to read Ms. Willingham’s accounts of cheating at UNC-cheat. Sadly for me and many of my fellow alums, it’s become clear that this woman is doing more harm than good. Even the News and Observer is calling her out on her deceptions now days. I can’t help but wonder just how many of the rest of her claims may have been fabricated as well. I’m sure there was cheating going on, but I’m not sure how much and what. I initially laughed at the Carolina fans calling this entire exercise a witch hunt, but now I’m starting to see all of this for what it is. It’s a sham. All of it. UNC-cheat had sham classes, but it seems pretty clear that this so called whistle blowing is equally disgraceful.
Everybody is just trying to get a piece of the pie. This individual has been playing everybody in an attempt to grab fame and money. The media that ran with her accusations just exemplify the disaster that is journalism today. And so many of my fellow NC State fans out there are equally guilty, grasping for anything and everything they think will damage their rival in hopes of furthering our own athletic success. It’s time for it all to stop. If we’re really so concerned about education, isn’t it time to stop the finger pointing and concentrate on reforms? Not just at one institution, but everywhere. If it’s happening at one major institution, then anybody out there with an honest mind knows it’s probably prevalent at many if not most others as well. We can continue down this rabbit hole at Carolina and blind ourselves to what’s elsewhere or we can put aside the hyperbole and attempts at winning journalistic awards and focus on the collective good we can do for the entire system. Ms. Willingham’s latest disgrace only further reinforces that it is well beyond the time for childish finger finger pointing.
August 5th, 2014 at 3:08AM
Wow. The UNC crowd has emerged blinking from its cave.
Whine whine whine.
August 5th, 2014 at 6:33AM
Well, if Mary is “one of the strongest, most trustworthy voices protesting the corruption of entire academic departments by sports” (notice the appropriate use of quotes), then I guess that says a lot about those protesting corruption in sports. LOL
August 5th, 2014 at 7:15AM
Not strongest, but most repeated. She has never had any corroboration for any of her charges, and today’s ‘journalists’ don’t even bother to check. It’s all about page hits.
Apparently trust only goes as far one wants to agree with the viewpoint.
August 5th, 2014 at 7:49AM
Well, I guess I’m learning a bit. (I’m not at UNC, only a citizen-observer of my local Podunk Tech.) For the practice and psychology of whistle-blowing, see, e. g., Harry Markopolos, the Bernie Madoff whistle-blower. (FWIW-I only became a citizen-observer of higher ed when it got through my thick skull that the seemingly endemic misconduct I knew about was willful and malicious, and resulted in some people improperly getting goodies at the expense of others.)
August 5th, 2014 at 8:11AM
“Mary Willingham, the University of North Carolina tutor who blew the whistle on that school’s fake courses for athletes.” First, these were not “fake” courses, they actually existed. They were “paper only” courses. Secondly, these courses were attended by more than just athletes. There have been several reports published that found no link to athletics and these courses. Of course, there is yet another that will supposedly answer that question once and for all?
August 5th, 2014 at 7:25PM
Aargh. Even if her voice was more strong than trustworthy, that doesn’t make the courses UNC athletes were taking trustworthy. The whole thing is, indeed, much, much bigger than her.