Well, this is embarrassing. “Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jim Woodall has asked the State Bureau of Investigation to . . . probe . . . UNC-Chapel Hill’s African and Afro-American Studies program, following findings of academic fraud by a university review, according to the News and Observer. The former chair of the department was allegedly paid for teaching courses even though the classes never met, he never taught, and no one supervised the students. The classes were popular among athletes. There’s a lot more that could be said about what appears to be a truly shocking pattern of behavior, but I will leave it at this: if the allegations are true, I hope that those responsible are held fully accountable. In other news: 1. The John Edwards case goes to the jury today. Here’s the story from the Greensboro News and Record. 2. The General Assembly’s back in session. It doesn’t sound like the legislature’s agenda includes much of interest to criminal lawyers, though a bill has been introduced to bar death row inmates from watching TV. I don’t have any inside knowledge about this, but I suspect the officers who work on death row don’t want that bill to pass. 3. Significant national attention is being given to the case of Carlos de Luna, executed by the state of Texas in 1989. A Columbia University law professor and a team of students have reinvestigated the case, and contend that de Luna was innocent of murder. The Huffington Post has the basics [...]
Faculty Coordinators
