The University of Georgia basketball coach, Jim Harrick, is suspended* and the team withdraws from the tournament on revelation that a bunch of players got A's in a course for which they did not actually turn up. All 31 enrolled students got A's. The argument is being made that there was no way the coach could have known what was going on. One thought: he could have spoken to the man who taught that class. Jim Harrick, Jr., his son. ________________ * With pay. He earns $2,692 per day, plus a bunch more for the shoe contracts.
I wonder if he thought about that comment before giving it? I would think he would have been more prepped than that. I remember a wrestler at OU who was reprimanded for having another student take a test for him. Two years later he was student/athlete of the year. The other basketball news that was fun is Bobby Knight claimed to give back his $250,000 base salary to Texas Tech. He claimed he did not earn it after the Baylor loss. I wonder how the kids on his team felt when he did that? It was a shot at his team, does anyone believe the check will be written? March Madness baby, call Dickie V. Wasn't it the Georgia Tech coach that lied about his Masters Degree for the Notre Dame job? Maybe he could have taken some quick courses at Georgia.
Unconstitutional? I think the answer to these scandals is the good old principle of the 'separation of powers', enshrined in the US Constitution and advocated by European political philosophers since the mid-18th century (Montesquieu, etc.). Assessment is separated from awards. In a well managed university, the faculty who assess the work of students do not make the award. A Registrar's dept of the university receives the assessments - which have also been externally validated by faculty from another university in the British system, who check for credibility of the assessments - and reviews the assessments. If satisfied, the Registry passes the award decisions to the university authorities, which prepares the official award lists. Unusual, suspicious and doubtful assessments - as a class of 31 all receiving the same assessment would sure qualify for a modicum of doubt - are subjected to further investigation. Any faculty - or administrative staff - found to have practised or, by neglect, permitted fraud to occur are dealt with severely, including dismissal on grounds of 'bringing the university into disrepute'. Soft exam regimes will damage the reputation of universities. In DL programmes, particularly, such regimes are extremely damaging.
Rich, You may be right about Bobby Knight. He is a jerk. But an honest jerk. He only got $15000 last year, enough to get benefits through the college. The original thread reminded me of a joke that we used to tell at the University of Oklahoma. How many football players does it take to change a light bulb? One, but he gets three hours credit.
This was particularly good. Others.... Air Force pilots? One; he holds it while the world revolves around him. Californians? Four. One to screw it in while the other three share in the experience. Congressmen? One, but only after the bulb has gone through committee. Therapists? One, but the bulb has to want to change. Beverly Hills matrons? Two. One to call the electrician while the other pours the martinis. Computer programmers? None, that's a hardware problem.
Jim Jr. is the coach's son, and also was an assistant coach working for Jim Sr. And the course was (ostensibly) about basketball coaching. It's not hard to believe that Sr. knew exactly what Jr. was doing in this situation.
As a Georgia alum I sort of hate to say it but this isn't the first time something like this has happened. There was a similar event in the late 70s that came to be known as the Jan Kemp affair. Great lines I recall from days in Athens: Georgia athletes can do anything with a ball but sign it. Jesus couldn't have been born at UGA because you couldn't find three wise men and a virgin.
