Travis Dove for The New York Times
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The summer of 2015 found the University of North Carolina in what some, including Jay M. Smith, a professor at the university, would characterize as a curious position.
A year earlier, a university-commissioned report had found that the African and Afro-American Studies Department had offered nearly 200 fraudulent classes over almost two decades. These classes had been disproportionately populated by athletes in the high-profile sports of football and basketball, who in some cases were steered by athletic department tutors who knew the courses required little work.