Academic fraud or not, UNC students likely will keep degrees

Chapel Hill, North Carolina (CNN) -- What happens to the 3,100 students who enrolled in fake classes and now have a degree stamped with the seal of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill -- an institution consistently ranked among the nation's top public schools?

Likely nothing.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools is currently reviewing a scathing report, prepared by former federal prosecutor Ken Wainstein, which showed thousands of UNC students took fraudulent classes, some of them multiple times.

But Belle Wheelan, the president of the association -- which is charged with accrediting degree-granting higher education institutions in the South, from Virginia to Texas -- told CNN that her group can't take away degrees.
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"UNC has to verify every degree they give all the time. We ask them to make sure all courses really are legitimate," Wheelan said. "All we can do ... is put them on sanction for lack of integrity.

As far as taking those degrees back, there's nothing we can do." UNC officials told CNN say they are still deciding how to try to remedy the fact that so many students graduated with credits from the so-called "paper classes" on their transcripts.
Some students earned many credits taking multiple "GPA booster" classes. One student was enrolled in 19 different paper classes, Wainstein said.
"We're considering options on these matters and are working closely with SACS to evaluate possible courses of action," said spokesman Rick White.

Expert: 'Nearly impossible' to take away degrees
Gerald Gurney, president of the Drake Group for academic integrity in collegiate sport and the former president of the National Association of Academic Advisers for Athletics, called the UNC fraud the largest and most nefarious academic scandal in the history of the NCAA.
"The depth and breadth of the scheme -- involving counselors, coaches, academic administrators, faculty, athletic administrators, etc. -- eclipses any previous case," Gurney said.
But, while Gurney believes the NCAA should punish the university, he does not think that the students could lose the legitimacy of their degrees.
"Lifting diplomas from students who were advised to take these classes is nearly impossible," he said.