Willingham, Smith, and Levine stand alone at UNC-CH

                Mary Willingham, Jay Smith, and Madeline Levine.  They are unique in that they are three adults and professionals associated with The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who have actually had the courage to speak out against the athletic/academic fraud that has taken place at the university.  At an institution with over 3,000 faculty members, however, they constitute an extremely small percentage.

                There have been numerous (other) professionals whose pasts are/were interestingly connected to athletics.  These have included academic assistants, support personnel, professors, numerous individuals in committee and/or leadership roles, and even some in administrative positions.  Whether coincidentally or not, many of those with ties to athletics have either been directly connected to portions of the athletic/academic fraud, or else have seemingly missed (or purposely overlooked) instances of impropriety that should have otherwise raised red flags.  In some cases these oversights spanned decades.  Conversely to Willingham, Smith, and Levine, many of these other individuals have chosen to remain mute on the negative issues that have come to light over the past four years.  Some of the names have already shown up in print media; some have not.

                Smith, Willingham, and Levine continue to essentially stand alone.  More information on those who chose silence (and in some cases even misplaced support) over courage, however, will be detailed in the future.  A major announcement regarding the athletic/academic scandals at UNC is now a little over one month away.