UNC asks professor to repay $12K for course

UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp told trustees Friday that Julius Nyang'oro was asked to repay $12,000 for teaching a 2011 summer course as an independent study rather than a lecture.

Nyang'oro resigned in August as chairman of the school's African and Afro-American Studies program, which was at the center of an investigation into academic fraud involving Tar Heel football players.

“Anytime you have a class consisting solely of student-athletes, it raises questions. In that respect, this class stands out from the other problematic courses we identified. We want answers too," Thorp said in a statement. "

A university report found 54 department classes had little or no indication of instruction and at least 10 cases of unauthorized grade changes for students who didn't do all the work.

"The two people implicated in these irregularities are no longer at the university. We appointed new leadership in the department. The College of Arts and Sciences has new policies and strict new procedures for independent study courses," Thorp said.

The UNC Board of Governors is scheduled to talk about the recent findings later this week.

The State Bureau of Investigation is determining whether any criminal violations occurred.