Former Tar Heels football player Michael McAdoo is again suing UNC

by Aaron Schoonmaker, WRAL.com, November 8, 2014.

Former University of North Carolina football player Michael McAdoo is again attempting to sue the school, this time as the lead plaintiff of a class-action suit claiming he and other scholarship players were steered away from their desired majors.

Online court records show the lawsuit seeking class action status was filed this week in U.S. District Court in Charlotte.

It is aimed at representing all scholarship football players that played at the school from 1993 to 2011. Those years were identified in the recent investigation by former federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein as being irregular and even fraudulent in the African and Afro-American Studies Department, where many student-athletes were being steered. The report found no-show paper classes that were designed to help athletes earn easy credit and in some cases even stay eligible.

The lawsuit specifically states that UNC violated North Carolina’s consumer protection law with “unfair or deceptive acts or practices affecting commerce.” The suit claims the school’s responsibility to the student-athlete is to provide them with a legitimate education as a reward for their athletic services that the university profits from, and with the fraudulent classes, that was criteria was not met.

McAdoo claims that he wanted to study criminal justice but was directed to AFAM because it was one of only three majors that aligned with the football schedule. McAdoo is seeking actual damages for the classes in question and also a review of all classes for student-athletes.

McAdoo was ruled permanently ineligible by the NCAA in 2010 after they found he received impermissible academic assistance and submitted a plagiarized paper for a grade in an AFAM course. In 2011, McAdoo sued the NCAA, UNC and then-chancellor Holden Thorp in hopes of regaining eligibility, but that was ultimately denied.

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/former-tar-heels-football-player-mcadoo-again-suing-unc/14162883/