UNC slowly moved forward with their response to recent allegations yesterday by appointing former governor Jim Martin to lead a review of any academic transgressions at the University. Martin will be assisted by the consulting firm of Virchow, Krause & Company.
Martin is at this point best known to a generation as the face on the back of the state tourist maps from 1985 to 1993, his gubernatorial tenure with the state. Prior to that, he was a nine-term Congressman. If you want to go looking for bias, it will be difficult to find - Martin, a Republican, is an alumnus of Davidson and Princeton and was generally pro-education during his time as governor. Like Chancellor Thorp, he is a former chemistry professor.
Thorp, in an interview, intimated that this review has been in the works for a couple of weeks, but Martin in a separate conversation noted he was only approached to be a part of it on Wednesday. UNC will also institute a recommendation from the faculty report completed early this year and hold a review of the relationship between athletics and academics. This will be presided over by Hunter Rawlings, president of the Association of American Universities.