http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/academics/

Part 1

University of Michigan athletes steered to professor

Part 2

Kinesiology reserves slots for University of Michigan athletes

Part 3

University of Michigan athletes' 'safe harbor' is general studies

Part 4

Counselors push narrow academic path
Phil Callihan
Editor-in-Chief
UMGoBlue.COM

Small article in the Daily today about UM looking into the leaks (transcripts) of the student athletes. Allegedly Federal Laws (FERPA) were broken because there was no permission given. Hang on kids, this ain't over yet by any means.
 
Daily was looking for comment from AA news editor, but he doesn't want to talk..............Hmmmmmmm
 

ORIGINAL: Wolverine Football

Small article in the Daily today about UM looking into the leaks (transcripts) of the student athletes. Allegedly Federal Laws (FERPA) were broken because there was no permission given. Hang on kids, this ain't over yet by any means.

Daily was looking for comment from AA news editor, but he doesn't want to talk..............Hmmmmmmm

 
My impression has been that only U of M broke FERPA.  It is illegal to give out that information, it's not illegal to share it once it has gotten out.
 
In my opinion, though, it was unethical for the Ann Arbor News to share that information.  First off, they're invading the privacy of individuals that they are not accusing of any wrong-doing.  From a more 'fundamental flaw of the article' standpoint, the GPAs and grades don't really show anything--the students all got higher grades in the independent study class than they did on their average class, but on average, all students do better in independent studies no matter who the professor is.  In other words, releasing the GPAs didn't really make the News' case any stronger, so they should have been even more reluctant to do it.
It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine!

My overall opinion of the article and its aftermath is that the News was upset that Michigan was acting all 'high and mighty.'  They quoted several times people from the University saying "we're not Auburn" or referencing the fact that our psychology program is the best in the nation.  The News was offended and tried to show that Michigan is not above all ethical standards. 
 
The News failed. 
 
They picked on one professor based on the feedback from one of his colleagues.  They ignored the fact that he had been thorougly investigated by the University.  They presented several misleading statements about the GPAs of the students going up because they took his independent study classes (most students do better in independent study classes than in 'regular' classes).  They gave misleading statements about the number of students that took independent study classes from the professor (they tried to make it appear outrageously high, in fact several other professors had more).  They tried to use innocent quotes from athletes thinking they were honoring the professor (an 'incriminating' quote from Jake Long was "If you do your work and you meet with him and don't give him any problems, he's going to give you a good grade").  They showed that the independent study didn't really require 4 hours per credit per week without doing the math that would show an average student taking 16 credits should supposedly be working 64 hours per week, something I doubt happens.  They then provided three more pieces of mostly fluff telling us what we already know (athletes aren't always the brightest students in the class nor do they always major in astrophysics).
 
U of M certainly has a responsibility to be a good steward of its athletes and its athletic program.  There is plenty of room for debate about the purpose and legitimacy of athletics at the college level.  I just did not feel that this investigation was fundamentally honest about its goals.  It seemed to have drawn conclusions first and looked for evidence second.  Certainly some of the response from the Michigan administration could give the impression of not adequetly overseeing the atheltic program, but the facts of the case show a very different attitude, as does the fact that a many-month investigation turned up absolutely nothing that was not already investigated by Michigan and absolutely zero that was of interest to the NCAA or the Big Ten.
It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine!