The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has reportedly ran a “shadow curriculum” of fake classes that never had meetings and included mostly athletes.

These fake classes were put in place to struggling athletes improve their grade-point averages so they would be eligible to play.

The existence of these fake classes were known throughout coaches and academic counselors. The latest investigation indicated that no high-level university officials new of these classes but the classes were ran from employees in the African studies department.

Over 3,100 students took these classes and in order to get a grade of an A or B, they were required to write only a single paper.

The Tar Heels are known for their outstanding academics and their basketball and football teams bring a lot of money for the school.

In a report from the New York Times, U.N.C. chancellor Carol Folt reported that the fake classes were able to go on for so long because nobody on the staff of the university could have imagined anything like this actually happening.