former federal prosecutor kenneth wainstein tracked the origin of the no-show paper classes to de crowder, a long-time assistt in the african and afro-amen studies program with a softt for struggling student- athletes. wainstein's report shows department head julius nyang'oro kept that practice going. in all, the report f the paper classes went on f8 years, ending in 2011. student-athletes filled the roles, although not a class, by disproportionate numbers. interviews and e-mails conf counselors steered those athletes. (kenneth wainstei independent investigator) " of these counselors knew exy what was going on. and theyk affirmative steps to take advantage of them. they ste a number of their student-athletes to these classes because-- specificay because they were easy, specifically because they we in their terms, gpa-booster" as a result of this report,e u-n-c employees are being disciplined or fired. the chancellor said they failed students, staff, and the university's integrity. (cal "i think if we learn nothing elswe w everwith the best interest of was cullen brow reporting. the invest

. >> former federal prosecutor >> ifill: former federal prosecutor kenneth wainstein led the investigation of cadwalader, wickersham & taft. i spoke with him from chapel hill earlier today. for joining us. could you first of all start by describing the scope of the thought in years, numbers of students andç types of students involved. >> well, what we found in our investigation is this is a scheme that went back to 1993, from 1993 to 2011,ç there. there were about 3100 students that took the paper classes. the paper classes were chralss though many were designated as lecture classes they never tal tall-- actually met for lectures, they never met with professors no professors or faculty members involved. the class what competely managed by the office administrator and the office administrator did the grading of thesch. of the kids who took those, about 51% of them were nonathlete students. so regular students. but a good 48, 49% of them were student athletes which is striking given that only 4% of the student body were student athletes. >> ifill: let's start by explaining jut just the stu

. >> reporter: kenneth wainstein, a former u.s. attorney, was hired by the university to lead the investigation. >> deborah crowder graded the papers and handed out liberally high grades regardless of the quality of papers. >> reporter: investigators say the department chairman julius nyung'oro was also in on the scam, which kept hundreds of athletes academically eligible to play. it's estimated more than 1400 athletes benefitted, but their head coaches say they had no idea. the scam ende ended in 2011 when julius nyung'oro stepped down under pressure. carole folt says four employees have been fired in this continuing investigation. how many others potentially could fall under an employee review? >> you know, i actually don't know a number. >> reporter: but the number potentially could grow. >> it could groark yeah. it also could be the more we look, the more we find people really weren't culpable, but then we also know we have to do a heck of a lot better training about responsibility. >> reporter: crowder and julius nyung'oro bot