After the academic transcript of NFL player (and UNC alum) Julius Peppers was posted online last year, questions were raised about soft academic treatment of athletes at the prestigious university.
Former Clinton administration hand Doug Sosnik earned $144K over 10 months and Washington-based Sheehan Associates did $20K worth of PR projects during the crisis, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
Although UNC is a public university, its private foundation paid the PR bills.
A report commissioned by the school and produced by former Gov. Jim Martin found in December that benefits, including grade changes, were given to students in an African-American studies department at UNC. "This was not an athletic scandal," Martin said at the time. "It was an academic scandal."
Hill+Knowlton Strategies helped the university weather an NCAA probe and sanctions on its football program in 2010.
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