BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- There's another college sports scandal largely going unnoticed this summer. It's not as horrific as Penn State. What could be worse than that?

But North Carolina's academic scandal is a big deal. And it could be bigger if it becomes attached to Roy Williams' basketball program.

Concealing the rapes of boys presumably (hopefully!) doesn't happen often in college sports. Yet a big reason why that duplicity occurred is similar to why large numbers of North Carolina athletes attended bogus classes.

Keep the athlete eligible or a coach/administrator employed. Keep the school's image intact while trying to win games. Keep printing money through the college sports machine.

Jon Solomon is a columnist for The Birmingham News. Join him for live web chats on college sports on Wednesdays at 2 p.m.

If not for Penn State, you would be sick of hearing about North Carolina by now.

North Carolina's own probe discovered 54 courses within the Department of African and Afro-American Studies that showed little to no evidence of teaching students, and dozens of independent study classes without academic rigor. Most of the students in the classes were athletes, including some classes with only football or basketball players.

According to the Raleigh News & Observer, North Carolina quickly created a summer-school course last year in this department. Nineteen students enrolled -- 18 current football players and one ex-player. There was no instruction. Students turned in a paper at the end of the term to Julius Nyang'oro, the department chairman. The News & Observer also reported another class in that department enrolled one student -- an athlete.

This week, a special faculty committee issued a report describing a North Carolina athletics department with too much control over athletes. The report suggests that academic counselors for athletes share some responsibility because someone connected to the fraudulent classes likely notified counselors of athletes about available courses.

The faculty committee wants an independent investigation into the athletic-academic relationship at North Carolina. The chancellor supports an outside review, although the university argues an NCAA investigation isn't warranted because nonathletes were in these fraudulent classes, too.

Curiously, The Indianapolis Star noted two years ago that seven players from North Carolina's 2005 national championship basketball team got degrees in African and Afro-American Studies. Standout player Sean May told The Star he switched to that major after leaving for the NBA to graduate faster.

Don't kid yourself and think North Carolina's problems are isolated. It's a time-honored tradition in college sports to maintain eligibility.

Remember the Auburn sociology classes with Thomas Peete in 2006? Remember ex- Alabama player Ahmad Childress claiming in 2006 he and five teammates got three summer credits for simply coaching a kids football camp and writing a four-page essay? P

The tension between athletics and academics is even greater now. A team's poor Academic Progress Rate score can result in a postseason ban. The APR shows to what extent athletes are progressing toward a degree; it doesn't show how they're progressing and if it's earned.

Pockets of high-profile athletes get shepherded through courses in order to stay eligible. The big losers: the athletes who aren't truly educated, leaving fewer options to fall back on when their playing days are over.

College sports are deeply ingrained in the American culture. That isn't wrong in and of itself. But perhaps there's a reason no other country in the world blends institutions of higher learning with heavily-commercialized sports.

Bill Friday has preached this point for years. He's the co-founder of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and the former longtime president of the University of North Carolina System.

"You simply can't mix running an entertainment industry and running a university. They're not compatible," Friday said. "Now we try hard. We offer all kinds of platitudes and say all kinds of things that academic people are supposed to say. But the truth of the matter is the issue is control of the institution and its destiny, and that's the job of the presidents and chancellors and faculty."

Another inconvenient truth: Most fans don't care if the athletes are educated. There are tailgate parties to enjoy, games to be won, coaches to be fired.

"The bubble's going to burst one of these days with college sports," warned Friday, "because it's unharnessed."

Write Jon at jsolomon@bhamnews.com. Follow him at twitter.com/jonsol.