Six years ago, the head of the tutoring program for athletes at UNC-Chapel Hill paved the way for a valued employee to have her retirement party at a spacious, climate-controlled luxury box in Kenan Stadium. He persuaded the athletic department to waive a $1,000 rental fee and offered to pay the $575 tab for wait service and cleanup.
But that employee did not work for the Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes, then run by Robert Mercer.