ATHENS — Jan Kemp, the University of Georgia professor who publicly criticized the school for allowing athletes to continue playing sports and stay in school after they failed remedial classes, has died. She was 59.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Kemp died of complications from Alzheimer's Disease on Friday at an Athens nursing home.

Kemp was fired from the university in 1982. She sued in federal court the following year, claiming she was targeted because she protested UGA's preferential treatment of athletes. The jury awarded her $2.57 million in 1986, though that was later reduced to $1.08 million.

The trial eventually led to sweeping reforms at UGA and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.