By Joseph Abraham, Editor-in-Chief

Published in print Jan.14, 2015

It’s that time of year again.

Whether it is to spend more time at the local gym or make a vow to be a better person, New Year’s resolutions are in abundance. I have never been one to take the time to make a resolution because oftentimes we rarely follow through on whatever we decide.

However, I do believe there is one useful purpose to a New Year’s resolution: taking time to reflect on what is or is not working in your life and making a concerted effort to learn from it.

In celebration of the season, I have some resolutions for UNCG’s administration and student body.

My resolutions for the UNCG administration are to avoid negative publicity and to be more transparent.

Let’s begin with negative publicity.

The “UNCG Three” was the dominating storyline on campus last semester. It seemed everyday there was a new story about the three in one of this area’s news outlets, and UNCG was constantly under attack.

Regardless of whether the three employees or Paul Mason were the villains in the situation, UNCG did not come away looking good and the process could have been handled better. While details surfaced and the situation unfolded, low morale spread across UNCG’s faculty like the plague. With a chancellor search on the horizon, our university is in a major transition period that comes at the most challenging of times.

There are many positive stories on campus. Our campus is home to professors who are making science breakthroughs and English professors who are putting together masterful collections, but sometimes these positives can be overshadowed by negative headlines.

It would be best for the administration to learn from what went wrong in the “UNCG Three” scandal and ensure our campus stays away from negative publicity, especially while trying to attract ideal chancellor candidates.

My second resolution for the UNCG administration is to be more transparent with students.

They have already begun this process by hosting a variety of student forums to keep us informed on the tuition and fees process. However, there is still some room for improvement. It seems every time we take one large step forward, there is always one minor step back.

An example is the recent charge associated with making deposits to your SpartanCard. As of Jan.1, every time a deposit is made via SpartanCard Online, there is a 75-cent charge added. To some 75-cents may not be a large sum of money, but the money is not the issue.

More should have been done to explain this increase to students, such as why the decision was made.

Instead, the first time I heard about this was when I went to SpartanCard Online to make a deposit.

I give our administration credit: holding forums and allowing students access to faculty senate meetings are a good way to keep us informed on major campus decisions. However, my resolution for you in 2015 is to also create transparency where the smaller things are concerned, such as adding a processing charge to online SpartanCard deposits.

My resolution for UNCG students is simple: stay informed. After talking with countless friends from the many universities across the state, I firmly believe our campus’ student body is one of the best. We care about our education and we make an effort to stay informed.

However, we still have room for improvement. There are always a good number of students at public forums or protests who seem uninformed. These individuals will ask for answers to questions that have already been answered either by members of the university or in one of the local newspapers.

In order to enact positive change we must be informed.

I challenge every student on campus to pick up a copy or visit the website of The Carolinian, News & Record and Triad City Beat a few more times than they did in 2014.

I guarantee you will find yourself more informed about all things UNCG.