By Joseph Abraham, Editor-in-Chief

Published in print on Feb.4, 2015

After spending the last two weeks arguing for changing the name of Aycock Auditorium, and taking a pessimistic stance on the future of public higher education in North Carolina, I decided to start February, the month of love, off on a more positive note.

Last Tuesday, the News and Record reported that Paul Mason will resign from UNCG on Feb. 6.

For those who don’t know, Mason was in charge of running the marketing and communications department. His name was greatly tied to the “UNCG Three” scandal, as the three former employees accused of using university resources for their own private business brought up many complaints against Mason during his tenure here.

When Mason started at UNCG, there were 16 employees in his department. Now only 7 employees remain.

It is not hard to see why there is bad blood between Mason and the trio. During his time at the university, there was a clear lack of communication between Mason and the “UNCG Three” about the policies and regulations regarding secondary employment.

However , whether you consider Paul Mason or the trio to be the villains in this saga, the only way to truly move on from a scandal—especially with as much negative media attention as the “UNCG Three” received— is for the university and Paul Mason to start fresh.

If the two sides were to continue working together, it would be very difficult to move forward.

So, finally the situation has some closure.

While the damage to faculty morale and trust cannot be ignored, Mason’s departure is a win-win for both sides.

Mason can move forward with his career, as I am sure no one likes to have their name in the media unless it is positive.

Also, UNCG’s administration can continue to repair their relationship with faculty, whose growing mistrust of the university was heightened during the scandal.

Since it’s February, I will conclude my column with the following analogy.

While the relationship between administration and faculty will never be perfect, there are always rocky times in any romance.

The “UNCG Three” scandal was almost the breakup for the two sides, but now with some closure, the two can work on getting back to the way things were or perhaps something better.