Paul Mason is a Bully

The latest oddity in the farce that is UNCG's administration is their continued support for Paul Mason at the expense of any and all others. A panel, made up of staff who can be fired (or arrested) told Brady the least they could without endangering themselves and so, most likely, the judgment to uphold the firing of Lyda Carpen will be forthcoming.

For those of you just joining this made-for-made-for-tv drama, here's the summary:

Three loyal UNCG employees complained about the abusive practices of their newly hired supervisor, Paul Mason.

Three loyal UNCG employees were then arrested and fired based on evidence fabricated by Paul Mason and his sidekick Sherri.

UNCG stands behind its claim that the three committed egregious wrong doings while simultaneously suggesting that everyone should stop thinking about it.

The court system disagrees, dropping the charges and all but apologizing to the three for the fact that they were going through this.

Independent arbiters hear the cases and recommend the university rescind the firings.

UNCG continues to refuse to release any information. Imogene Cathy, legal council for UNCG does not appear to understand what a public information request is nor how to respond to one.

[Back to present]

That's the long and the short of it, although not half of the stupid can be conveyed without resorting to multi-media presentations.

Despite an outpouring of support from faculty, staff, students, and community members for the fired employees AND overwhelming lack of evidence AND the circus-like nature of the whole proceedings, UNCG's chancellor Linda Brady, in what we can only assume is a strategy so stupid that it might be brilliant, will stand her ground...well, other than the fact that she has been forced into retirement. And she's a lame duck. And a pariah.

She, by the way, hired Paul Mason. She has a history of hiring these kinds of bullies to clean out departments and reform them more to her liking. If you can find someone left from before they were hired who isn't terrified, you should ask about Jan Zink, Bryan Terry, and Kim Record. Actually, you don't need to ask about Kim, you can just read the newspaper.

In the meantime, you should check out the photo exhibit titled Due Process on display at Tate Street Coffee which includes work by the photographers David Wilson and Chris English as well as the warrants for their arrests.