There's a bit of a mess over at Winston-Salem State University this week related to a political message distributed through the university's email system.

Here's what happened, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education: a student sent an email about early voting  to an administrator, Michelle Releford, asking Releford to distribute it widely.

Releford did so, sending it to the entire campus community.

Problem: The email encouraged people to vote for Democrats. That's a no-no since public university resources aren't supposed to be used for political means. It's against the law.

The university tried to retract the message, sending a second email asking folks to disregard the first.

Kinda like trying to unring a bell.

That wasn't the end, however.

The state Republican party wanted equal time, so the university sent a similar email, once again to the entire campus, this time with materials promoting Republicans.

That too was a violation of state law.

Double whoops.

Here's the whole story.

It's a long and winding road to Division I athletics with all manner of obstacle along the way.

It's expensive. It's complicated. Did I mention it's expensive?

In North Carolina, two public, historically black universities have spent the last five years or so trying to make the big jump.

One, N.C. Central University in Durham, appears poised for a successful transition.

Another, Winston-Salem State University, has run aground in its quest for big-time athletics glory.

Read on.

Winston-Salem State University has abandoned its dream of becoming a Division I athletic program.

Why? Costs too much.

WSSU leaders decided late last week to stop pushing for an upgrade to D-1 status and remain competing in Division II. 

In a written statement, Chancellor Donald Reaves said in part: "If there were any reasonable way to complete this transition without diverting resources from competing academic resources, I would have recommended that we stay the course."

Here are a couple numbers that should illuminate the situation. From 2005-06 through last year, spending for the WSSU athletics program rose from $2.88 million to $5.58 million, according to that statement. 

At the same time, revenues increased from $2.07 million to $3.77 million and last year, the athletic program ran a deficit of nearly $2 million.

A longtime college administrator at UNC Chapel Hill and other state universities has died.

Hayden Bentley Renwick was 74 when he died Sept. 2 at Presbyterian Medical Center after suffering heart failure.

The Statesville native was a Johnson C. Smith University graduate and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity member who spent three decades in education.
He began as a teacher and coach at Horton High School in Pittsboro, taught physical education at N.C. A & T University and was an assistant principal at Guy B. Phillips Junior High School in Chapel Hill.

After getting a master's of education degree from UNC Chapel Hill, Renwick began a career in higher education. He was first an assistant director in undergraduate admissions at UNC-CH, then assistant dean in its College of Arts and Sciences, eventually moving up into an associate deanship there.

From 1988 to 1991 he served as associate vice chancellor at Fayetteville State University and later as special assistant to the chancellor at Winston-Salem State University.

 He leaves a wife, Sandra Medford Renwick, a daughter, Beverly Renwick Pappy, a son, Michael Lewis Renwick, and a host of other family members. 

Click here for more information.

Winston-Salem State's desire to move to Division I athletics was dealt a blow recently.

The UNC system's governing board declines to approve a massive increase to the athletics fee the university wanted to charge its students - a fee that campus leaders said was critical to close a gap in the athletics budget.

WSSU wanted a 31 percent increase in the athletic fee, from $579 to $760 a year for each full-time student.

That was too much for UNC system leaders to stomach.

The details.

Winston-Salem State University has a new provost.

She is Brenda Allen, formerly an associate provost and head of institutional diversity at Brown University.

A developmental psychologist with more than 20 years in higher education, Allen begins work July 1.

"We are indeed fortunate to have been able to attract and recruit Dr. Allen to WSSU," said Donald Reaves, WSSU's chancellor. "I am sure that she will provide the critical leadership that this university needs as it continues its transition from an exclusively undergraduate university to a graduate level institution with a focus on quality teaching and research."

State auditors are wondering about a payment of nearly $300,000 made by Winston-Salem State University to its private foundation.

As the Winston-Salem Journal reports, WSSU paid $294,742 to the Winston-Salem State University Foundation, Inc. last year, but it isn't clear why.

Winston-Salem State University has to send more than a million bucks back to the federal government after doling it out as financial aid to students who weren't eligible, reports the Winston-Salem Journal.

The university will have three years to pay back $1.15 million, the newspaper reports. This follows a review that found in part that the university continued sending aid to people no longer enrolled at the university.