View This Email In Your Browser
Morning, gang.
This week we’re bringing you two deep dives on Greensboro as we come out of Labor Day weekend.
The first centers on Mark Robinson and his days in the city before his rise to lieutenant governor’s office and gubernatorial candidate.
Robinson’s personal story centers on an arc of moral redemption that began in the late 1980s, and his fiery public speeches and policy initiatives often criticize those who don’t ascribe to his conservative interpretation of Christianity–particularly when it comes to sexuality and gender issues.
But Robinson has admitted his own path to morality wasn’t straightforward.
“I did not, however, experience a drastic conversion like some do,” he wrote in his 2022 memoir about when he committed his life to Jesus. “My behavior did not immediately reform. They say sin is fun for a season, and I was in that season.”
There’s been a lot of reporting about what Robinson said and wrote online in the past. But there’s been less vetting of what his life looked like day to day before he became a public figure. For today’s story, we spent several weeks researching online claims about Robinson frequenting Greensboro’s video porn shops in the 1990s and early 2000s.
In addition to the initial allegations, five other regulars or employees of those establishments back up the claims, describing the man who would become lieutenant governor as a frequent, gregarious visitor and renter.
Ex-Porn Shop Employees Say Mark Robinson Was A Regular. He Denies It.
After he embraced Christianity in the late 1980s, the GOP candidate for governor says his behavior “did not immediately reform.” Six men say Robinson frequented Greensboro video-porn shops in the ’90s and early 2000s.
Robinson has explained past behavior through the lens of his religious redemption. But his campaign has vehemently denied these accounts as “complete and total fiction” and dismissed our reporters as “degenerates.”
While the alleged visits were legal, and personal choices are generally outside our editorial purview, Robinson frames much of his campaign through the lens of public morality. His fellow Republicans have taken steps to limit access to online pornography in the state, and Robinson himself has decried public school teachers as bureaucrats “who believe it’s OK to feed your children a steady diet of communism and pornography.”
– Joe Killian
If you like what you see, please consider telling a friend to sign up for The Thread.
The First Cut is the Deepest
Our second story this week, from The Assembly’s new higher ed reporter Erin Gretzinger and The Chronicle of Higher Education senior writer David Jesse, is the closest look yet at this year’s cuts at UNC-Greensboro.
The story gets at how the controversial process of eliminating majors and areas of study came about, who steered it, and what it could mean for other campuses in the UNC system.
‘Nobody Knows Where the Line Is‘
When cost-cutting universities hire consultants, who’s really making the decisions? UNC-Greensboro, which cut 20 programs in an opaque process criticized by students, faculty, and administrators, offers a case study.
To piece together how the process unfolded, we obtained 600 pages of email correspondence and interviewed over a dozen employees and others involved.
The review shows that who drove UNCG’s process remains murky.
It also indicates that the data-driven process these consultants purport to offer, and which university officials tout for its objectivity, can be frustratingly subjective. It also does little to quell divisiveness over cuts and debates about how to measure the value of academic programs.
Read this newsletter online or contact The Thread team with tips and feedback at greensboro@theassemblync.com.
Not a subscriber yet? Good journalism is expensive–and we need your support to do more of it. For just $6 a month or $60 a year, you’ll unlock full access to our archives and help us grow in 2024.
Already a subscriber? Consider giving the gift of The Assembly to a friend.
What We’re Reading
TCB Publisher, Family Need Your Help: Last week the family of Brian Clarey, Publisher of Triad City Beat, was in a highway collision with an 18-wheeler. He and his wife Jill were taking their son Ross to college at the time. Now hospitalized in Virginia, the family faces a long road to full recovery and could use support from the community.
For more information and to donate to a GoFundMe to benefit the family, go here.
Missed It By That Much: It wasn’t your imagination—traffic on I-840 near Battleground was exceptionally bad last Wednesday evening. The cause: A small plane headed to Piedmont Triad International Airport was forced to do an emergency landing right on the highway.
The two passengers in the 1949 Beechcraft Bonanza were not injured in the landing, but one was struck by a passing car that also hit one of the plane’s wings. The passenger was taken to the hospital, treated for minor injuries, and released, Fox 8 reports.
Save It For the Honeymoon: Providing marriage licenses and even seeing ceremonies performed is a joyful part of the job for Guilford County Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen. But there are some things he doesn’t need to see, he declared on Facebook page last week:
Around the State
Tell the Truth, a Beer That Believes In Facts
Along with Ponysaurus Brewing Co., we’re launching a new beer that will help fund additional reporting positions across the state.
Entrepreneur With Murky Financial Past Faces IRS
Before he pleaded guilty to tax evasion, Wilmington businessman George Taylor had twice declared personal bankruptcy.
The Abandoned Pools of Columbus County
Columbus County no longer has any public and community swimming pools—a reflection of racism, rural decay, and lost opportunity.
The Assembly is a digital magazine covering power and place in North Carolina. Sent this by a friend? Subscribe to The Thread as well as our statewide newsletter.
You must be logged in to post a comment.