It’s been a difficult week or so at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, an institution that in recent years has produced positive news in assembly-line-like fashion.

But in recent days, state headlines have been about a pepper-spray incident on the campus this past week in which several people, most of whom did nothing wrong, were affected. The incident turned a beautiful fall day meant for football into something entirely different. But that was an isolated incident and will pass, hopefully with the right dose of punishment, whatever that is found to be.

Of much more interest, however, is the departure of Joshua Malcolm, the university’s general counsel whose roots are deeply planted on that campus. Malcolm resigned, his last day being Thursday, but he did so under a cloud that began forming immediately after the November 2018 general election.

Malcolm, more than anyone else except perhaps McRae Dowless, is the reason that Dan Bishop, a Republican, is the U.S. House representative for N.C. District 9, and not Mark Harris, also a Republican. You know the story, but just in case: It was Malcolm who stood tall and firm as the chairman of the North Carolina Board of Elections when it refused to certify Harris’ apparent victory over Democrat Dan McCready.

That prompted an investigation that led to Dowless being charged with crimes, including fraud, related to that election. The investigation also led to the nullification of the election’s outcome and a new primary and general election.

Malcolm is a Democrat and a determined one, and that led to accusations that he pushed hard for a redo of the District 9 rac. But, he was content with the outcome of a local District Court race in which a Democrat barely defeated a Republican.

After the election, Malcolm was briefly elevated to chairman of the state Elections Board, but then it dissolved. When it was reconstructed, he was left off. Gov. Roy Cooper likely was bothered by a myriad of unanswered questions, including those raised by the association of Malcolm’s daughter with the state Democratic Party and his frequent contact with a Democrat who was vice chairman of the Board of Elections in Bladen County, the epicenter of Dowless’ alleged handiwork.

Those questions are the stuff people with a grassy-knoll bend can work with.

All that smoke led to a decision by a reporter with television station WBTV in Charlotte to make a public records request from UNCP in January, asking for cell phone records and correspondence from Malcolm that contained the key words of election, Republican, Democrat, board, NCSBE, Lutz, Cooper, Governor, McCready, poll, precinct, and race, among others — and their plurals.

Nine months later, that information, which is required by law to be released, remains in the dark. Officials at UNCP say Malcolm, whose department would be charged with releasing it, has not stood in the way, and that producing all the records takes time.

Malcolm, in departing, said his resignation is in no way related to the election and any subsequent fallout.

We would advise patience, except that a lot of it already has been exercised. But we strongly recommend that conclusions not be drawn, and if there are lines to be connected, the release of those records to WBTV will determine how.

That is the only thing that will dissipate the cloud.

— The Robesonian, Lumberton