ECU trustee resigns and suggests NC House Speaker Tim Moore wants ECU chancellor job
Robert Moore, the East Carolina University Board of Trustees member censured after his involvement in a student government election scandal earlier this month, resigned from the board Monday.
Moore sent a letter to N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, announcing his immediate resignation. In the letter, Moore called out the speaker’s alleged interest in the ECU chancellor job, as first reported by NC Policy Watch and The Daily Reflector.
“In closing I want to again thank you for the opportunity to serve the institution that I have come to adore and love,” Moore wrote. “I would also like to wish you the very best of luck in your continued pursuit of the position of Chancellor at East Carolina University.”
House Speaker Moore’s office did not provide a comment as of Tuesday morning. Robert Moore could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Neither the UNC System nor ECU received official copies of the letter.
ECU Board of Trustees Chair Vern Davenport learned of Moore’s resignation from Speaker Moore’s office and he was told that the N.C. House will fill the vacancy when it returns for short session, which begins on April 28.
Speaker Moore’s office also sent Davenport a memo that was sent to the chairmen of the House Committee on Education-Universities Monday allowing them to investigate the ECU matter.
The memo said the committee can meet as often as necessary during the legislative interim to “investigate and conduct oversight” over the ECU trustees’ conduct who are appointed by the House, examine the legislative body’s options to remove or discipline any trustees they appoint and recommend any legislative changes that would improve the governance and oversight of the ECU board.
“East Carolina University is an absolutely crucial institutions for the educational, medical, and economic needs of this state,” Speaker Moore wrote, “and it requires effective and ethical governance at all times.”
ECU’s search for a chancellor
ECU is searching for a new chancellor after Dan Gerlach abruptly resigned as interim amid a UNC System investigation. Gerlach stepped down after photos and videos of him out drinking at bars near campus spread online.
Earlier this month, the UNC System Board of Governors discussed a complaint filed against Robert Moore and another ECU trustee, Phil Lewis. The complaint said the two offered to help finance a student body president campaign on the Greenville campus. The student they reached out to and met, Shelby Hudson, recorded the conversation and reported it to ECU.
The trustees were trying to encourage her to run for student body president again in order to gain her future support as a voting member of the ECU Board of Trustees, with hopes of changing that board’s leadership.
Lewis abruptly resigned and Moore was censured during the UNC System hearing on the matter.
Moore was appointed to the ECU trustees by the state legislature so that body would have to decide to remove him. He submitted his resignation letter before that could happen.
This story was originally published February 18, 2020 at 11:44 AM.
