One ECU trustee resigns, another censured for meddling in student election
Both board members were recorded recruiting one ECU student into a Board of Trustees power struggle and bashing another student.
Posted — UpdatedLewis was more vocal in the conversation and first reached out via Facebook to the student, Shelby Hudson, to gauge her interest in joining their effort. He resigned after it became clear the votes were there to remove him during a Friday morning meeting of the UNC Board of Governors, which took a recess to give him the chance.
Lewis was less than apologetic in his remarks, and he targeted some of his comments at Board of Governors member Marty Kotis.
Kotis pushed the hardest for removal, saying during Friday's meeting that he was "about to throw up" over the transcript and pressing for the board to vote even after Lewis resigned.
"If you ever get taped, and you get set up, I hope it works out for you," Lewis told Kotis.
After the meeting, Kotis said Lewis "is a sleazebag, from what I can tell."
Lewis left before the meeting ended. Moore declined comment after things wrapped up.
It was easier for the board to push Lewis out because he's their appointee on the ECU Board of Trustees, which approves various policy and budget matters for the university. The Board of Governors could only recommend Moore's removal because he was appointed by leadership in the state House. Instead, the Board of Governors did a formal reprimand and forbade Moore from voting on the Board of Trustees through the end of September.
Moore is a significant campaign donor, giving nearly $33,000 over the years to North Carolina political campaigns, including those of House Speaker of the House Tim Moore and House Majority Leader John Bell.
After Friday's meeting, Board of Trustees Chairman Vern Davenport approached Moore, and the two shook hands. They posed for pictures for the media, and Davenport said he thinks things will improve now on the board.
Board of Governors Chairman Randy Ramsey said during Friday's meeting that the ECU trustees have been dysfunctional for years and that "if I could remove the entire board today, I probably would." After the meeting the Board of Governors announced plans to review discipline procedures and "review student election procedures and ensure adequate anti-tampering procedures are in place.”
She spoke to the board, though she was cut off after hitting a two-minute time limit. After the meeting, she expressed satisfaction in the board's decisions and said things were "moving in the right direction."
Current ECU Student Body President Colin Johnson spoke at the Friday meeting as well, telling the board that "students feel attacked" and were looking to them to rebuild trust.
"We cannot do that unless there are consequences for actions that directly violate that trust," he said.
Board of Governors member Tom Fetzer argued Friday for sparing Moore and Lewis from removal, asking instead that they both be censured and that the entire Board of Trustees – with Davenport singled out by name – be given a written reprimand.
Fetzer ticked through ECU's problems – a downturn in enrollment, an increase in debt, an athletics department in the red – and said "the entire board shares in this debacle that we're discussing now." Fetzer also criticized Davenport because he didn't reach out to nearly half of the Board of Trustees before filing a complaint for Lewis and Moore's removal, which Fetzer called "a lack of leadership."
Fellow Board of Governors member Thom Goolsby seconded Fetzer's motion, but it died. Board member Doyle Parrish, who called into the meeting from the Bahamas, said Fetzer's speech "sounded more like an ad" to be the next chancellor at ECU.
Fetzer has said he's not angling for the position, but his actions in the recent past led other members to believe he was.
Ramsey told Fetzer, who also called into the meeting, not to respond to Parrish's remarks.
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