UNC board member leveraged legislative leader in effort to get video of then-ECU chancellor made public

Dan Gerlach resigned last month after surveillance video surfaced of him following a night of drinking with students.

The records relate to distrust and conflict on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. Critics of Gerlach wanted an aggressive investigation to expose a night of drinking with students, so an attorney and a board member took matters into their own hands.

Dan Gerlach, interim chancellor at ECU, resigns after appearing in bar photos with students

Public records obtained by WRAL News show Romary invoking police organizations, Board of Governors members and legislative leaders in his petition for the recordings.

"I was informed that House Majority Leader John Bell will be retaining me ... of course legislature folks want them yesterday," Romary texted an assistant city attorney in Greenville, referring to the tapes.

Other records reveal Fetzer's push to get legislative leverage behind the video. Fetzer texted Rep. John Bell, R-Wayne, to help Romary.

"Tell him the General Assembly has an oversight role and that you would like the tapes released,” Fetzer wrote in the text, adding, "...keeping this QUIET is essential."

Bell responded to Fetzer "working on that," but now contends he never actually got involved. On Tuesday, he wrote a cease-and-desist letter telling Romary not to tell people he represents the House majority leader.

Confronted with the records, Fetzer acknowledged in an email to fellow UNC Board of Governors members his role in pushing for the video, adding he is not ashamed because he questions whether it would have ever seen the light of day.

UNC system's review waited to pull damning Gerlach videos

Fetzer told WRAL News that he tried to keep his quest secret because he didn't trust investigators hired by the UNC system. He questioned whether they tried to cover up the existence of the video, pointing to emails that show board attorneys waited until the last minute to preserve the video before it was set to be deleted by Greenville staff.

By invoking lawmakers, Fetzer admitted he was "pulling out all the stops" to get the recording released.