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UPDATE:

Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson responded to the East Carolina University community Tuesday morning regarding allegations made against two Board of Trustees members who allegedly offered financial support to a possible Student Government Association presidential candidate.

In the statement sent by Mitchelson to the ECU community at 8:02 a.m. he addressed that administrators at ECU are aware of the claims made by the UNC System Board of Governors and explains the Governance Committee is responsible for an investigation.

“Administrators at East Carolina University are aware of claims registered with the UNC Board of Governors regarding governance issues involving the ECU Board of Trustees. Through the UNC Board of Governors process, those claims have been directed to the Governance Committee, which is responsible for any investigation,” the statement from Mitchelson said.

Mitchelson then reminded the ECU community that during governance issues it is easy to get distracted. He continued to provide examples of successful events that happened in January 2020 to encourage the community to focus on moving forward.

The events listed to encourage the community to focus toward its mission included student entrepreneur program RISE29 receiving a national award for creativity, Dr. Matthew Sean Peach with the Brody School of Medicine with colleagues at Vidant Medical Center performing the first Gamma Tile Therapy procedure in North Carolina treat brain tumors and Aleshia Hunt receiving honors for her commitment to diversity and justice at ECU.

“At ECU, our touchstone continues to be our mission. The commitment to our students, our region and our state is steadfast. While recurrence of governance issues can be distracting, our commitment continues to be with our students and their success along with that of faculty and staff on campus each day,” the statement released by Mitchelson said.

Mitchelson concluded his message by restating that the UNC Board of Governors will handle the allegations made on ECU campus and the community should continue to move forward.

PREVIOUS:

Members of the East Carolina University Board of Trustees have been accused of violation of the University of North Carolina System policy by allegedly offering financial support to a potential ECU Student Government Association presidential candidate.

The General Assembly of the UNC Association of Student Government released a resolution with the short title of “Student Leadership and Shared Governance” that stated the Chair of the UNC Board of Governors Committee on University Governance received a letter from the ECU Board of Trustees that two members violated UNC System Policy.

“The Chair of the UNC Board of Governors Committee on University Governance received a letter from the leadership of the East Carolina University Board of Trustees on Jan. 18, 2020 to share that they believed that two members of the ECU Board of Trustees had violated UNC System Policy 200.7,” the resolution stated.

The two members allegedly offered financial support to a student’s political campaign to encourage them to run for the position of Student Body President. The two members offered to use their positions to obtain student information to aid that student’s campaign, according to the resolution.

The resolution was reviewed by the UNC Association of Student Government and they insisted on a further investigation into the situation.

“The UNC Association of Student Government calls on the UNC Board of Governors to act as expeditiously as possible, and affirm their commitment to governance and student leadership by conducting an honest investigation into this matter,” the resolution said.

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