Rental fee from Trump rally goes to ECU Athletics

The payment East Carolina University received from President Donald Trump’s July campaign rally in Minges Coliseum was put toward university athletics to offset the cost of renting out the facility.

ECU received $13,500 from Trump’s campaign as payment to rent out Minges Coliseum on July 17, according to ECU Interim Chancellor Dan Gerlach.

“It (the money) went to athletics because athletics runs that facility, so if it would have been the Campus Recreation facility it would have gone to Student Affairs or something like that,” Gerlach said. “It’s not to make money off of it, it’s just for the cost of (renting out the facility).”

Gerlach said ECU was paid by the campaign within one to two days before the rally was held. He said the money was put toward athletics not because the university was “trying to” make money for ECU Athletics, but rather given to the “entity who maintains the facility.”

Gerlach said the money from Trump’s campaign will be used for “facilities cost.”

“It depends on which department is maintaining the facility, is my understanding,” Gerlach said. “It’s not a ‘oh this is how we can raise money for athletics’ or something like that. This is just mainly to offset the cost of the use of the facility.”

The Trump campaign reached out to ECU in early July, the same month of the rally, to rent out Minges Coliseum, Gerlach said. After consulting legal counsel, the policies for political visits to ECU’s campus were discussed, he said.

“What I asked of our legal counsel, and of other university officials, (was) ‘What are our policies?’” Gerlach said. “We have ECU Use of Facilities procedures, we have the UNC System Free Speech procedures, and so forth, and we looked to precedent.”

Gerlach said the rally was not an official state visit from President Trump, but his campaign. He said ECU acted as a rental facility for the campaign and followed established policies.

In the first Cupola Conversations of the fall semester, “Preparing for 2020: Political Visits to Greenville,” Gerlach sat as a panelist as the Trump rally was discussed by students, faculty, staff and attending community members. During the event, Gerlach said ECU would have faced a lawsuit if it had said no to allowing the campaign rally to take place.

“In my mind, it wasn’t a decision about it so much as ‘What is the policy that is relevant?’ and ‘What do we have to do to be in compliance with the policy?’” Gerlach said.

Gerlach said the rally was not ECU inviting the Trump campaign to campus. He said the event involved people asking for use of the facility, which holds thousands of people and then paying a fee for the usage.

The Trump campaign reached out to ECU for the rental of Minges Coliseum, Gerlach said.

“We don’t endorse any candidates because we’re (ECU) a public entity, and we should not endorse them or any particular statements that were made,” Gerlach said. “The comments that I’ve heard the most about are the idea of sending people back and all that. We (ECU) had no, I don’t think the President, I don’t know if anybody had planned that, but certainly, we didn’t know about that.”

ECU News Services Interim Chief Communications Officer Director Jeaninne Hutson said in an emailed statement to The East Carolinian that a representative of the Trump Campaign contacted the Chancellor’s Office inquiring about how to rent Minges Coliseum.

The Trump Campaign representative asked how to rent out the facility if it was available on the desired day and how to start the process. Hutson said the representative was directed to ECU Athletics.

“Many outside groups interested in renting Minges for an event contact athletics directly,” Hutson said.

Hutson said the Trump Campaign paid $13,500 for the rental fee of Minges Coliseum, and she said the funds from the rental fee went to the ECU Athletics general fund.