UNC System chair criticizes board member’s investigation; urges ‘focus on the future’
The head of the UNC System Board of Governors says the board should consider “consequences” against member Tom Fetzer, maintaining it was wrong for him to initiate a personal investigation into former ECU interim Chancellor Dan Gerlach.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for any board member to operate outside the board regardless if you’re the chair or a member of the board or whomever,” board chairman Randy Ramsey said Thursday. “We all have governance policies in place, and we should follow those policies. We certainly should consider consequences.”
Ramsey said the board’s executive team will probably discuss consequences for Fetzer, who hired lawyer Peter Romary to investigate the night Gerlach was out drinking in Greenville. Romary’s investigation was separate from the board’s investigation by law firm Womble Bond Dickinson.
Gerlach resigned after the release of video footage that showed he was driving after being out drinking at local bars near campus.
At the Board of Governors university governance committee meeting Thursday, committee chairman David Powers said it will “be looking at our own governing procedures for our own board, particularly around sanctions.”
Fetzer, who’s a member of that committee, did not attend the meeting, and there wasn’t a name plate for him as there were for other members.
After the meeting, Ramsey told reporters the governance committee is going to have “serious discussions” and that board members need to operate with a singular mission.
“People do have motives and people do have reasons in order to try to do things,” Ramsey said. “I don’t want to condemn anybody for doing what they believe was appropriate.”
On Friday, the second day of the board meeting hosted by Elizabeth City State University, the board did not publicly discuss the Gerlach investigation or Fetzer situation.
Ramsey noted it was the first full board meeting since September and “a lot has transpired.”
“We’ve seen changes in our board, changes in our board leadership and our institutions since then,” Ramsey said. “Now we need to focus on the future, not the past.”
The members met in closed session for less than 20 minutes on Friday and discussed several items including a report from Roper, a legal report from general counsel Tom Shanahan, and a report of the personnel and tenure committee. The board did not reveal any details of that private meeting when it came back into open session.
After the meeting, Ramsey did not offer an update on potential consequences or policy changes related to Fetzer’s outside investigation.
Fetzer’s ‘transition plan’
Fetzer, a former Raleigh mayor and chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, said in a phone call that he would not comment about why he initiated the investigation.
But in an email released by the UNC System on Thursday, Fetzer seemed to express an interest in the ECU chancellor job, even listing a draft of comments to make and a timetable of events.
Fetzer emailed fellow board member Michael Williford a “transition plan” he wrote for ECU days before an interim chancellor was named. He said that he also sent the email to former UNC Board of Governors Chairman Harry Smith and interim UNC System President Bill Roper.
Fetzer called the plan “Operation Rescue ECU.”
He recommended that the announcement of an interim chancellor be done after ECU’s spring graduation once the students are off campus because “to do so earlier will invite sympathy for Staton” and “engender more controversy.” Staton is former ECU Chancellor Cecil Staton, whose three-year tenure came to an end in May, after he was asked to leave.
Fetzer’s draft of what the interim chancellor’s remarks should be at the news conference included:
“While I have not spent much time on campus yet and will meet later today with senior staff to develop priorities, I expect that our initial focus will be on operational issues: namely restoring the fiscal health and solvency of the institution and getting our enrollment levels back up.”
“This great and storied institution has endured two years of controversy and chaos. It is our mission to replace controversy and chaos with calm and stability.”
“Now is not the time to assign blame, take sides or bemoan the perils of the past. Now is the time to unite the Pirate Nation in the promise of tomorrow.”
“To our students, parents, alumni, faculty and staff and to our colleagues and sister institutions throughout North Carolina, I offer these words … (Inspirational quote)”
No actual quote was listed in the email, just the phrase “(Inspirational quote).”
Fetzer outlined a plan for restoring ECU’s fiscal health alongside the institution’s CFO that included “spending less money in many areas.” He also addressed the enrollment decline issue, saying officials would analyze the school’s admissions process and revamp the admissions office.
In his plan, Fetzer recommended launching a marketing campaign called “ECU Wants You” to entice prospective applicants. A key part of that campaign, he said, was to meet with local high school students, newspaper staffs and donors.
Finally he outlined a week-by-week timeline for the interim chancellor that included meeting with faculty, alumni, donors, legislators and high school guidance counselors. He planned to “spend 2 hours each day working on fiscal and enrollment plans” in the first week and developing drafts of those plans to present to the ECU Board of Trustees.
Fetzer told The News & Observer on Thursday that the email “speaks for itself” and that he wasn’t going to comment further. He attended the full board meeting on Friday and declined comment afterwards.
The Western Carolina search
The East Carolina situation isn’t the first time Romary and Fetzer been involved in investigating actions of a potential chancellor for a UNC System university.
Last year, the hiring of a new chancellor for Western Carolina University fell apart at the last minute after Fetzer sent an email to a fellow board member questioning the leading candidate’s credentials. Fetzer had asked Romary to investigate the candidate.
That candidate abruptly dropped out of the running and the search resumed.
Several Board of Governors members accused Fetzer, a Wilmington resident and former Western Carolina trustee, of breaching confidentiality by revealing the top contender’s name to Romary’s firm so that it could look into the candidate’s background. Fetzer argued he was doing due diligence, trying to prevent the board from making a hiring mistake.
Fetzer also acknowledged that two former trustees at WCU had recommended him as an interim chancellor there. He was not named to that job.
Smith, the former Board of Governors chairman, said Thursday he didn’t condone the private investigation into ECU’s Gerlach.
“I would have never engaged an independent investigation on my own,” Smith said.
However, he said system leaders need to move on from this situation.
“I wish the board could work on more policy and less drama,” Smith said.
The board’s next scheduled meeting is Dec. 13 at the UNC System Office.
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 2:42 PM with the headline "UNC System chair criticizes board member’s investigation; urges ‘focus on the future’."
