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Members of the Board of Trustees at East Carolina University are under fire after public documents show they tried to influence a student election, according to local TV news station WITN.
WITN obtained a complaint from the board's chair, vice chair and secretary saying that two trustees -- Phil Lewis and Robbie Moore -- asked a student to run for Student Government Association president. The association's president serves as a voting member of the university's board.
Now, three trustees have asked the University of North Carolina system's Governance Committee to recommend that Lewis and Moore be removed from the university's board. The committee plans to meet soon to discuss the allegations.
According to the complaint, the two trustees met with the student, who recorded the conversation. The board's leaders claim the two trustees intended for the student to join them and other trustees to reach a seven-member majority on votes to push their agenda. One objective was to elect a new chair for the board.
Apparently, Lewis and Moore promised "substantial support" to the student's campaign as long as the financial contributions were kept confidential. This would have violated the University of North Carolina system's policy, according to WITN.
Moore has since asked that the board's chair be removed as well.
In a letter to the Governance Committee chair, Lewis and Moore said the meeting with the student was done "with the best intentions of furthering the higher interests of the University. In hindsight, and upon further reflection, we now appreciate that the discussions during the meeting may not have been the best approach to governance at ECU," according to WITN.
