Dan Gerlach, interim chancellor of East Carolina U., talks with students at the student center on its main campus.East Carolina U.
East Carolina University’s interim chancellor has been placed on administrative leave after photographs and videos showed him drinking, dancing, and socializing at a bar in Greenville, N.C., known to be frequented by students.
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Dan Gerlach, interim chancellor of East Carolina U., talks with students at the student center on its main campus.East Carolina U.
East Carolina University’s interim chancellor has been placed on administrative leave after photographs and videos showed him drinking, dancing, and socializing at a bar in Greenville, N.C., known to be frequented by students.
On Sunday the city’s NBC affiliate, WITN, reported that Dan Gerlach had been seen dancing and getting close to bar patrons in a series of Instagram and Snapchat posts that drew thousands of views. In multiple photos obtained by WITN, Gerlach has his arm around women at the bar.
But in a written statement to WITN, Gerlach said he was just trying to be “approachable.”
“When I first started here, and even before, one constant concern that I heard was that our students needed a leader of the university to be present and approachable, someone who can speak to them in their language,” Gerlach said. “That’s what I’ve set out to do at ECU. I regret that these photos are being perceived as anything more than what they are.”
Gerlach, who has been interim chancellor since May, recently expressed interest in serving on a permanent basis, at a Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce meeting. He took office after his predecessor was forced out by the University of North Carolina system’s president.
An East Carolina spokeswoman said the university would not comment on the situation. In a written statement to WITN, the university’s interim chief communications officer, Jeannine Manning Hutson, said Gerlach had been at a Greenville hot-dog restaurant on September 25 when he ran into two acquaintances who invited him to a local bar.
“Gerlach is known for taking selfies with students, staff, and faculty, on and off campus,” Hutson said. “The videos and photos that WITN received show Gerlach interacting with college-aged young adults and taking selfies.”
Members of the university’s leadership, however, expressed alarm about the interim chancellor’s conduct.
“This is very concerning without question,” a member of ECU’s Board of Trustees, Robert B. Moore, told WITN.
The UNC Board of Governors’ chairman, Harry L. Smith Jr., told WITN he had received “multiple parent, faculty, and staff phone calls” with complaints about Gerlach’s conduct.
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“I would ask that everyone please reserve judgment and allow a proper process and review by the system office and the president, who are aware of the issue,” Smith told WITN.
The owner of Club 519, the bar in question, expressed support for Gerlach on Twitter, telling one reporter that several patrons had been “kind of excited to see the chancellor out and in the bar.”
“It really is a damn shame,” the bar’s owner wrote. “The guy came in with some off-duty cops to have some beer. Just wrong place, wrong time.”
