ECU student government denies sit-in

East Carolina University’s student government now denies planning a protest at the school’s Board of Trustees meeting Friday that drew little participation, despite a trail of e-mails documenting their efforts to make the event one of the largest student protests in school history.

The students initially said they were protesting the fact that ECU Chancellor Steve Ballard has ignored student opinions during the process of appointing a new vice provost of student affairs. Student Government Association leaders promoted the sit-in as a way to force administrators to listen to the students’ voice.

But ECU spokesman John Durham said Thursday that a decision on the position, which has been vacant since July, is not coming anytime soon.

“It sounds to me like the students are jumping the gun,” Durham said about the planned sit-in.

ECU’s student government contacted several media outlets earlier in the week to publicize the sit-in, including The Daily Tar Heel, local television stations and The Greenville Daily Reflector. Campus police officers are also believed to have been present at the trustee meeting.

In an e-mail sent Tuesday, ECU Student Body President Brad Congleton told his cabinet to rally students to attend the event and suggested that they use Facebook and Twitter to gather support from other student organizations.

“I know we may not win this battle, but I can promise you that after this week everyone around here will know who SGA is!” Congleton stated in the e-mail.

Congleton declined to comment on the situation.

But only eight students attended the sit-in, and the issue the students were protesting was not even discussed while the students were there, according to Student Government Association official Steven Kresch, who later denied representing the SGA.

After the meeting, Kresch denied that student government organized a sit-in, although he used the term repeatedly in an interview with The Daily Tar Heel on Thursday.

Despite contacting the media prior to the event, student government officers are now either denying that a protest was ever planned or refusing to speak to the media about the issue.

According to an e-mail written by Student Body Chief of Staff Josh Martinkovic, the student presence at the meeting was meant to show support for one particular candidate for the vacant position, Lynn Roeder, who is now the associate vice chancellor and dean of students.

Kresch said student government is now circulating a letter with signatures from various student groups, which endorses Roeder.

Carlton Purvis, news editor of The East Carolinian, said the student government might be stepping out their role by publicly endorsing a candidate for the vice provost position.


Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.