I inquired with The N&O‘s investigative reporter, Andy Curliss, about Dan Gerlach’s use of a private email account and Andy said he had asked him about that. An explanation has been posted at Under the Dome:

The reason is straightforward, Gerlach said in an interview, Andy Curliss reports.

He had been teaching at State as an adjunct member of the faculty ?
and used his private account often in that role. That kept student
emails and the like separate from his state account, he said.

So when the Easley matter came up, he somehow contacted the political science chair, Jim Svara.

The first email in the chain is from Svara back to Gerlach.

Gerlach said that was natural because it would have been the email account that Svara always used to contact Gerlach.

So, why wasn’t Gerlach assigned a NCSU email account? I would think anything he (or any professor at any level) does on behalf of the university, or in his role as a professor, would be public record as well. It would serve as an accountability mechanism for his communications with students and others when he did NCSU business.

As for Gerlach’s views of his personal email account use, Curliss reported:

Gerlach did not deny that he might have used his private account for
state business, but said it would have been rare and under unusual
circumstances. He recalled a time when a News & Observer reporter
was trying to get some information, and the private account was used
because the state one was down.

Gerlach said he knows the law is clear on this subject anyway. That
state business is state business, no matter how it is conducted.

That’s all fine and good (not really), but consider that using a personal email account is a very easy and convenient way to avoid public scrutiny. Even though Gerlach realized legally the personal account was subject to state records laws, it is much easier to evade a public records request that way. For example, we now have a new governor. Let?s say Andy Curliss wants all emails regarding the hiring of Mary Easley from the previous governor?s administration. The state?s tech geeks must now scan the email accounts of the previous administration. Do their efforts turn up Gerlach?s emails from his personal account? I doubt it.