Degree-fixing scandal topples Garrison
In the end, West Virginia University President Mike Garrison did the right thing, resigning from the post he held for only nine months in the wake of a degree-fixing scandal that took place on his watch. Despite a personal willingness to fight on, Garrison recognized that he’d lost the support of faculty, many donors and countless students. The controversy over last fall’s awarding of an executive M.B.A. degree to Heather Bresch, the daughter of Gov. Joe Manchin, proved to be Garrison’s undoing. Bresch was awarded the degree 10 years after leaving school, and getting her the sheepskin required university officials to fudge 22 of the required 48 credits.
Later, Garrison reportedly told the university’s Board of Governors that further review showed that about 70 students – one in 10 who got the same degree in recent history – had course work deficiencies like those of Bresch.
Granted, most of those students probably preceded Garrison’s tenure as WVU president. But the scandal involving Bresch, an executive with huge WVU benefactor Mylan Inc., put a spotlight squarely on the university’s academic integrity. What it illuminated was not a pretty sight.
Two administrators previously snared in the Bresch decision – Provost Gerald Lang and business school dean R. Stephen Sears – already had their heads placed on the chopping block. They each resigned, although the merits of that punishment are debatable, as they moved into teaching positions with minimal cuts in pay.
Although an independent panel commissioned by WVU found no evidence that Garrison played a role in the Bresch affair, it was clear that as long as he remained at the helm, the controversy would live on, adversely impacting WVU in reputation and financial contributions.
“It really became very clear to me that I was able by a single action, by a single statement, to stop this discussion,” Garrison told the Associated Press. “It needed to stop, so I made the decision.”
But will Garrison’s resignation completely halt the fallout? The faculty-led Mountaineers for Integrity and Responsibility wants the Board of Governors to consider further punishment for all those who participated in the Bresch affair, a group that would include Lang and Sears.
“Each one of those people has to be held accountable for his actions, whatever they may be,” says Michael Perone, chairman of the WVU psychology department.
Garrison’s move may have ended his role as a target in the controversy. But it doesn’t necessarily mean the matter is dead and buried.
Those dealing with whatever remnants remain will have to decide the best course of action to restore WVU’s damaged reputation. It won’t be an easy task.