By Beth Vorhees
Reporter Paul Fain of The Chronicle for Higher Education speaks about the WVU MBA scandal.
Earlier, we reported that two top-ranking officials at West Virginia University were resigning over their role in the Heather Bresch MBA scandal.
But it turns out, that’s not exactly true. Provost Gerald Lang and business school Dean R. Stephen Sears are leaving their administrative posts on June 30th – to return to teaching at WVU.
Lang will earn $200,000, down from his current salary of $243,000. Sears will earn $145,000, down from his current salary of $200,000.
Bresch is an executive at Mylan Incorporated, a generic drug maker whose chairman is a key WVU donor. She is also Governor Joe Manchin’s daughter.
Last week, an independent panel found that Lang, Sears and other top WVU officials were wrong to retroactively grant Bresch an MBA degree she did not earn.
Usually, hardly anyone pays attention to meeting of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. But on Monday, a throng of reporters packed the room to hear WVU President Mike Garrison.
He was there to discuss a panel’s findings that top WVU officials used “seriously flawed” judgment last fall in retroactively awarding an MBA degree to Heather Bresch, the COO of pharmaceutical company Mylan Inc. and daughter of Governor Manchin. Garrison faced a mixture of support and hostility. Click here to read story.
By Beth Vorhees
Shelly Davidov, editor-in-chief of the Daily Athenaeum student newspaper, talks about the paper’s coverage of the Bresch eMBA scandal.
…I want to state unequivocally that I did not ask any person, either directly or indirectly, to award any credit, grades, or degree in this case or any other case. I will never do so and would not accept interference from others in the evaluation of the students that I teach. I do not believe that it is acceptable to assign credit or grades to a student without consultation with the faculty member assigned to a class.
Like the members of the panel, I believe that the decision that was made in this in this matter was wrong. Like every member of the University community, I reject the idea that we should award any degree or credit not earned by the student….
Update: They haven’t resigned entirely — they plan to teach at WVU instead:
Lang, Sears to return to teaching after Heather Bresch scandal
Now, two top WVU officials have resigned in the wake of the Heather Bresch MBA scandal.
WVU business dean Steven Sears announced Monday he was leaving the university. He joins West Virginia University Provost Gerald Lang, who says he will resign on June 30 for his role in awarding Mylan COO Heather Bresch a degree that an independent panel said she did not earn.
“I am very sorry that my one action in ratifying a dean’s decision in a single situation has had a negative impact on the institution,” Lang wrote in a memo to WVU deans. “I love this place and would never intentionally take an action that would reflect negatively upon it.”
“I hope this decision will begin the healing process and focus attention onto the future,” he said.
It is the first resignation over the scandal. On April 22, a report by a panel of five investigators, was released that severely criticizes WVU Provost Gerald Lang and business school dean Steve Sears for granting Bresch a business degree retroactively, even though they had no grounds to do so.
The report said Bresch, the daughter of Governor Joe Manchin, did not earn an MBA degree from West Virginia University, and WVU administrators showed “seriously flawed” judgment in awarding Bresch that degree.
Here is a link to all the interviews that the Heather Bresch MBA panel completed. They are very detailed and sometimes contradictory. Bresch was interviewed too, but the University is not releasing notes from her interview, at least not yet.
By Candice Ludlow, WKNO
The Delta Queen is the last steamboat to carry overnight passengers on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Today, it stopped in Memphis as it makes its way to Cincinnati. It’s the only wooden boat allowed to carry overnight passengers – and those days are numbered – unlessCongress makes an exception.
It’s been more than 35 years since Congress passed landmark Title IX legislation, requiring equality in girls and boys sports programs.
Since then, high schools and colleges have developed successful girls’ sports programs, and record numbers of young women are competing in them.
But still, there are allegations of inequity. Last week, parents in Mercer County sued the school system for allegedly shortchanging girls on the softball and volleyball teams…
WVU President Mike Garrison says he was never involved in the decision to grant Mylan Pharmaceutical COO Heather Bresch an MBA degree. He says he’s taking his time deciding whether to discipline any staff involved in the decision. Garrison says Heather Bresch is not the first current or former student to contact him with similar concerns…
A new report by the AFL-CIO, Death on the Job 2008, says West Virginia ranked third in the nation for its rate of workplace deaths in 2006, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
That year, seventy-nine workers died on the job in West Virginia that year — a death rate twice the national average. Only Alaska and Wyoming were worse.
Twenty-six workers died in vehicle accidents, 22 in fires and explosions, and 14 from contact with objects and equipment.
The Sago Mine Disaster accounts for 12 of those deaths, but even without Sago, it was an unusually bad year…
The panel also looked at why WVU officials decided to change her transcript last fall—adding 22 credit hours–to indicate that she earned the degree. This came after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called WVU to verify Bresch’s resume after she was named Mylan Inc.’s Chief Operating Officer. The investigative panel concluded WVU officials showed “seriously flawed” judgment in granting Bresch the degree. Emily Corio reports.
By Scott Finn
A survey of lawyers by the WV State Bar rated the candidates for WV Supreme Court. Coming out on top were WVU law professor Bob Bastress and Huntington lawyer Menis Ketchum. Incumbent “Spike” Maynard ranked last, doing especially poorly on the question about “integrity, moral courage and impartiality.” The other candidates have escaped media scrutiny, but recently, Ketchum has made claims about his court experience that don’t seem to be true…
By Emily Corio
Mylan COO Heather Bresch, the daughter of Governor Manchin, did not earn an MBA degree from West Virginia University, and WVU administrators showed “seriously flawed” judgment in awarding Bresch that degree.
That’s the conclusion of a report by a panel of five investigators, released today by WVU. The report severely criticizes WVU Provost Gerald Lang and business school dean Steve Sears for granting Bresch a business degree retroactively, even though they had no grounds to do so.
But the report recommends no disciplinary action against anyone involved. It also says the controversy is not a sign of deeper problems at the school.
Instead, it says that administrators rushed to protect Bresch and themselves from media scrutiny, after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette started asking questions about Bresch’s degree.
Bresch maintains she was given the OK to have work experience count for credit. The Post-Gazette reported she was 22 credit hours short of obtaining her degree.
Mylan Inc. is a major contributor to the WVU school of business.
Bresch is also a friend of WVU President Mike Garrison. The report says there was pressure from Lang and the president’s office to help Bresch.
The criticism stems from an Oct. 15 meeting where WVU officials decided to grant Bresch the degree retroactively. Also attending were Sears, WVU chief of staff Craig Walker, general counsel Alex Macia, communications director Bill Case and three others from business school.
“The panel believes the prevailing sentiment at the meeting, evinced by the actions and comments of the provost and the representatives of the president’s office, was that a way should be found to justify the granting of the degree, if at all possible,” the report says.
Among this week’s stories: Teaching hunting safety in schools, a multi-state transmission line moves forward in West Virginia; Clinton, Obama waffle on coal-fired power plants, and a conversation with Dave Lavender, author of Dave Trippin’.
West Virginia Morning host Beth Vorhees talks to Larry Messina of the Associated Press about this past weekend’s debate for the West Virginia Supreme Court race.
It was sponsored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association and moderated by Scott Finn of West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Four Democratic candidates – Spike Maynard, Margaret Workman, Menis Ketchum, and Bob Bastress – are seeking their party’s nomination; Beth Walker is the Republican candidate. Two seats are open. The primary election is May 13. Click here to listen.
By Beth Vorhees
Four outfitters are joining forces to create an outdoor experience for whitewater and recreation enthusiasts. Officials with ACE Adventure Resort, Wildwater Expeditions, Songer Whitewater and New River Gorge Adventures say the four businesses have agreed to create an alliance.
Beth Vorhees talks to Len Hangar, one of the owners of Songer Whitewater.
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