WVU Stance Turning on Bresch’s Degree
By JAKE STUMP
When a Pittsburgh newspaper first reported that West Virginia University might have improperly granted an MBA degree to Gov. Joe Manchin’s daughter, university officials insisted that it was a simple recordkeeping mishap.
A month later, the university’s stance has changed.
The Daily Athenaeum, the university’s student newspaper, reported last week that Provost Gerald Lang said there was a 50-50 chance Heather Bresch should not have been granted her degree. The newspaper reported officials are now admitting remarkable and complicated disagreements among their own records.
Bresch, 38, is a high-ranking official at Mylan Inc. She’s come under intense scrutiny since Dec. 21, when the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette unveiled that WVU officials retroactively awarded an executive MBA degree to Bresch nine years after she was supposed to graduate. Official records showed then that she was 22 credits short of earning the degree, the newspapers reported.
WVU spokeswoman Amy Neil said Thursday that Lang is declining interviews with the media until a panel he commissioned finishes its investigation.
Even the creation of the panel has caused controversy among critics who want the matter turned over to an outside committee that has no ties to WVU or state government.
Lang originally appointed a three-person panel, comprised of Higher Education Policy Commission official Bruce Flack and professors Roy Nutter and Michael Lastinger, to investigate the degree dispute. But earlier this week, Flack resigned from the panel after the WVU Faculty Senate recommended his removal because of his commission’s ties to Gov. Manchin.
The Faculty Senate is set to have a meeting by the end of the month when members will suggest three names to be added to the panel. Any additional members will be outsiders with no local connections.
The Post-Gazette has continued to thoroughly cover the debacle, and a Thursday article cited an anonymous professor who said she had no record of having Bresch in class.
Nutter, who was appointed chairman of the panel this week, said Thursday it’s a shame that people connected to the situation want to remain anonymous.
Earlier reports have cited Bresch’s classmates and various school officials, who also requested anonymity.
“It’s unfortunate things come out that way,” said Nutter, who teaches computer science and electrical engineering. “I prefer knowledge and facts. You can’t operate on innuendos and guesses and maybes.”
The remaining two panel members, Nutter and Lastinger, have been praised by fellow faculty members as straight-shooters who are apt to stay fair and frank throughout the investigative process.
Regarding the university backing off its claims that Bresch met degree requirements in 1998, Nutter said, “I don’t know what their attitudes are. I’ve talked to Lang, but specifically about procedure and how to get the committee going. I haven’t talked to (WVU President Mike) Garrison, and I probably will not.”
The panel has, however, begun interviewing faculty and administration at the business school about Bresch and the degree.
Nutter said he and Lastinger are continuing to gather information as faculty members come up with potential new members for the panel.
Though Nutter said he’d like to wrap up the investigation as soon as possible, he expects “it won’t happen anytime soon. It’s been so slow getting some of these things (records and information).”
The Faculty Senate must first give a 10-day notice before having its next meeting, Nutter said. Then, Faculty Senate Chairman Steven Kite will collect nominations for the three new panelists.
Nutter said he could not comment specifically on what data has been collected so far. All information will be revealed publicly once the investigation is complete, he said.
Contact writer Jake Stump at jakestump@dailymail.com or 348- 4842.
Originally published by DAILY MAIL CAPITOL REPORTER.
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