Click here to view a PDF of Mike Garrison's cell phone records.  

In a push to get on with business as usual, the president of West Virginia University said he wants to conduct a national search to bring in the "best possible provost we can find." 

WVU President Mike Garrison told Gazette editors Tuesday that the university will hold a national search for a replacement for Gerald Lang, who resigned as provost last month in the wake of a degree scandal involving Heather Bresch, Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter.

Garrison said he also wants faculty to have an active role in the selection process, and has spoken with the chairman of the Faculty Senate about putting a search committee together.

The Faculty Senate overwhelmingly voted to demand Garrison's resignation on Monday, but the no-confidence motion holds no official weight and Garrison has said he will not step down.

Lang resigned April 27, in the days following the release of an independent panel's report that concluded WVU administrators used "seriously flawed" judgment to award Bresch a master's in business administration degree she did not earn.

As he has since the report came out, Garrison said that his office relied on Lang and business school Dean Stephen Sears for the decision to give Bresch the degree and add courses and grades to her transcript. Lang and Sears were given the majority of blame in the report, and resigned to return to teaching after the report came out.

"I'm upset that [mistakes] were made and I take responsibility that they occurred," Garrison said this week. "But under no circumstances did I at any point tell anyone directly or indirectly to make sure she had this degree."

Garrison said he is willing to offer a salary for the incoming provost that is more than his, to ensure that WVU gets the best possible candidates.

Garrison earns $255,000 a year. In 2007, Lang earned $243,447.90, according to the state auditor's office.

Steven Kite, chairman of the Faculty Senate, said Garrison's salary is on "the very low end of the spectrum."

"The going rate for a provost would be in the $300,000 range to draw in someone of a national stature," he said.

WVU's provost is responsible for the oversight of all academic policies and programs, including research and academic personnel. The provost also acts on behalf of the president when he is unavailable.

Lang had been provost for 13 years. Before that, he spent nine years as dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and was an assistant dean and faculty member before that.

Kite said the average tenure of a provost is four years, and Garrison had discussed the possibility of a national search to fill the position before he was appointed as president.

Kite said he and Faculty Senate members are working to put the search committee together. He said he sees Garrison's wish to include faculty in the search committee "as a continuation of the way he has been operating all along" - with a commitment to openness.

Disciplinary measures?

Although many WVU faculty, alumni, students and supporters have called for Garrison's resignation, most members of WVU's Board of Governors - the only people who can fire Garrison - have said they support him. Most of that board was appointed by Manchin.

Some critics have also called for the resignation of Board of Governors Chairman Steve Goodwin, who will end his second one-year term as chairman this summer.

Click here to view a PDF of Mike Garrison's cell phone records.  

In a push to get on with business as usual, the president of West Virginia University said he wants to conduct a national search to bring in the "best possible provost we can find." 

WVU President Mike Garrison told Gazette editors Tuesday that the university will hold a national search for a replacement for Gerald Lang, who resigned as provost last month in the wake of a degree scandal involving Heather Bresch, Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter.

Garrison said he also wants faculty to have an active role in the selection process, and has spoken with the chairman of the Faculty Senate about putting a search committee together.

The Faculty Senate overwhelmingly voted to demand Garrison's resignation on Monday, but the no-confidence motion holds no official weight and Garrison has said he will not step down.

Lang resigned April 27, in the days following the release of an independent panel's report that concluded WVU administrators used "seriously flawed" judgment to award Bresch a master's in business administration degree she did not earn.

As he has since the report came out, Garrison said that his office relied on Lang and business school Dean Stephen Sears for the decision to give Bresch the degree and add courses and grades to her transcript. Lang and Sears were given the majority of blame in the report, and resigned to return to teaching after the report came out.

"I'm upset that [mistakes] were made and I take responsibility that they occurred," Garrison said this week. "But under no circumstances did I at any point tell anyone directly or indirectly to make sure she had this degree."

Garrison said he is willing to offer a salary for the incoming provost that is more than his, to ensure that WVU gets the best possible candidates.

Garrison earns $255,000 a year. In 2007, Lang earned $243,447.90, according to the state auditor's office.

Steven Kite, chairman of the Faculty Senate, said Garrison's salary is on "the very low end of the spectrum."

"The going rate for a provost would be in the $300,000 range to draw in someone of a national stature," he said.

WVU's provost is responsible for the oversight of all academic policies and programs, including research and academic personnel. The provost also acts on behalf of the president when he is unavailable.

Lang had been provost for 13 years. Before that, he spent nine years as dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and was an assistant dean and faculty member before that.

Kite said the average tenure of a provost is four years, and Garrison had discussed the possibility of a national search to fill the position before he was appointed as president.

Kite said he and Faculty Senate members are working to put the search committee together. He said he sees Garrison's wish to include faculty in the search committee "as a continuation of the way he has been operating all along" - with a commitment to openness.

Disciplinary measures?

Although many WVU faculty, alumni, students and supporters have called for Garrison's resignation, most members of WVU's Board of Governors - the only people who can fire Garrison - have said they support him. Most of that board was appointed by Manchin.

Some critics have also called for the resignation of Board of Governors Chairman Steve Goodwin, who will end his second one-year term as chairman this summer.

He has said he is willing to serve another term, but the ultimate decision is up to the board.

In a special session last summer, the Legislature passed a bill that allows the chairman of a college board of governors to serve four consecutive one-year terms. Previously, the chairman was able to serve two consecutive one-year terms.

Garrison also said Tuesday he will consider further discipline for those involved in improperly awarding Bresch the degree last fall. But any further actions, he said, would be a personnel matter and handled behind closed doors.

Several of Garrison's top aides were involved in the meeting last October where it was decided to award Bresch the degree, including chief of staff Craig Walker, general counsel Alex Macia and communications director Bill Case.

Also on Tuesday, WVU released Garrison's cell phone records from October when Bresch first contacted the university following a media inquiry about her degree.

Garrison has maintained he never spoke with Bresch beyond the initial phone call she placed to the president office.  He has said he referred her to Walker, his chief of staff, who in turn referred her to the college of business. 

After a review of the records the Gazette found no record of phone calls placed by Bresch or Mylan Inc., Bresch's employer and a major WVU benefactor.

Alumni want Garrison to quit

Meanwhile, prominent donors and WVU alumni are still calling for Garrison to resign.

Ken Kendrick, a WVU alumnus and member of the WVU Foundation's board, said the degree scandal and Garrison's refusal to resign is a "black mark" on the university.

Kendrick, managing partner of major league baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks, commended the Faculty Senate for their vote. "They demonstrated what I considered really great courage in facing a very serious problem at the university," he said.

He said he does not expect Garrison step down, but "he needs to."

"He clearly doesn't grasp the significance of [his] actions, nor does he want to," Kendrick said. "I would not expect him to voluntarily leave."

WVU alumnus Thomas Spelsberg, a professor at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Minnesota, agreed that Garrison should leave.

"Garrison needs to think about what is best for the institution," Spelsberg said.

If Garrison truly wasn't involved in the scandal, he would naturally want to stand his ground and stay on at WVU, Spelsberg said. "On the other hand he has to ask himself 'am I hurting the institution by staying here?"

"[Garrison is] a likable guy, he has a lot of talents and potential, but this is an unfortunate situation," Spelsberg said. "Personally if I was president, I would tell the world 'I have no involvement in this, it was a horrible thing that happened, but I will step down for the sake of the university.' Now that would give him a lot of kudos."

To contact staff writer Veronica Nett, use e-mail or call 348-5113.