April 27, 2008

West Virginia U. Provost Resigns Over Transcript Scandal Involving Governor's Daughter

Gerald E. Lang has resigned as provost of West Virginia University, following the release of a harshly worded report that found that administrators at the university had violated procedures and displayed poor judgment in awarding an executive M.B.A. to Heather M. Bresch, the daughter of West Virginia’s governor, the Associated Press reported. Ms. Bresch had not completed her course work when she got the degree.

In a letter to the university, Mr. Lang cited his accomplishments during his tenure as provost, which included overseeing construction of new research facilities and raising the salaries of faculty members. But he said that the controversy surrounding the Bresch case had harmed the university’s reputation.

“Given my history with West Virginia University, 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,” he wrote. “I love this place and would never intentionally take an action that would reflect negatively upon it. Even though the panel looking into the Bresch case did not find any willful misconduct, their conclusion that the result was flawed and erroneous has convinced me to resign as provost and vice president for academic affairs and research. I hope this decision will begin the healing process and focus attention onto the future.”

The resignation is effective June 30. —Scott Carlson

Comments

1. Lang made a terrible mistake, but he didn’t act alone. President Garrison, Dean Sears, and General Council Macia are all equally guilty of falsifying academic records in this case.

   They must all resign or face prosecution.

   — Former WVU Prof    Apr 27, 10:36 PM    #

2. Time for the WVU faculty senate to show their true colors. We have the Provost, General Counsel, Dean of the Business School and the President (through his personal representatives), in the conference room which shares a wall with his office. What are they doing? FALSIFYING ACADEMIC RECORDS. Creating out of thin air 22 credits (out of a required 48)— COMPLETE WITH FAKE GRADES, all for the sitting Governor’s daughter. They should be fired instantly. The only person in that meeting with integrity was Paul Speaker, the former director of the EMBA program, who refused to accede to the lie.

   Let’s focus on the ACTUAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST in this situation:

   -Before his appointment as President, Mr. Garrison’s full time job was an attorney-lobbyist for a local WV law firm. His largest client – Heather Bresch, who at that time was Dir. of Govt. Relations for Mylan Pharmaceuticals.

   - Her boss, Milan Puskar, is the largest donor to WVU and the largest private employer in Morgantown. The football stadium is named for him. The breast cancer center at the WVU hospital is named for his wife.

   -Garrison was appointed to the WV Higher Ed Policy Comm by her dad, Gov. Manchin. That was his primary credential to get the President’s job.

   - Garrison’s biggest supporters for becoming President were Gov. Manchin, Heather Bresch, and Milan Puskar. They worked quietly, behind the scenes with Goodwin (BOG Chair), but openly supported him in many private meetings in Morgantown and Charleston.

   -Dean Sears is the Milan Puskar Dean of the Business School, courtesy of a multi-million dollar gift. He came up with the fake grades for Mylan’s COO, including apparently grades for a class on corporate ethics.

   -Mylan Pharmaceuticals is the largest corporate user of the EMBA program. The program is very dependent upon companies paying for their mid career execs to attend. If Mylan pulled out, the EMBA progam would be hurt very substantially. The other guy in the room falsifying the records was the current head of that program.

   I don’t know how this could be any worse. Really.

   Let’s see if the WVU faculty senate has any fight in them.

   — ex-Morgantowner    Apr 27, 10:58 PM    #

3. It is now time for the BOG to take action and ask for Mr. Garrison’s resignation. There is no need for this issue to drag on for weeks. The University needs to begin the process of repairing it’s reputation as an academic institution. The BOG should act with integrity to quickly resolve this issue.

   — Bud    Apr 28, 06:31 AM    #

4. Lang made a very serious mistake by gtting himself enmeshed in this unholy activity. This will nagatively affect him for long. I think He submits to political influence of the governor.

   His resignation is highly comendable. Not every body will love to resign that way. It takes courage, determination and decisiveness.

   The entire people involve in this act should be compeled to resign to face the wrath of the law. This will serve as deterence to others.

   — Peter Abraham    Apr 28, 07:36 AM    #

5. Lang made a big mistake, but notice he doesn’t really believe it—“All I did was approve one little decision made by a dean.” This is why faculty have so much animosity toward administrators. The sad part is, as others have pointed out, that there are many others who must still be called to task for this egregious error.

   — Psych Prof    Apr 28, 07:56 AM    #

6. Salem witch hunts are back in the States. It is making a lot of us sick. Resign. Those who call for others to resign should all RESIGN themselves. This is political correctness and corruption at its WORST. A lot of very great, honest and ethical administrators are leaving public universities for private companies and universities. I would be honored to work at a University with academics, provosts and academics who give credit for life and work experience, which is quite common at the top PRIVATE universities in the States, and public universities in Asia, Europe, New Zealnand and Australia, including one of Australia’s top technical/engineering universities, RMIT:

   Gaining credit for previous study and experience

   RMIT University offers Credit Transfer, Recognition of Prior Learning and Recognition of Current Competency to recognise your previous education and current skills. This may include formal and informal education and training, work experience and/or life experience including volunteer work, committee responsibilities, family duties and hobbies.
   Why apply for credit?

   If you apply for credit and your application is successful, you may reduce your fees, the overall length of time to complete a program or receive a full qualification (award) based on your previous experience. You may simply want some formal recognition of your skills, by gaining credit in individual TAFE modules.
   Who can apply for credit?

   Anyone can apply for credit in TAFE. Both current RMIT students and members of the general public may apply for credit towards overall TAFE qualifications or for individual modules and courses.

   To apply for credit towards a Higher Education (degree) program, you must be enrolled in an RMIT program. You can apply for credit for previous study at RMIT or at other institutions.
   Costs

   The costs may vary depending on the type of credit you apply for and how many courses (or modules) you wish to be credited. More information is available on each application form.
   How to apply

   If you believe you are eligible for Credit Transfer, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), or Recognition of Current Competency (RCC) an application should be lodged with the relevant RMIT school.

   Please carefully read the information for each level of study and the description of each type of credit before choosing the appropriate application form.

   Those who advocate punishment for others should face the same punishment, because in many cases theirs sins and injustices are much larger. Many provosts, academics and administrators have done just the opposite, have not given credit for work and life experience, when it was morally, ethically and socially responsible and correct to do so. They should be the ones who resign in mass numbers!!

   — Karl    Apr 28, 08:01 AM    #

7. If a student falsified their academic record what would happen? Dismissal! If a faculty member altered a students record inappropirately what would happen? Fired! But when presidents, provost, and deans do it? A report is filed that urges changes. Who says money can’t buy anything. If nothing more comes of this(take note BOG) the WVU degree won’t be worth even buying.

   — steve    Apr 28, 08:11 AM    #

8. Kari, You really shouldn’t speak about “witch hunts” without knowing the facts in the WV case. Read the investigative panel report on the WVU website, or the excellent reporting in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette the last 4 months, or even the wire service copy in the NYT. If the Bresch had simply applied for credit for work experience back in 1998, this situation wouldn’t be remarkable.

   The problem here is the doctoring of academic records 9 years later. RMIT’s program doesn’t have anything to do with this.

   Maybe I shouldn’t feed the trolls.

   — law professor    Apr 28, 08:14 AM    #

9. Karl, the issue is not whether or not credit-for-life-experience is OK.

   The issue is they don’t give credit for it, currently… nor did they in 1998, if I’m not mistaken.

   — E    Apr 28, 08:25 AM    #

10. It doesn’t look like Provost Lang’s “resignation” (probably to return to a tenured faculty position, there’s a penalty) is the end of the matter:

    http://www.postgazette.com/pg/08119/877222-85.stm

    — siegfried    Apr 28, 08:26 AM    #

11. Karl, knows the facts for his name is Karl Manchino.
    Karl please quit coming on and yelling at everyone. We all know who you are ….
    Manchino. Theses guys think that Wvu is their …….. to be used and then thrown away.
    Lang agreed to take the fall and maybe they can save Manchino’s boy Garrison.
    Poor Lang he makes one last sacrifice for his university.
    WVU will never recover from this. Faculty will never go there again…see what happened to a top faculty member this week? She jumped ship for W&L. Few good faculty will be willing to associate with wVU and it will hurt student recruitment.
    More wil follow and this story will be one taught in higher educaton administration classes for the next 50 years as how politicians can deal death blows to good universities.
    Only if Goodwin fires Garrison and resigns can they take a right step. But the Goodwins are best noted for crass political self interests so he will not do the right thing.
    However, the good side of the story is that a lot of people in WV higher education and a lot of people in the Big Least are really laughing today.

    — james smith    Apr 28, 08:48 AM    #

12. The Blog has now taken action:
    Bud and — ex-Morgantowner:
    Please resign your positions. With the measure you judge you will be judged. You yourself have been found short in your reasoning, intellectual, social, moral, ethical and spiritual abilities and actions. This blog is not a place for people to put forth false accusation like those in the case of the kidnapping of over 450 children from their Mums, and weapons of mass destruction which has resulted in over 4000 brave young American heroes losing their lives. The Duke 3 was another case. Lets ask all those who make false and unsubstantiated accusation which are never verified resign and be required to under psychiatric counseling.
    You should all read Nonviolent Communication A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg, PhD (I have not asked to see his university transcripts). I will leave that for one of you to go and verify that he and for that fact any of you have their PhDs. Whether any of you got any special dispensations which were not made to all other students, and hence would justify revoking your PhDs, I will leave that to your own consciences.

    The Salem Witch Hunts, subsequent trials and persecutions must stop, in North Carolina, in West Virgina and in Texas (free the 450 children taken hostage based on false, fabricated, unsubstantiated, unconfirmed and highly refuted dodgy evidence). This all started with the political assassination of Ross Perot a while back when he tried to clean up Washington, and now it is spreading to many universities. It is a cancer in our society.

    America was once a Country of God Fearing and Loving people, who knew how to forgive, learn from their mistakes, forgive oneself and others, and move on, a better person. One learns by making mistakes and it is part of the learning process, whether one is a students, administrator, academic or provost.

    Now we are country of despicable wretches who hate ourselves, who are very vindictive and are attacking many others, doing damage to these people and many of our formerly great institutions. To ask or worse demand for someone to resign for making an honest mistake is despicable. These people are evil and have no right to call themselves people of higher learning, morally, ethics, … People who should be teaching these principles to our next generation of young people.

    Any university, and its faculty boards, committees, academics, administrators and provosts which and who buckle to public opinion and political pressure and correctness should lose its right to be a university and their right to be called ETHICAL academics.

    Universities have been in the past places of leadership and the watchdogs of politicians, industry, and society. With the current policy of hammering and attacking academics, provosts and administrators, those who advocate and actually do such practices want to reduce universities to places of fear, hate, infightings, … The are using the very famous practice from the Art of War, divide and conqueror by using lies, misinformation, deceit and even completely fabricated and unsubstantiated accusations. Same practices used to justify the kidnapping of over 450 children in Texas, the invasion of 7th Day Adventist religious retreat in Waco Texas which led the the deaths of many women and children, and the invasion of Iraq, not once, but twice, based on fabricated and false information. First time due to false reports of Iraqi soldiers taking Kuwaiti babies from incubators (big lie) and second due to weapons of mass destruction stock piles in Iraq (big lie).

    Ask any psychiatrist or psychologists or priest, rabbi or mullah and he/she will tell you it is very easy to deceive and mislead people if you know their hates, fears, wants, desires, … In this case, there are many people who are followers, as there was in Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, Waco Texas, now is in Tibet and even in Texas (where the over450 children have been kidnapped from their Mums (based on one fabricated and unsubstantiated and unconfirmed report)). So please read the book, Nonviolent Communication A language for life, so you do not yet your judgments, fears, prejudices, biases and cultural and religious (or atheist) ethnocentrism control you, your actions and allow you to pass these on to your students and colleagues. It is, once again a cancer not only in our society, but in Washington and our universities.

    Any university with such academics and administrators is not a university I would send any child of mine or niece or nephew. Required reading for all should be the Art of War and Nonviolent Communication. I do not agree with everything in both, but both enlightened me with respect to my own beliefs and behavior and that of my colleagues, who I hope to convince that they are not as enlightened as they may think.

    The truth sets us all free. False, fabricated, unsubstantiated, unconfirmed and highly refuted dodgy evidence has resulted in two wars (Gulf 1 and Gulf 2), the Waco Texas massacre, the kidnapping of over 450 children from their Mums
    and now the resignation of a Provost who oked a Dean at UWV decision to grant some university credit, which expedited the completion of an MBA by one student. Let’s get real. Go to all of your universities and look through ALL similar petitions and applications to see if there are any, not only in your MBA programs, but also all undergraduate degrees, MS, MA and PhD programs. The only reason this is getting any press because it is the governor’s daughter. It makes me sick, and makes me happy now to be an academic overseas where such witch hunts would never be tolerated. We would ask for the people calling for such action to justify their accusations and charges. Witch hunts like which are now occurring in Texas are not and should never be tolerated. The Prime Minister of Australia Kenneth Rudd offered a Federal Apology to the aboriginal children who were stolen from their parents, also by state and federal authorities who thought that they were doing the right thing as is the case now in Texas. But much damage was done to the aboriginal children here and much damage is now being done to these young children now in Texas. So those who need a REAL Injustice to rectify, and not an imagined or contrived one, need only pick up the case of the children and Mums in Texas who have been forcibly separated.

    Let’s get real and focus on educating our young people and STOP witch hunts for those who give credit for life and work experience, which again is very common and the morally, socially, ethically, honorably and spiritually right and proper thing to do!!

    Again, from RMIT in Australia. I am sure you can find many other examples:

    Gaining credit for previous study and experience

    RMIT University offers Credit Transfer, Recognition of Prior Learning and Recognition of Current Competency to recognise your previous education and current skills. This may include formal and informal education and training, work experience and/or life experience including volunteer work, committee responsibilities, family duties and hobbies.
    Why apply for credit?

    If you apply for credit and your application is successful, you may reduce your fees, the overall length of time to complete a program or receive a full qualification (award) based on your previous experience. You may simply want some formal recognition of your skills, by gaining credit in individual TAFE modules.
    Who can apply for credit?

    Anyone can apply for credit in TAFE. Both current RMIT students and members of the general public may apply for credit towards overall TAFE qualifications or for individual modules and courses.

    To apply for credit towards a Higher Education (degree) program, you must be enrolled in an RMIT program. You can apply for credit for previous study at RMIT or at other institutions.
    Costs

    The costs may vary depending on the type of credit you apply for and how many courses (or modules) you wish to be credited. More information is available on each application form.
    How to apply

    If you believe you are eligible for Credit Transfer, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), or Recognition of Current Competency (RCC) an application should be lodged with the relevant RMIT school.

    Please carefully read the information for each level of study and the description of each type of credit before choosing the appropriate application form.

    — Karl    Apr 28, 09:12 AM    #

13. A note about Karl’s emphasis on experiential learning. The material from the RMIT site is taken way out of context. If one peruses the RMIT website for Executive MBA information, the only mention of life experiences credit is this blurb from their program brochure (PDF):
    Applicants with an ICAA, CPA or Chartered Secretaries or equivalent qualification may be eligible for three course credits. Credit transfer from other postgraduate programs and recognition of other professional qualifications will be reviewed on a case by case basis, however, applicants should note that only relevant business postgraduate qualifications are normally considered for credit transfer. These must be equivalent to RMIT University’s MBA (Executive) course content, structure and credit point values. All applicants should undertake the normal application process.
    There is good reason for this policy – an Executive MBA by definition expects a high degree of integration of practical experience with the classroom experience. Granting credit for half that combination defeats the purpose of the program. Of course, what RMIT allows is irrelevant to what WVU allowed in the late 1990’s. Sorry, Karl.

    — Mike    Apr 28, 09:23 AM    #

14. Let’s not make this thread about the out of context ramblings of Karl. It appears that Sears has submitted his letter of resignation

    — Jpoff    Apr 28, 09:35 AM    #

15. I do not understand why there is all this call for resignation. The individuals involved with the decision to give grades and credit for work not performed committed fraud and should not be allowed to resign. They should be terminated. S.

    — S.    Apr 28, 10:20 AM    #

16. I totally agree with the retired WVU prof. in comment #1. The President of the U. should resign! It is a disgrace to education and suggests a double standard – one for administrators and another for students. What an example for the students!!

    — garyz    Apr 28, 10:24 AM    #

17. Kudos to Gerald Lang: I do not know the details of the case, and where the blame appropriately lies, but whatever mistakes or fraud happened in the past, it is refreshing to see a leader stand up and take responsibility for it. Real responsibility (resigning a position he loves) as opposed to lip service. It takes some courage.

    — Robert    Apr 28, 11:39 AM    #

18. What I don’t understand is this: If they accepted the premise that there had been a verbal deal to give her x number of credits for a life-experience job-related project, why didn’t they create a record of a “Special Topic” course and assign it credit and a grade? Why cobble together this other list of classes and grades? Even if they were trying to give the student the benefit of the doubt, they did not create an academic record that reflected the deal she thought she had made with the program director.

    — WV Gal    Apr 28, 11:42 AM    #

19. I have known Jerry Lang since he came to WVU. From the beginning, I saw him as an arrogant person who freely expressed contempt for colleagues and those in his profession across the country. I remember meeting several of his post-doc students in the ’80’s and hearly ’90’s–yikes, they were little clones.

    I have watched from afar and close-up as he amassed power beyond his current position until he ended up as Provost. Always, his attitude was one of contempt towards others. Positions were filled w/ those who agreed “a priori” to rubberstamp anything he said or did when he had any influence–and he had plenty during the past 15 or more years.

    Under Jerry, good , honest, dedicated people were either not hired, fired, demoted or otherwise punished by him while often rather incompetent ones were hired and elevated because they swore allegiance to him. It is an understatement to say that he was feared by the faculty of WVU.

    I have to constantly remind myself that Jerry is actually taller than I perceive him–he is the quintessential small man.

    — JG--WVU grad    Apr 28, 02:08 PM    #

20. Gerry Lang did a lot of good things at WVU, and I am saddened that he has made this one of the defining moments of his long career here. No doubt in my mind that it was an ill-considered decision that was made in Stewart Hall that day. Having said that, I would also note that the President should resign as well—he has yet to actually accept responsibility for the incident (as directed by the Board of Governors) other than to say that he accepts full responsiblity for implementing the recommendations” (BOGUS). He and the others involved have done their best to keep everything behind closed doors, and they have thrown up roadblocks at virtually every attempt to get information (e.g., the Pitt Post Gazettte has a current FOI lawsuit against the university regarding this). Garrison was not the right person for this job, and we are paying the price (not only on the main campus, but also at the medical school, with donors, and the public). The President’s blog has been closed down by the administrators for comments, after several days of significant censoring, and after posting guidelines for comments reminding us that “comments are valued”. I am sure that he is hoping that these 2 resignations will stem the tide, but I don’t believe that’s the case—too many newspapers, radio callers etc are joining the outrage to let this just die away. Pray for us!

    — wvu1    Apr 28, 02:18 PM    #

21. At the risk of feeding the trolls:

    Karl —

    There is nothing inherently wrong with a policy that grants credit for life experience. The problem is that the EMBA program at WVU doesn’t have such a policy. Schools that don’t give experience credits in general cannot justifiably give them out when doing so is politically expedient.

    More importantly, WVU didn’t even claim these were credits for life experience. Instead, it claimed that Ms. Bresch had taken and completed particular classes that she never took. It assigned her grades for those classes without getting the instructors’ approval, and then claimed that the grades had indeed been assigned by the instructors but somehow had not been sent to the registrar along with all the other grades for those classes.

    This wasn’t some praiseworthy effort to acknowledge Ms. Bresch’s accomplishments. It was, instead, a clandestine effort to compensate for her lack of accomplishments.

    Got it?

    — CU Alum    Apr 28, 02:54 PM    #

22. post #19 is right, from my experience at WVU

    — Former WVU Prof    Apr 28, 05:14 PM    #

23. I may be late to the party on this, but is there any signed (or maybe forged) paperwork by the affected faculty members floating around?

    — H. Mickey Gill    Apr 28, 06:41 PM    #

24. Yes, G – post #24 is absolutely correct. At the end of the day, it’s the hard working people from West Virginia who suffer. Half of my family lives in West Virginia (Preston County), but cannot earn a decent wage without crossing the state line into Maryland. They are the hardworking blue collar wage earners whose tax dollars probably helped finance this entire mess.

    — Embarrassed for Higher Education    Apr 28, 08:17 PM    #

25. #24 is 100% correct. The question now, is anyone going to have the gumption to revoke her alleged degree???

    — H. Mickey Gill    Apr 28, 11:45 PM    #

26. Like everyone else I lost sleep over this matter…But I think the new coach should be fine…the victory in Zona against the Sooners proved everything should be just fine @ WVU…

    — Hans Montag    Apr 29, 05:44 AM    #

27. What happened to plausible deniability? PC aside, this goes to the political nature of academia. Like other businesses, it is not WHAT you know, but WHO you know that will make the difference in your life. Should this take place in our world of education where theory and reality are typically poles apart we see the true colors. When a professor finds favor in a student, we hear “teacher’s pet” and life goes on . . . so what is the difference here? You all know what is going on so why pick on one case . . . look in the mirror and ask have I allowed this to happen in my classroom (undeserved credit for students you favor?)!

    — DM    Apr 29, 03:28 PM    #

28. An important point to remember: How can Garrison lead the flagship educational institution for the state after this? He will not be trusted, will be viewed with skepticism, and will be perhaps feared as a bully who fires respected leaders who do not do his bidding.

    — C    Apr 30, 09:34 AM    #

29. From my experience from working at WVU – Comment #19 is absolutely correct. Also, Lang didn’t resign from a job he loved – he was told to resign or be fired. He hates this – he is all ego.

    — WVU Employee    May 1, 05:10 AM    #

30. Poster number 28 is right on target. I tell minorites seeking higher education whio ask; you are going to have to 10 times harder to achieve only 10 percent of your potential, because the system rewards who you know more than hard work and talent.

    http://www.bccmeteorites.com/misconduct-planetary.html

    — SRD    May 6, 07:16 AM    #

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