West Virginia U. President Will Resign to End Degree Controversy

By JJ HERMES

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Michael S. Garrison, the embattled president of West Virginia University who endured repeated calls for his ouster over a degree improperly awarded to a politically connected figure, announced this morning that he would resign, effective September 1.

Mr. Garrison said that his resignation should quiet a scandal that has raged since last December, when a newpaper disclosed that the university had conferred an unearned executive M.B.A. on the daughter of the state's governor. The degree's recipient was also a close friend of Mr. Garrison and worked for a major benefactor of the university.

"I have stayed at the university during this important time to do the job I was brought here to do—to be president of this great university and to hold the center of this university both during success and during unrest," Mr. Garrison said this morning at a meeting of the university's Board of Governors. "And now, I have made a decision to continue to serve as president of WVU until September because it is what a leader in this particular situation must do."

Mr. Garrison was appointed president in April 2007, despite an unprecedented no-confidence vote by the university's Faculty Senate that predated his actual appointment. He had few academic credentials, but enjoyed the support of state political leaders. From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Garrison served as chief of staff to the governor at the time, Bob Wise, a Democrat. Soon thereafter, Mr. Garrison became one of the state's most prolific lobbyists, at one point working for 27 clients.

Those connections would end up haunting Mr. Garrison's tenure at the university, after a newspaper questioned the academic credentials of Heather M. Bresch, the daughter of the state's current governor. A reporter at the newspaper, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, made a routine call to the university to confirm an executive M.B.A. claimed by Ms. Bresch, who had just been appointed chief operating officer of Mylan Inc., a generic drug maker whose chairman is a leading university donor.

A university registrar initially told the reporter that Ms. Bresch had not earned an M.B.A., but high-level administrators at the university later said that she had earned the degree.

Ever since an article about the degree mix-up was published in December, Mr. Garrison's presidency has been dogged by scandal. An independent panel charged with investigating the awarding of the degree found that university administrators had acted improperly and had treated Ms. Bresch in an "unusual and unique manner." The university's provost and the dean of the business school resigned their posts over their handling of the matter.

Throughout the controversy, Mr. Garrison maintained that he had played no part in awarding the degree to the governor's daughter. But his prior relationship with Ms. Bresch lent a suspicion that was hard to overcome. Mr. Garrison worked directly with Ms. Bresch when he served as a lobbyist for Mylan Inc. from 2004 to 2007, and Ms. Bresch had called Mr. Garrison repeatedly the day the Post-Gazette first inquired about her degree. Mr. Garrison had also approached Ms. Bresch about serving in a fund-raising capacity for the university's foundation.

Last month the university's faculty twice called on Mr. Garrison to resign, both by overwhelming margins. On May 5, the Faculty Senate voted, 77 to 19, to approve a motion that read: "The Faculty Senate of West Virginia University votes no confidence in President Mike Garrison. For the good of the institution, he must resign or the Board of Governors must require his resignation." The same resolution was passed in a facultywide meeting on May 14 by a 565-to-39 vote.

Last week, in an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors, Mr. Garrison issued a report on actions the university had taken to avoid future problems in the awarding of degrees. His prepared remarks were somewhat valedictory: "I am very proud of the work I've done as president, and the work I've been assisted in doing as president by a number of very good people across campus."

After that emergency meeting, the board reiterated that Mr. Garrison had done nothing wrong in the degree controversy.

But that vote of confidence did nothing to deflate the issue in West Virginia. On Wednesday a group of members of the university's Academy of Distinguished Alumni sent an open letter calling for Mr. Garrison's resignation. On Thursday a majority of faculty members in the law school called for the same, saying the president had "lost the battle of public opinion."

Now, Mr. Garrison has acceded to that public opinion.

"In the last several weeks, there has been far too much talk about this issue," Mr. Garrison said this morning. "And far too much talk about my own future at this university."

"And, after careful reflection, " he went on, "I have determined I am the one person who is uniquely situated to stop this dialogue with my decision."