West Virginia University M.B.A. controversy
{{Short description|2007–08 American academic controversy}}
The West Virginia University M.B.A. controversy concerns the granting of an Executive Master of Business Administration degree (EMBA) by West Virginia University to Mylan pharmaceutical company executive Heather Bresch in 2007. An independent panel later concluded that the university changed its records, and granted the degree despite incomplete graduation requirements. West Virginia University's president Michael Garrison, its provost Gerald Lang, and its business school dean R. Stephen Sears, resigned as a result of the investigation, and the university's general counsel and the president's communications officer relinquished those roles.
Initial questions
On October 2, 2007 Heather Bresch, the daughter of then-governor (and subsequently United States Senator) Joe Manchin of West Virginia, was promoted to chief operating officer at Mylan, a Cecil Township, Pennsylvania-based generic drug maker.{{cite news
| last = Sabatini
| first = Patricia
|author2=Len Boselovi
| title = MBA mystery in Morgantown
| publisher = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
| date = 2007-12-21
| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07355/843469-28.stm
}}
On October 11, 2007 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette contacted West Virginia University to confirm academic credentials claimed by Bresch, including an EMBA degree. Research done by the Post-Gazette indicated that Bresch's course work ceased with 22 out of the 48-credit-hour program remaining to be completed. The WVU Registrar told the newspaper that Bresch had earned an undergraduate degree, but did not finish her graduate degree. However, on October 15, 2007, a university spokeswoman announced that WVU officials had verified that Bresch had "completed all the requirements for an executive masters of business administration degree," but did not receive her diploma because she failed to pay a $50 graduation fee. The WVU official attributed the misunderstanding to the business school's failure to transfer records from nearly half of Bresch's course work.
On October 22, 2007, R. Stephen Sears, the Milan Puskar Dean of WVU's business school, sent a letter to WVU's admissions and records office retroactively granting Bresch an EMBA. Six classes were added to her record with letter grades, and two classes with "Incomplete" grades were given letter grades.
Panel
In 2008, the University commissioned a report written by a panel of faculty members from WVU and other universities to look into the matter.{{cite web |url=http://docs.facultysenate.wvu.edu/report/panel_report_4-23-08.pdf |title=Report of the Special Investigative Panel for Review of Executive MBA Program Records |last=Nutter |first=Roy S. Jr., Panel Chair |date=April 21, 2008 |website=WVU.edu |publisher=West Virginia University |location=Morgantown, WV |access-date=December 19, 2021 |page=1 |via=Wayback Machine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802084112/http://docs.facultysenate.wvu.edu/report/panel_report_4-23-08.pdf |archive-date=August 2, 2017}} As covered by the Post-Gazette, the panel discovered the change in Bresch's letter grades, and the University announced in April 2008 that it would rescind Bresch's degree.Boselovic, Len, and Patricia Sabatini, "[http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08115/876164-298.stm University revokes degree after scathing report on M.B.A. awarded to Bresch]", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 24 April 2008, accessed 2008-04-26 WVU provost Gerald Lang announced his resignation[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/us/28westvirginia.html "Provost Quits Over Degree to Governor’s Child"], New York Times, 28 April 2008, accessed 2008-04-28 and shortly thereafter College of Business & Economics Dean Stephen Sears announced his resignation as well.[http://wvgazette.com/latest/200804280173 "WVU dean 2nd to resign in degree scandal"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501134717/http://wvgazette.com/latest/200804280173 |date=2008-05-01 }}, The Charleston Gazette, 28 April 2008, accessed 2008-04-28
The report's panel found that high-ranking university administrators "cherry-picked" information and that grades were "simply pulled from thin air" to grant Bresch the degree nearly 10 years after she was supposed to graduate. The panel concluded administrators lacked documentation to prove Bresch's claims, relied too heavily on verbal assertions and caved to political pressure. The report did not find that the university president directly interfered, but it concluded the presence of his chief of staff in the decision-making meeting created "palpable" pressure. The panel concluded (“taking the most charitable view") that Bresch did not deliberately lie in believing that she had earned the degree.[http://fortune.com/2016/08/26/epipen-mylan-ceo-interview-heather-bresch-mba/ Mylan CEO's 'Heather Bresch Situation': Before EpiPen, the MBA Scandal] Fortune (magazine) Jen Wieczener, August 26, 2016
Aftermath and repercussions
On May 1, 2008, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which first reported on the controversy, published an editorial calling for WVU's President Michael Garrison's resignation.{{cite news
| last = Sabatini
| first = Patricia
|author2=Len Boselovi
| title = WVU's holdout: A tarnished president should step down, too
| publisher = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
| date = 2008-05-01
| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08122/878061-35.stm
}} On the same day, WVU's student newspaper, The Daily Athenaeum held a student forum where some students called for Garrison's resignation. Garrison did not attend; he was represented by a member of the executive communications staff.{{cite news
| last = Sabatini
| first = Patricia
|author2=Len Boselovi
| title = WVU speaks out
| publisher = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
| date = 2008-05-02
| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08123/878512-85.stm
}}
=Resignations and calls for resignations=
The Chairman of West Virginia University's Health Sciences Center neurosurgery department organized a faculty letter in support of President Garrison.{{cite news
| last = Sabatini
| first = Patricia
|author2=Len Boselovic
| title = Some faculty feel pressed to sign letter backing WVU president
| publisher = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
| date = 2008-05-02
| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08123/878485-85.stm
}} Some faculty members felt pressured to sign the letter, which had 23 signatures.
On May 5, 2008, WVU's faculty senate passed a non-binding resolution 77-19 that stated: "The Faculty Senate of West Virginia University votes no confidence in President Garrison. For the good of the institution and for the benefit of our students, he must resign or the Board of Governors must require his resignation." One emeritus member of the faculty called the grade alterations by the WVU administration a "serious academic crime" by subverting the faculty's traditional authority.{{cite news
| last = Sabatini
| first = Patricia
|author2=Len Boselovic
| title = WVU faculty senate, in 77-19 vote, says Garrison must go
| publisher = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
| date = 2008-05-05
| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08126/879334-100.stm
}}
Many WVU alumni expressed concern and anger regarding the controversy and feared damage to the university's reputation.{{cite news
| last = Sabatini
| first = Patricia
|author2=Len Boselovic
| title = WVU facing alumni wrath over M.B.A.
| publisher = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
| date = 2008-03-08
| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08068/863516-28.stm
}} Peter J. Kalis — a WVU alum, Rhodes scholar, and both prominent attorney at and chairman of Pittsburgh law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart/Gates — called for removal of Steven Goodwin, chairman of WVU's board of directors, as well as Garrison.{{cite news
| last = Sabatini
| first = Patricia
|author2=Len Boselovic
| title = WVU provost to quit over M.B.A.
| publisher = Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
| date = 2008-04-28
| url = http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08119/877222-85.stm
}}
Garrison subsequently resigned and was replaced by interim President C. Peter Magrath. Magrath served for a year before James P. Clements was named to be the next president.
In addition, the university's general counsel stepped down as general counsel but remained vice president of legal affairs. The president's communications officer was reassigned to another job in the university.Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "WVU Panelists Stand by report", http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08153/886523-298.stm