Published: May 08, 2008 01:05 am            

WVU Foundation: Giving unharmed so far

MORGANTOWN — Cash fundraising for West Virginia University is about where it was this time last year, those in charge of the effort say, despite months of publicity about a degree scandal involving the governor’s daughter, academic officials and President Mike Garrison.

From July 1, 2007, the start of the current fiscal year, to April 30, the WVU Foundation Inc. raised $52 million from 30,700 donors, said R. Wayne King, president and chief executive of the school’s private fundraising entity.

From July 1, 2006, to April 30, 2007, the foundation also raised $52 million in cash donations, King told The Associated Press. That figure does not include an in-kind donation of software valued at about $18 million.

The foundation’s 2007 annual report shows it ended that fiscal year with gifts totaling $87 million, up from $61.2 million the previous year.

But it’s clear the foundation is now working harder than usual to keep the money flowing.

King said he’s had about 40 e-mails or phone calls from donors concerned about the scandal that has tarnished the school’s image nationwide, outraging faculty, students and alumni alike.

“They are concerned with the situation,” King said. “Not in every case, because we’ve received several in support of President Garrison. But those who are responding, who are concerned, are indicating that they are not going to make any more gifts until — in their view — the situation is resolved.”

On Monday, the Faculty Senate overwhelmingly voted no confidence in Garrison and demanded his resignation. But the resolution was nonbinding, and Garrison has no plans to step down.

King has publicly urged donors to call if they are thinking of withholding money so he can persuade them otherwise.

While 40 donors are few in comparison to the total, King said the number is irrelevant: “One donor expressing concern would certainly get a phone call from someone here. ... I don’t consider even one person who’s concerned as insignificant.”

Last week, the McGee Foundation announced it was rescinding an offer to donate $1 million in art and another $1 million in direct contribution to the Creative Arts Center.

Money is the only leverage alumni and others outside the university have as Garrison resists the calls for his resignation, which have grown to include several of the state’s newspapers.

For now, though, Garrison is holding onto the support of the WVU Board of Governors, its chairman Steve Goodwin and Gov. Joe Manchin, who appointed most of the board.

Garrison says he has work to do, including implementation of the recommendations of the independent panel that concluded WVU gave Mylan Inc. executive Heather Bresch an executive master’s of business administration degree she didn’t earn.

Bresch is a longtime friend of Garrison, and Mylan chairman Milan “Mike” Puskar, who has given tens of millions to WVU.

Provost Gerald Lang and business school Dean R. Stephen Sears resigned their administrative posts after the report found they added courses and grades to Bresch’s transcript, then retroactively awarded her the 1998 degree.

Several Garrison aides, including chief of staff Craig Walker, participated in the October meeting where that action occurred, and many administration critics have demanded that more heads roll.

Garrison has repeatedly said that if any further discipline or reassignments are deemed necessary, they will be handled as personnel matters.

Earlier this week, Garrison told the AP he was not concerned about long-term damage to WVU’s donations, disputing a professor’s public claim that the “quiet phase” of a capital fundraising campaign had been suspended.

The foundation says Garrison is correct: That quiet push remains active.

Quiet phases of long-term fundraising campaigns can typically run three to four years, King said. WVU hasn’t even set a goal for its campaign yet.

The foundation and the university administration must first work with academic leadership to identify funding priorities. Then a feasibility study will be conducted by an outside firm that specializes in charitable giving, probably later this year. After that, a goal is set and a strategic plan is created, King said.

The foundation is currently focused on finding matching funds for the $35 million the Legislature agreed to allocate for a “Bucks for Brains” research-funding program that Garrison pushed earlier this year.

“That’s not going to happen without the donors,” King said. “I understand that in some cases they’re upset or concerned, and I’m not trying to belittle that or minimize that. But I really hope that people will be able to look longer-term and realize the good things that are happening and realize how important their support is.”

        

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