Published: May 11, 2008 10:17 pm            

Bresch probe costs $31,000

MORGANTOWN — The investigation that determined West Virginia University gave the governor’s daughter a master’s degree she didn’t earn cost more than $31,000, records reviewed by The Associated Press reveal.

That’s more than it would currently cost a West Virginia resident to earn an executive master’s of business administration degree, the kind at the heart of the scandal. At today’s tuition rates, the 48 credit hours required would run an in-state student $28,560.

But all the expenses were paid by the WVU Foundation Inc., the school’s private fundraising organization, so the burden is falling on donors, not taxpayers.

Nearly 81 percent of the total cost, or $24,750, was the amount of per diem payments to three out-of-state educators brought in to assist two faculty leaders in the probe, according to records obtained by the AP under the state Freedom of Information Act.

Those educators are Art Centonze, a dean emeritus of Pace University in New York; Lori Franz, former provost at the University of Missouri-Columbia; and John Burkoff, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Each received $1,500 per day for five and a half days of work, or $8,250.

Also on the panel were WVU professors Roy Nutter and Michael Lastinger, who did not receive the per diem.

After the per diem, air fare is the single largest expense, totaling $2,348. Lodging follows at $1,544, then food and drinks at $1,217. There are lesser charges for such things as car rentals, mileage, parking, mailings and a meeting room in the Pittsburgh area, where Mylan Inc. executive Heather Bresch works and lives.

The panel concluded last month that WVU administrators decided to add courses and grades to Bresch’s transcript after the validity of the master’s degree she claimed on her resume came into question.

Within days, Provost Gerald Lang and business school Dean R. Stephen Sears resigned their administrative posts to return to teaching, but critics are demanding further action.

Though the report did not cite evidence that President Mike Garrison directly interfered, it concluded the presence of his key staff in the October decision-making meeting created “palpable” pressure to go along.

Garrison and Bresch are longtime friends, and Garrison once worked as a Mylan lobbyist. And Mylan’s chairman, Milan “Mike” Puskar, has given millions to the university, which named its football stadium for him.

Last week, the WVU Faculty Senate demanded that Garrison resign over the Bresch debacle, saying the school cannot heal and rebuild its reputation as long as he is in office.

Garrison has refused, but the faculty are undeterred: They’ve planned a rare gathering of the University Assembly — virtually all of the 1,418 full-time teachers — for Wednesday afternoon, hoping more voices will be harder to ignore.

The controversy has become increasingly emotional since the report was released, embarrassing students, prompting some donors to close their wallets and infuriating faculty members who feel Garrison and his supporters — Board of Governors Chairman Steve Goodwin and Gov. Joe Manchin — are treating them with disrespect.

Late last week, WVU Police Chief Bob Roberts said faculty gave him two fliers with disturbing language that were discovered in the engineering building. Both used the word “kill.”

In large print, one proclaimed, “Kill the root,” with the phrase “Kill the Candidacy” underneath. Manchin’s name then appears in large print, with a smaller phrase underneath: “Garrison and the BOG are just symptoms. They must resign.”

State Police Sgt. Dennis Johnson in Morgantown said the source of the flier is not being investigated.

“It’s not a direct threat to the governor’s security. It’s a direct threat to his candidacy,” Johnson said, “and with freedom of speech, you’re allowed to threaten his candidacy.”

Roberts said the other flier suggests that killing a Board of Governors member “would be evil and a crime,” but adds that if there were a way to “wipe them off the face of the earth, it would be good for WVU.”

In today’s environment, with mass shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, that kind of language is alarming, Roberts said.

“People may have emotional problems already, and you don’t know how they’re going to take this,” he said. “I don’t think they intentionally meant for anyone to harm anyone else. But some people might read it and take it wrong.

“It’s a sad comment on our society,” he said, “that we can’t have civil discourse.”

        

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