Published: December 28, 2007 01:56 am      

WVU board to discuss controversy

Over Manchin daughter’s degree

CHARLESTON — The chairman of the West Virginia University Board of Governors believes the controversy surrounding Heather Bresch’s MBA degree is simply a recordkeeping mishap.

Steve Goodwin says he expects the board to discuss the topic at its next meeting, which isn’t until Feb. 15 in Morgantown.

However, Goodwin noted that the 17-member panel probably would not take any official action on the matter one way or another.

Bresch, who is the daughter of Gov. Joe Manchin, has been accused of receiving her business degree from WVU although she completed only about half of the credits needed to graduate.

Last week, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published an in-depth story contending that university officials recently may have fabricated records to award Bresch her degree nearly 10 years after she should have earned it.

WVU officials blamed the mishap on records that somehow were not physically transferred from the business school to the Office of Admissions and Records. Nowadays the colleges electronically transfer students’ grades.

“She does, in fact, have a degree,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin said he first heard about the possible discrepancy through reporters investigating the case. He then inquired President Mike Garrison about it, and Garrison, in turn, went to Provost Gerald Lang for answers, according to Goodwin.

“The president assured me that if she didn’t have a degree, that’d be fine,” Goodwin said. “If she did have a degree, that’d be fine, too. Whatever it turned out to be would be.”

The university said Bresch completed her coursework, but her grades were not transferred to the appropriate place.

Goodwin defended the university’s stance and also acknowledged the different recordkeeping procedures in 1998, when Bresch should have graduated.

“Now keep in mind this happened 10 years ago under someone else’s watch,” Goodwin said. “The players are different. It’s hard to go back and figure everything out. The record keeping was a little suspect.

“I don’t know what, if any, advantage it would be to us (to say she earned a degree when she didn’t),” he added. “I think Mike would be totally candid about it.”

Other students were also affected by the records mishap, according to a university spokesperson. The identities of those students have not been released. It is not known how many were affected, either.

In its story, the Post-Gazette cited several anonymous sources, some of them fellow classmates of Bresch’s who contend she dropped out of school before finishing the necessary coursework.

According to the article, Bresch refused to provide copies of her official transcript to the newspaper.

The story was sparked in October by a routine call from the Post-Gazette to confirm the academic credentials of Bresch. She had then been promoted to chief operating officer at drug giant Mylan.

Attempts to reach all 17 BOG members were mostly unsuccessful Wednesday. Board members either did not return phone messages or e-mails.

Goodwin and faculty representative Steve Kite were the only members to respond.

Kite, who teaches geology, said he had been out of town for a week and did not have any firsthand knowledge of the issues concerning Bresch’s degree. Kite said he hadn’t heard any outrage among faculty colleagues, but noted that could change once the spring semester starts next month.

Past faculty senate chair Parviz Famouri said, “I think it was most likely a mishap in book keeping. Remember at that time hard copies were being transferred to electronic copies.”

Goodwin said he, too, was unaware of any concerns expressed by faculty and students over the matter. He said reaction was hard to gauge due to the holiday season and the university being closed.

One board member, Thomas Clark, serves as vice president of corporate medical affairs at Mylan, where Bresch works.

A phone call placed to his Bruceton Mills residence Wednesday was answered by his wife, who said her husband would not comment.