WVU SCANDAL RIFE WITH COVER-UP AND SPIN

(05/05/2008)
By Bob Weaver

The WVU fiasco over the awarding of a masters degree 10 years after Heather Bresch, Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter did not earn it, is rife with spin and cover-up.

Most West Virginia media has been slow to report the details.

Bresch, now a Mylan Pharmaceutical, COO insisted that she had finished her degree in 1998.

Not so.

WVU president Mike Garrison said the situation was handled as it would have been for any other WVU student.

Not so.

WVU provost Gerald Lang said that "errors" on Ms. Bresch's transcript had been "appropriately corrected."

Not so.

Business dean Stephen Sears said he felt pressured to make a decision but said he "didn't want to make the decision."

President Garrison's Chief of Staff Craig Walker ordered and attended pivotal meetings at which officials decided to grant the degree.

West Virginia University had no basis for awarding the degree to Bresch except for her link to millions of dollars donated to the university by her employer and her political connections.

Gov. Joe Manchin denies any wrongdoing, but is now calling it a "witch hunt."

READ THE STORY OF A COVER-UP:

"An inside look at how far WVU officials were willing to go for the governor's daughter and her unearned M.B.A."   www.post-gazette.com