WVU FACULTY VOTES TO REMOVE PRESIDENT

(05/16/2008)
Hundreds of West Virginia University faculty members told embattled President Mike Garrison he should resign as a result of the school's degree scandal.

WVU heads awarded an MBA degree to Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter ten years after a study said she did not earn such a degree.

The gathering of teacher's, the first since the 1970s, just voted 563-35, demanding Garrison resign.

It was the second such vote this month at WVU, the Faculty Senate overwhelmingly passed a motion of no confidence, a non-binding demand that he step down.

The faculty believes that hundreds of voices will be harder to ignore than the smaller Faculty Senate vote.

Professor Boyd Edwards says the university cannot recover from a crisis under the very leadership that created it.

Garrison has refused to resign, claiming he was unaware and had no hand in the decision.

Faculty members referred a resolution asking the Legislature to investigate the scandal to the Faculty Senate.

Another second motion calls for changes to the process of appointing department heads.