Garrison's Last Pitch

West Virginia University President Mike Garrison recently made his last desperate pitch to keep his job. Summoning up his powers to convince, he made such a strong impression on the Board of Governors that they absolved him of direct responsibility for the degree scandal. However the Board stated that they would continue to look at the situation and meet again on June 6th.

Michael Garrison may or may not have had a direct hand in the scandal. However the perception is that his political connections bind him too tightly to the governor and that this played a major role in the wrongdoing. The revelations in the Rich Rodriguez case that Garrison was assumed to be the next president long before his hiring do not help.

Who suffers here? Certainly the governor must want this to go away very badly. His opponent in November, Russ Weeks, has benefited tremendously. Not too long ago Weeks had little name recognition outside of Republican circles. Now increasing numbers of people see him as an alternative to the Manchinocracy. Weeks will be able to use this and other issues to bridge the gap between himself and his opponent by this fall. Garrison himself has taken an image hit from which he will not recover.

Worst of all the university has taken a hard right cross to its reputation. Coming from a state all too often maligned (thanks Dick Cheney), West Virginia University must always fight an uphill battle in its quest to be recognized for the great research institution it is. Since it has low standards for admission (which it must since it serves the state), magazines rating the best colleges ignore WVU's track record of research excellence. It was the one state run institution believed to be free of the usual political garbage. That reputation is gone.

The current president of WVU must love the university. I do not see how anyone who has taught or attended there cannot. WVU strikes a unique balance between teaching excellence and research that is rare at its academic level. Michael Garrison's best leadership decision would be to resign right now. That is how he could save the situation for himself and West Virginia University.

Take one for the team, President Garrison. Please.