2008 Woodie Awards
WVU degree for governor's daughter 'seriously flawed'
Ry Rivard
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: News
Paul Speaker, the former director of the eMBA program and a current business school professor, said he was the lone objector among the four, which included the college's dean.
The meeting included three members of the Garrison's staff, including Chief of Staff Craig Walker, in whose office the meeting was held. Also present were the provost and the four members of the business college. In less than an hour, they decided to award Bresch the degree.
But, according to the report, they had little evidence for the decision. The primary information was:
- Walker's account of a telephone conversation with Bresch and her claim that she attended a convocation in Dec. 1998. She also said that in 1998, Speaker excused her from all remaining course requirements due to work she was doing for Mylan in California.
- An unofficial list of eMBA graduates, which listed Bresch as graduating in 1999, not 1998, as she claimed.
- Statements by Speaker in which he recalled Bresch had completed work for some number of credits on her transcript.
- Reports that at least another student had grade and course-credit reporting problems similar to Bresch's alleged problems from people in the business college at the meeting.
The report then systematically refutes the claims by finding that:
- No one attempted to confirm Bresch's account of her graduation and that Speaker directly contradicted the report of Bresch's supposed agreement with him.
- Officials unjustifiably relied on the unofficial list of graduates.
- Meeting participants implausibly credited Speaker's assertion that Bresch had completed some of her course work, but they ignored or discredited his assertion that he told her that she had to complete additional work after 1998. In fact, he said that her earning a degree in the fall of 1998 "is the one thing we know did not happen."
- Reports that there were other eMBA students with problems like Bresch's were not true.
The meeting included three members of the Garrison's staff, including Chief of Staff Craig Walker, in whose office the meeting was held. Also present were the provost and the four members of the business college. In less than an hour, they decided to award Bresch the degree.
But, according to the report, they had little evidence for the decision. The primary information was:
- Walker's account of a telephone conversation with Bresch and her claim that she attended a convocation in Dec. 1998. She also said that in 1998, Speaker excused her from all remaining course requirements due to work she was doing for Mylan in California.
- An unofficial list of eMBA graduates, which listed Bresch as graduating in 1999, not 1998, as she claimed.
- Statements by Speaker in which he recalled Bresch had completed work for some number of credits on her transcript.
- Reports that at least another student had grade and course-credit reporting problems similar to Bresch's alleged problems from people in the business college at the meeting.
The report then systematically refutes the claims by finding that:
- No one attempted to confirm Bresch's account of her graduation and that Speaker directly contradicted the report of Bresch's supposed agreement with him.
- Officials unjustifiably relied on the unofficial list of graduates.
- Meeting participants implausibly credited Speaker's assertion that Bresch had completed some of her course work, but they ignored or discredited his assertion that he told her that she had to complete additional work after 1998. In fact, he said that her earning a degree in the fall of 1998 "is the one thing we know did not happen."
- Reports that there were other eMBA students with problems like Bresch's were not true.
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