university-wide faculty assembly

We have learned today that it's possible for the president of the Faculty Senate to call a university-wide faculty assembly to address the MBA scandal, if 5% of the faculty make such a request. This effort is already underway. If this is important to you, please email Steve Kite TODAY and circulate this message.

A Petition to WVU Faculty

(from WVU faculty member Matt Vester)

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Given the current state of affairs on our campus, it seems important to me to assess the views of WVU faculty (and not just faculty senators) regarding the calls for President Garrison’s resignation.

On Monday, April 29, Kevin Leyden (Political Science) claimed that “most people believe Michael Garrison has performed his duties beyond expectations” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 29, 2008) . Perhaps Leyden has polling data to support this claim. If evidence can be shown to prove that most faculty believe Garrison’s resignation to be unnecessary, I for one will pledge not to speak another word about it. The last thing that I hope to do is to make an already terrible situation worse, against the wishes of most members of the faculty community.

But if most WVU faculty believe that the restoration of university’s integrity requires Garrison’s resignation (at a minimum), then the Faculty Senate, the BOG, and the President’s Office must be made aware of this fact. For that I reason I am willing to compile a list of faculty members who support the proposed Faculty Senate resolution calling upon President Garrison to resign, and those who do not.

If you email me, I will tabulate the results and have them verified by someone whose views on this matter are contrary to my own. For those who support the resignation resolution, I would be happy to add your name to what would in effect become a petition that could be distributed to members of the Faculty Senate prior to Monday’s meeting. I realize that this is a methodologically imperfect procedure, but at least it should provide a somewhat more accurate sense of faculty views concerning this issue that so closely affects our collective reputation.

Please send me an e-mail (matt.vester@mail.wvu.edu) by Saturday, May 3, at 6:00 PM, with true or false answers to the following statements:

1. I support Garrison's resignation (T/F).
2. I am willing for my name to be made public (T/F).

Thanks for your help with this modest research project. Yours, Matt Vester (History Department, WVU)

one of life's mysteries...

Kevin Leyden, in his statement to the Faculty Senate, insisted that "most people believe Michael Garrison has performed his duties beyond expectations," that Garrison is an effective leader so far, citing money Garrison brought in from the state government for salaries and research. Others cite the development of a WVU day care program. He is responsible for these things even when, in most cases, he is not directly doing the work, others are negotiating, holding meetings, etc.; perhaps some of these decisions were even already in place when Garrison became responsible for them... Similarly, there are occurrences of all sorts and at all levels at WVU that Garrison is responsible for in his role as President. ("My responsibility as president extends to the entire university," he says.)

On the other hand, it seems from Garrison's response in the last few days that he is not responsible for what happened in the meetings about Heather Bresch's grades. His public statement takes responsibility for "this matter," which seems to mean the aftermath of the report, but not for what happened in the meetings, not for the decisions made there. He makes a clean distinction: "I removed myself from this process immediately after handing this matter off." His representatives - Macia, Walker, Case, etc. - were present in the meetings and presumably they are in some way responsible, but it seems Garrison himself was not in the room, not present at the meetings, and therefore not responsible.

The mystery for me - and I would think for faculty, employees, students, etc. - is for future references how to know when Garrison is "in the room" or not? Sometimes he is and sometimes he isn't. How do we know what he is and is not responsible for? Will there be a sign? (Perhaps a good name for one of Leyden's committees: "On Discerning the Presence of the President.")

Turn over your phone records now!