You can read Mike Garrison’s resume right here. Moot Court, Lugar Trial, Order of Barristers — the boy was no slouch in law school. Other than listing the things he actually accomplished in law school, his resume doesn’t even use the word “honors.”
But his firm bio does. It says:
West Virginia University College of Law, J.D., with honors, 1996
The phrase “J.D., with honors” (or “B.A., with honors,” or whatever) does not just mean that you received some sort of random “honor” at your commencement ceremony. A ” J.D., with honors,” or “J.D., cum laude,” or “J.D., with distinction,” is a specific form of recognition that we can all agree the WVU College of Law does not confer.
However. It’s not like Garrison is his firm’s web designer. And to be fair, he’s probably one of thousands of attorneys with slight embellishments on their law firm web pages.
And then there’s the press release. It reads:
[Garrison] is an honors graduate of the WVU Eberly College of Arts & Sciences with degrees in Political Science and English, and an honors graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law.
Do you think a reader could come away from that mislead? Because while Mike was absolutely a cum laude graduate of Eberly, he was not an honors graduate of the College of Law, period. If you don’t believe me, check his resume.
But that sure was an interesting tip in the comments about Garrison’s resume stating that he studied at Oxford as a Rotary International Scholar, but omitting the part about dropping out before Christmas. Anybody know more about that?
I brought this stuff up as a legitimate question. It’s something a few people passed along to me, and I thought we might be able to get to the bottom of it. And I think we might have. With the emphasis on bottom. I’ll happily move along.
March 29, 2007 at 11:30 pm
HK: That’s a good explanation. I have to say, to me, this is a no-brainer. A “J.D., with honors” is a specific designation conferred by your school, and it has nothing to do with what activities you did during your educational career. WVU COL doesn’t confer a J.D., with honors. That means, of course, that Mike Garrison doesn’t have one.
If this isn’t a big deal, I think that says more about our standards than anything else. At most schools — certainly at serious flagship state schools, like UVA or Michigan or UNC — it would be a huge problem if the wannabe president had a bio on his law firm website, claiming to have a J.D., with honors when in fact he had no such thing. It would probably kill that person’s candidacy. Yet I get the idea that most of the WVU folks reading this blog think it doesn’t matter — which goes a long way toward explaining how Mike Garrison can get to be president.
March 30, 2007 at 5:00 am
Each school has different honors read the WVU law School handbook as to what is honors at WVU Law School.
Class Rank and Order of the Barrister are bother considered honors.
You may not like Garrison but do not mislead on the truth.
March 30, 2007 at 8:18 am
First thought:
Does the previous comment mean that having a class rank — any class rank — at the COL is considered an honor? All the J.D.’s handed out up there are with honors? That’d be great news for a hell of a lot of people.
Or is it that everyone in the top 50% has honors? Because the part of the handbook that the last comment is talking about is the policy for release of class ranks to the top 50% of graduates.
Or, is it that everyone who has a grade point average graduates with an honor? Because the same part of the handbook explains, for all graduates, how to evaluate your GPA relative to everyone else’s.
Second thought:
I guess the distinction between receiving a degree with honors and receiving some other honor or award when you graduate is difficult to explain to people who aren’t involved in the academy, and haven’t otherwise seen what high-end resumes look like. But trust me, it’s crystal clear to anyone who knows his ass from a hole in the ground. Try googling “degree with honors” (in quotes) and you’ll see what I mean: All the hits are descriptions of what’s required to earn one’s degree with honors at various institutions. All of them make clear that the degree with honors is a specific recognition in and of itself, independent of whatever other awards a graduate receives. I’m sure a smart guy like Garrison knows the difference.
I’m also sure that the people who didn’t grasp this from Hippie Killer’s posts will remain baffled in spite of the above, and enraged at him for pointing it out. It’s like he’s trying to explain relativity to a pig.
March 30, 2007 at 8:49 am
You find it necessary to start another thread on this ridiculous honorsgate nonsense? Unbelievable. You people sound more and more foolish with each post.
No one who is not opposed to Garrison could possibly care less about these obsessive rantings on a trivial non-issue and most of the people who oppose him would be embarassed to be lumped together with people who sound like whiny malcontents lacking any sense of perspective.
What does it take to get you people to focus on the real issue? Wasting time on this nonsense simply discredits the larger group that wants to have the search re-opened and allow for it to be done in a professional manner.
If the legitimate complaints about the process get lumped together with the stupidity of this type of attack, it will just make it that much easier for the powers that be to dismiss all the complaints as the product of mindless “aginners” with some personal agenda.
Once again, there are very good reasons why Garrison should not be President but this honors BS is not among them and only serves to hand his supporters a broad brush with which to tar the opposition.
Grow up.
March 30, 2007 at 11:00 am
Jesus, neo-anonymous, get ahold of yourself. This is just a blog. We’re not the fucking Board of Governors or the Higher Ed Policy Commission. We’re just a bunch of people who have no influence whatsoever on the presidential selection process, but want to shoot the shit about it anyway. If we decide to waste our time talking about issues that don’t matter to you, who cares?
What, exactly, is it that you think would happen if we started focusing on “the real issues”? The BOG would print out all our comments and read them at their meeting? Decide this thing based on a bunch of anonymous bullshit on a blog?
“Mr. Chairman, I would like to call the Board’s attention to the statement of Mr. Neo Anonymous, recorded on the weblog Fifth Column on March 30, 2007, in which Mr. Anonymous conveyed his sentiment that we should re-open the search process. Since the moment I read Mr. Anonymous’s call to arms, I have lain awake nights, searching the very depths of my soul, and by God, Mr. Chairman, I think Mr. Anonymous has this thing figured out!”
In answer to your question, people are going to keep commenting on the resume point until you stop turning purple trying to tell us we can’t. If you have the ear of someone with a vote, please, by all means, go tell that person about all your serious thoughts, which I’m sure will carry the day. But if you don’t — if you’re just another unconnected, interested observer like me, who can’t influence anyone but the people reading this — then your views are just as irrelevant as mine.
March 30, 2007 at 11:18 am
Looks like we’re not the only ones concerned about the politics of picking WVU’s president:
http://www.dailymail.com/story/News/+/2007033012/Judge-questions-WVU-president-search/
March 30, 2007 at 12:01 pm
So you folks write with no purpose? Strange.
Even on most small, anonymous blogs the majority of people who write on public affairs seek to persuade others to consider their positions, presumably in the hope support for their positions will grow and maybe even gain momentum sufficient to attract more general interest.
If no one here has any hope of persuading anyone else, then disregard what I have said, because you are doing that right.
March 30, 2007 at 1:13 pm
Do I have hope that by posting comments to this blog and bitching to my friends over the next two weeks, I’ll influence the WVU Board’s choice of a president? Um, no. If you do, rock on. I’ll sign your petition.
March 30, 2007 at 1:17 pm
Goddamn hippies.
March 30, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Well, to be honest, I think you have decent self-awareness in perceiving that with your attitude and your displayed abilities you are unlikely to ever influence anyone on any matter of consequence.
Perhaps, however you should not project that to others who may not share your deficiencies. I happen to think it is possible to create enough public pressure to slow down this train and that people with a little more to offer than have you can be encouraged to join the effort.
Please, just stay out of the way and don’t make the work of the grown-ups even more difficult.
March 30, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Hmmm… I sense something; a presence I’ve not felt since…
March 31, 2007 at 11:34 am
Will we ever get a president at WVU without a protest?
My friend was president of a gay and lesbian student group at WVU when Hardesty was appointed. I was with her in the Lair when Hardesty walked through. She dragged me over to him so she could introduce herself. He told her the flowers she sent, in the name of her organization, were the only ones he had received. (She’s quite astute that way.)
Point is, we’re going to have to live with this. I don’t know what makes a “great” college president, but I do know that it is a thankless job. A job in which he will never, ever be able to watch a football game in a t-shirt or go anywhere without a phone. A job where the multiple constituencies are always at odds and where every decision you make pisses somebody off.
We are so hard on each other in this state. Would a nation-wide search yield good candidates? Probably so. But what is wrong with giving one of our own a chance to shine?
March 31, 2007 at 1:23 pm
One of our own a chance to shine? What the FUCK?!?!?!?!?!!?!
How about, just for fucking amusement I guess, hiring the MOST QUALIFIED applicant?
Hmmmmmmmmmm? How about that?
Jeezus. You people who are so quick to assume the position, need to just fucking go down road, not across the tracks.
Leave it to the rest of us non-sheeple, to run this place.
March 31, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Didn’t I hear that the other candidates for the job were president of one university and provost of another? I could be wrong, it was early in the morning when I listened to the piece on public radio.
At any rate nepotism, or anything of the like, never gets the job done right.
I’m sure Mike Garrison is a lovely person, but if he were applying for a job as a manager of McDonald’s, he should not by hired due to (drum roll)… lack of experience!!!
April 1, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Garrison is a good person. He is smart and astute. Like Hardesty, I am sure he will be a good fund-raiser, but here is a news flash: WVU is a third-tier university nationally. Research, patents and strong academics matter. They feed the future leadership of W.Va’s counties. If you have a president, who has NO academic or research bacground – has never EVER published, leading a flagship schoo, then you can expect WVU to remain a third-tier school. WVU needs a real president. He is not the person to do it.
Can you imagine – one of 50 flagship presidents in the nation and W.Va having the only one who has never conducted extensive research or ever published? He cannot lead academics if he cannot comprehend where they come from or are trying to go.
April 2, 2007 at 7:58 am
11:47 anonymous:
Thank you for keeping focused on what matters. WVU has slipped relative to to other universities in most if not all categories under Hardesty. That’s not entirely his fault but we need an outstanding President who can helpe elevate the school. Even maintaining the status quo is not good enough.
April 13, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Wow, WVU continued to right down the outhole crap hole. Hiring a thirty-something lawyer to administer the school? What in God’s name are you thinking?
It’s not bad enough that the school has escaped it’s hillbilly mountaineer image and couch burning propensities (I was there for the first conflagration in Sunnyside) and now picking a snot-nosed “homer” to head the school??? Well, perhaps the school is looking to capitalize on the couch-burning class action lawsuits? Pathetic. The board should be disbanded for ineptness.
May 1, 2008 at 4:59 pm
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