We learned, or at least I learned today that Bruce Flack will chair Provost Lang’s investigative panel.
Now I’m sure he’s a nice guy, respected official, elder statesman and all that. What troubles me though, is that Bruce Flack is a career higher ed bureaucrat. Now if you read that, and you’re a lawyer, a journalist or a dishwasher, it might mean nothing to you. The problem is, pretty much everyone who’s ever worked around career bureaucrats — be it in higher ed, or elsewhere in state government — knows that you become a career bureaucrat by spending decades rolling over, and doing your master’s bidding. Do it long enough, and the Governor might even award you with a 6 figure job.
As I’ve said before, I don’t know much about Bruce Flack. But someone did describe him to me as “one of the most appropriately named people I’ve ever known.”
I’m not suggesting anything. But if you want something swept under the rug, this is the kind of guy you call.
Tags: Heathergate
January 9, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Off topic, but now Steve Goodwin has confirmed that he’s not in the running to be dean of the law school:
http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=33135
January 9, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Goodwin is right about one thing in the article: “John Fisher has done a remarkable job.” Fisher certainly has done a remarkable job in leading the law school’s decline to the third tier, and briefly the fourth tier, of law schools nationally.
Now that he’s retiring, everyone will venerate him as a great leader, when it was clear from the first three times he applied for the position as permanent dean and didn’t get it, that he was unfit for the job. But he kept applying, and finally his number came up.
And there’s nothing impressive about the search committee. Most of its members can’t tell their ass from a hole in the ground.
January 9, 2008 at 7:04 pm
HK - Flack already has a six figure job. - http://www.wvsao.gov, see 2006 WV State Employees Total Compensation.
January 9, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Flack will do what is expected of him. I am sure he is writing the report clearing Bresch’s name right now.
January 9, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Dubvee — yeah, I know. That was sorta my point :-)
January 9, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Wait a minute!!!
What is wrong with being a long-term state employee and being paid in accordance with the market for your experience and expertise? I assure you there are many state employees who work diligently and in the best interests of the public. (Some people who come to mind include: Fred Armstrong AND Bruce Flack.)
HK, I support your search for the truth in the matter of Heather Bresch, but your Flack attack is an unnecessary slap in the face of a person who is a well-respected academician. Dr. Flack has served our state for many years as a college teacher, academic dean, college president, and interim chancellor of the higher education system. He doesn’t deserve to have you try to make him the villain in this matter.
January 9, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I hope you’re right.
January 9, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Amen, ex-bureaucat. I know Fred Armstrong and Bruce Flack, and I have the utmost respect for both. The second I saw Bruce’s name, I immediately felt better about the investigation, and I know a lot of other people feel as I do.
January 9, 2008 at 9:12 pm
The problem is the Charge. It has the premise that a decision was made in 1998 to award the degree (of course, there has been no evidence to support this). Thus, some very good people are being made part of the problem. UNLESS they set their own rules.
January 9, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Not to point out the obvious and notwithstanding his reputation, he still is employed by someone who may have called the shot to a) rig the presidential “search” and b) award the degree to his daughter.
January 9, 2008 at 9:57 pm
All the right people in all the right places. The new president and then this MBA debacle/fiasco just scream xenophobia. Nobody from outside the state will ever assume a position of relevance at WVU for the foreseeable future but then again who in their right mind would want to given the current corrupt environment. On the bright side, at least the football team will be good for one more year and Huggins hasn’t gotten a DUI yet. I’m sure when that happens, the BOG will sweep in with their capes on and do a thorough investigation.
January 10, 2008 at 12:20 am
Hey, friend of HK, I bet you $100 I know Bruce Flack better than you and longer than you. I also like the guy a helluva lot. I really do. Do I believe he will do whatever the governor wants him to do?:
You damn right!
Bruce is protecting Bruce. Spare me your bullshit! This is rigged.
January 10, 2008 at 12:46 am
Mountain Daddy, it is possible that you have known Bruce Flack longer, than I. I do not know. But I’m pretty sure you are incorrect about him.
Bruce is very close to retirement. He could leave his job tomorrow if he wanted, and he doesn’t have to curry favor with anyone, including Joe Manchin.
If the investigators had to come from WVU and HEPC (and of course they didn’t and shouldn’t have), Bruce was the best possible choice. I think it’s most unfortunate that the place where Bruce works by itself causes people to question his character and his ability to be fair, balanced and objective, even though I certainly understand why.
January 10, 2008 at 7:43 am
This is a fine committee, if Heather is innocent.
But if she didn’t earn her degree, and WVU cooked the books, then this committee is being asked to:
1. Take down the prominent daughter of a sitting governor. She gets fired and trashed.
2. Embarrass the University’s largest donor and political kingmaker. Mylan gets sued and loses some political heft.
3. Follow the email trail back to Sears, Lang and Garrison, leading to the resignations of at least the Mylan Dean of Business, and possibly the Provost and President (although I bet Garrison retained plausible deniability; Lang may not have been as careful).
No matter how wonderful these people are, that is a lot to ask from Flack, Nutter & Lastinger.
That’s why most well-advised people hire independent outsiders to investigate these sort of things. You have to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, with no possibility of a conflict of interest. Like a deacon, these guys need to be “above reproach.”
Flack may not be able to say no, but Nutter and Lastinger should see that they are being used and they have the ability to resist. They could insist that some truly outside parties be added to the committee pronto. Else, they shouldn’t do it.
Most interesting 2 hour meeting in Morgantown this week? Jan 14 at 3.15 - the Faculty Senate. Generally, 90% of these meetings are filled with routine reports & votes. This time, the real debate starts early, when Lang reports to the Senate on Heathergate early in the meeting. (Agenda here: http://www.wvu.edu/~facultys/08Files/108SAgd.pdf). Senators with any balls should be ready to ask for an independent committee. Lang will tempt their egos by saying this is a faculty matter which should be handled internally. I would agree if it was a simple grade or degree problem, but with the weight of Manchin, Mylan and the WVU administration hanging in balance, this is not a simple internal matter.
See you Jan 14 - the meeting’s open to the public, but only Senators are guaranteed an opportunity to speak.
January 10, 2008 at 7:50 am
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08010/848033-192.stm
January 10, 2008 at 9:17 am
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08010/848033-35.stm
Degree of confusion: WVU twists and turns to explain itself
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The mystery of the phantom master’s degree at West Virginia University just keeps getting more twisted.
The tale began on Oct. 2, when Heather Bresch, daughter of West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, was promoted to chief executive officer of Mylan Inc. and the Post-Gazette later that month made a routine call to confirm her academic credentials. The university initially said Ms. Bresch did not have the MBA she claimed, but it reversed itself days later after she insisted she earned the degree in December 1998.
University officials next blamed the lack of a degree on a failure of the business school to transfer her records, along with those of several other students. Although university records showed she was 22 credits short in the 48-credit-hour program, R. Stephen Sears, dean of the school’s College of Business and Economics, reported that his school’s records indicated Ms. Bresch met all requirements.
But on Tuesday, Provost Gerald Lang — WVU’s chief academic officer — said those records don’t even exist. Not only that, he said no other students have reported problems with their records since the Post-Gazette’s first report last month.
Mr. Lang further said he did not know what, if any, records were used to retroactively grant the degree. His decision, he said, was based on Mr. Sears’ word. It looks like there’s going to be plenty of blame to go around, but so far, nobody seems to have the straight story.
The rewrite of Ms. Bresch’s academic records already has sparked the appointment of a three-member panel to investigate how Mr. Lang and other university administrators determined that Ms. Bresch had completed requirements for the master’s degree.
Mr. Lang’s most recent comments underscore the importance of that review. The panel — unfortunately one with a credibility problem because its members are too closely connected with university and state officials — has a lot of work to do to untangle this tale.
The university’s reputation and the value of the degrees earned by its thousands of students are on the line.
First published on January 10, 2008 at 12:00 am
January 10, 2008 at 9:17 am
Mountaineer, although the possible consequences you list are the natural outcomes, I think a major source of rancor here is that no one thinks they will be.
1) Mylan doesn’t have to fire Bresch. She can just say she thought she earned it and she never asked WVU to do her any favors. Besides, her years of service more than make up for it, she’ll say.
2) I don’t see how Mylan could get sued because, as it seems now, no laws were broken (unless someone was bribed). Again, he could say he never asked WVU to do any favors. And even he did,so what, he’d say. When is the last time someone with $30 quadrillion felt sheepish about anything? And as long as he has that money, he’ll always find ready ears in government and at WVU. (And before anyone brings up Blankenship, this is not even related–he was openly trying to run the state…from Kentucky, no less!)
3) Maybe Sears will resign, but most likely no one will. Why should they? They’ll just deny everything and go about their business. They broke no laws, they’ll say, and everyone is worked up over nothing.
At the very most, they’ll take Bresch’s degree away and apologize for the mess. And it will work. I get the impression that outside of the usual gadflies, the average person really doesn’t give a shit about this. It’s complicated, doesn’t involve sex or lots of taxpayer money, isn’t illegal, and, sadly, is typical, from their point of view.
More government shenanigans, they say. What else is new?
January 10, 2008 at 9:28 am
As described in the Post-Gazette article, I was also surprised to hear Lang claiming that Bresch’s records had been lost rather than miscalculated. In the end, though, both scenarios are sadly entirely plausible at WVU administrative offices, and I think it entirely likely that no one knows what happened with Bresch except maybe some low-ranking staff member who may not even be at the university by now. Apathy is rampant and the tendency is to ignore discrepancies until the pressure comes on (like it has now).
I would not be at all surprised to find out that at the end of the day, this whole mess was caused by a combination of sloppy record keeping followed by a ham-handed attempt by administrators to cover up the poor management of their employees.
January 10, 2008 at 9:45 am
At the very most, they’ll take Bresch’s degree away and apologize for the mess. And it will work.
Not with the SEC. If Bresch has no plausible deniability, then she is guilty of fraud by inflating her credentials in Mylan’s filings in the Merck acquisition. Whether they will pursue it or not is another matter, but if anyone is truly sweating this it’s because of the SEC.
I agree that the SEC notwithstanding, she probably won’t lose her job, but I disagree with “the average person really doesn’t give a shit about this” because there are a lot of college graduates and MBAs in particular that would see this as cheapening their accomplishments and credentials.
January 10, 2008 at 10:18 am
If there is no degree and she stays at Mylan, they have a long-term problem with employment related litigation that involves other employees.
If you don’t fire the COO for this, you’ll never win a case against another employee for an integrity related dismissal.
She may stay, but there will be a high cost for Mylan.
January 10, 2008 at 11:39 am
Agreed that the line will be-Dean Sears: Upon advise given to me from subordinates, (no longer in employ) I authorized a “correction”
Were the players in this little drama not known for machinations…who knows….maybe that explanation flies….but here in Morgantown we know better!!
Perhaps Dean Sear has already given his resignation to Boss Hogg pending the need to have someone fall on the sword….perhaps Sears finds a golden parachute type job at a Mylan owned/operated company….perhaps there are even a couple more well-monied locals stirring the pot….not mentioned here yet….what is Coury’s relationship in these events? ….hell, what is his relationship to the daughter?
All the above happening with the endgame yet to play out….but this much is certain; MicroJoe’s “plausiable deniability” on Hoppys ahow today was laughable…he is genuinely worried….Puskar has become surely and reckless and “friends” are searching for ways to distance themselves….except Garrison, who has no other patron of any big league clout…. the PPPG is not about to let this go away.
Lang’s not taking the bullet….he knows where the bodies are buried from Gee since. Coury has been a target of major stockholders since the announcement of the Merck deal…LOL, it is my understanding that he has even gone as far as taking his nameplate off his door in the labyrynth at SouthPoint!!
Here in Morgantown, this is nothing more than the bloodsport played every day in the hallowed halls of WVU….but finally, somebody left the door cracked…
January 10, 2008 at 11:46 am
Not to mention serious problems with investment firms who score Mylan stock. I’d have serious trouble recommending it to my clients (were I, you know, a broker) because it’s a firm that (1) is probably in over its head with the Merck deal and (2) has a COO who doesn’t have an MBA. Say what you will about MBAs, but most executives have one or, at least, don’t lie about it.
January 10, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Heather “Veruca Salt” Bresch - “Daddy, I want a goose that lays golden eggs, and a high paying pharmaceutical job and an MBA from WVU!”
Daddy Manchin- “Yes dear. I promise no one will find out.”
January 10, 2008 at 3:42 pm
College graduates and MBA holders are hardly the average person in W.Va., Jay. I wonder if the dearth of mainstream coverage is because this is in West Virginia involving W.Va. folk. If it were Harvard or Yale, it would be everywhere. Of course, those schools give degrees to people whose families have one (such as George W.), so they sold integrity a long time ago.
January 10, 2008 at 4:04 pm
“I think it entirely likely that no one knows what happened with Bresch except maybe some low-ranking staff member who may not even be at the university by now.”
Buglady - are you for real? Perhaps you are the nom de guerre for Ms. Bresch?
You are looking at this from the wrong perspective (bottoms up). This is situation that was created from the top down and is precisely why the HK blog is on fire. If anybody but you thought for a moment that this was simply a clerical error then there is no story to report.
Why does anybody else even need to know what happened with Bresch? She knows for herself and is on record as saying she has her degree in spirt of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. My guess is she needs 10 mg Ambiens at the moment.
January 10, 2008 at 4:14 pm
The proof that Bresch and/or WVU is acting improperly is their mutual refusals to release Bresch’s transcripts. WVU says that her right to privacy prevents them from releasing the transcripts, but there is no reason she cannot agree to release them.
The fact that she hasn’t so far, and gives no sign that she will, compels the conclusion that the transcript will show that she did not receive credit for these classes (for whatever reason), and that in spite of this knowledge, she has maintained for 10 years that she has an MBA.
I don’t usually like the Bush administration argument in favor of wiretapping that if you don’t have anything to hide, what are you worried about?, but in this case, I think that argument demonstrates Bresch’s dilemma.
January 10, 2008 at 4:34 pm
http://www.sportsline.com/columns/story/10569193
January 10, 2008 at 4:52 pm
For my money, you can quit reading the CBS Sportsline story after the first line of the third paragraph:
“In West Virginia, Gov. Joe Manchin comes off as a jock-sniffing meddler ….”
The writer backs up his description in the following paragraphs, but trust me, that sentence says it all.
Which prompts a question: if West Virginia is supposed to be such a great Goddamn place to live, why does Manchin spend as little time as possible here?
January 10, 2008 at 5:10 pm
After Manchin’s BS, non-committal interview with Fluffy this morning and the news update on it I just heard from SSSShhhhauna Johnson, I think the story will heat up a little in the mainstream press.
January 10, 2008 at 5:20 pm
“At the very most, they’ll take Bresch’s degree away and apologize for the mess. And it will work.”
– Mylan also has to worry about shareholder suits. Once this comes to a head, shareholders will blame Heather’s lack of credentials for every problem the company might have. This isn’t something that will go away with anything less than full vindication for Heather - which probably won’t happen.
January 10, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Since we are all sharing the love about our jackass of a Governor and his spawn… I mean, does anyone really take them seriously? Neither is qualified or doing a particularly good job for whom they work.
Like father, like daughter. They both have shit on their noses to get where they are. And I doubt either has been able to dodge bending over a time or two.
“West Virginia is Open for Business.” Christ, when I hear or read this it makes me physically ill. Give me an example of ANY business Jackass Joe has brought to our state? Hell, how could he… he and his lisp-spewing better half are too busy bouncing from vacation to vacation on the WV tax payer’s dime. Ah hell, what am I saying… they come home long enough for Joe to get in front of a camera and make a fool of himself and then run home to watch himself on one of the many flat screen TVs, while he’s sitting in the hot-tub contemplating where he wants to take his next vacation.
Why am I so hard on Jackass Joe, you ask? I don’t know… maybe it’s because the SOB says a prayer to Allah or whomever the fuck he prays to at night for Senator Byrd’s demise so he’ll have a better excuse to stay away from this state.
Rant over. Sorry HK, this one kinda got away from me.
January 10, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Great rant, though. Poor Mojo, though. He wanted so badly to be Hillary’s running mate … and then she did a background check on him. Nice knowin’ ya, Joe.
January 11, 2008 at 3:38 am
Hilary would eat him as a fucking snack.
And I pay for front row seats and possibly do a few favors of my own just to watch.
January 11, 2008 at 9:12 am
“Buglady - are you for real? Perhaps you are the nom de guerre for Ms. Bresch?”
Yes I am for real, and speaking from experience dealing with WVU administrative and business offices. It might be more parsimonious to assume that this coverup came from the top down. But the kind of epic incompetence necessary to either lose 22 credits worth of course work or lose someone’s records entirely is absolutely plausible at WVU.
I just put this out there as an alternative explanation, but today’s PPG article outlining the contents of top admin’s emails makes it pretty clear that the cover-up did come from the top down. So it appears that their incompetence was exceeded by their hubris.
January 11, 2008 at 9:24 am
These are the same people (Governor and college Pres) who claim that Promise students can easily stay in WV after graduation and find a decent job so they don’t have to pay back their scholarships. Yeah, I can see a Biology major working at the Toyota plant or something. Maybe they should just give EVERYONE a degree for free like they did Joe’s daughter. That’d save a lot of Promise money.
January 11, 2008 at 10:17 am
I’m beginning to think that they are chipping away at the Promise Scholarship so that they ca do away with the poker machines. Promise has been successful and is funded many times over each year, yet they continue to tinker with it as if there is a problem.
January 11, 2008 at 11:50 am
In reading the Gazette and the Daily Mail today, it appears the backlash has already started.
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2008011033
http://www.dailymail.com/News/statenews/200801110227