WVU sued over scandal involving Mylan executive’s degree

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The former chief academic officer at West Virginia University, pressured into resigning over a master's degree wrongly awarded to the governor's daughter, is now suing the school.

Ex-Provost Gerald Lang wants the details of his complaint kept secret. It was filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court on Tuesday and sealed by Judge Susan B. Tucker, whose indefinite order also covers exhibits. She has scheduled a hearing for March 9.

Heather Bresch, daughter of Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin and an executive at Pennsylvania-based Mylan Inc., was retroactively awarded an executive master's of business administration in October 2007 that a panel of independent investigators later concluded she hadn't earned.

The investigators said Lang, former business school dean R. Stephen Sears and others added missing courses and grades to her transcript, showing "seriously flawed judgment" in their rush to protect Bresch and themselves from media scrutiny.

Named as defendants in Lang's lawsuit are WVU's Board of Governors, interim President Peter Magrath, two WVU attorneys and Marjorie A. McDiarmid, who heads the Office of Academic Integrity. McDiarmid was ordered last May to investigate whether additional discipline of academic officers is appropriate, but those proceedings are confidential.

The complaint sought a writ of prohibition, a legal tactic used when a state official or agency is accused of abusing its authority. The specific allegations, however, are unclear.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said it will challenge Tucker's decision and demand that all proceedings be open.

"The Constitution requires that, with limited exceptions, court filings and proceedings be open to the public," newspaper attorney Fritz Byers said in Thursday's editions. "This principle is of special importance where, as here, the suit involves claims of official misconduct."

WVU officials said they will file their response with the court, and typically, defendants have 30 days to respond.

"The judge ordered the complaint sealed at the request of Dr. Lang's attorney; it is not WVU's place to ask that it be unsealed," spokeswoman Becky Lofstead told The Associated Press today.

Because the situation involves litigation and personnel issues, the university won't comment further, she said.

Lang declined the AP's request for comment today, and his attorney, J. Michael Benninger, is out of the country until March 16, a secretary at his law firm said.

Bresch, a longtime friend of then-President Mike Garrison, works for Mylan chairman Milan Puskar, one of WVU's biggest donors.

The panel's report was harshest on Lang and Sears, who it said had no academic foundation for their actions. But Lang defended his conduct at the time, saying he made the best decision possible with incomplete data.

Audits have since revealed that between 1997 and 2008, WVU issued 288 undergraduate and master's degrees despite credit-hour deficiencies or other discrepancies in academic records. Of those, 27 were eMBAs.

Bresch, who insists she earned her degree with work-experience credit in her final semester, has demanded WVU explain how her case was any different. She announced her intention to "revisit my options," but has not sued.

The investigators did not conclude Bresch did anything wrong in seeking clarification of her situation. Nor did it directly fault Garrison, who also resigned under pressure.

The report did, however, cite a failure of leadership at high levels within the administration and suggested there was pressure from Lang and "representatives of the president's office" to accommodate Bresch.

Lang took a leave of absence but returned to work in January at WVU's research and economic development office, earning a salary of $221,867 - about $20,000 less than he made as provost.

Others involved in the scandal, including Garrison's chief of staff, general counsel and communications officer, were either demoted or left the university.