MORGANTOWN -- Citing a “climate of fear,” West Virginia University faculty called May 14 for an external review panel to hear reports of retribution for criticizing university administration.

“When my colleagues in hushed voices tell me, quote, they do not want to be seen at this meeting, end quote, then it is time to speak up and speak out,” said Mary Carter, who said she felt some fear at speaking against the administration as an untenured assistant professor in the Department of Community Medicine.

The matter was addressed in one of eight motions raised at a “mass meeting” of more than 600 faculty.

Originally called as a rare University Faculty Assembly to address emerging concerns about administration and governance, the faculty gathering was converted to a mass meeting because a quorum of 908 had not been attained.

Educators spoke of harassment and intimidation in the university community.

“A number of people have heard credible anecdotal accounts of issues related to pressure on faculty, intimidation and so forth, threat of prospective retribution for not supporting the current administration,” said Brian Gerber, an assistant professor in the Division of Public Administration.

“That’s simply not acceptable in my estimation,” Gerber said. “I think that the faculty cannot tolerate that. We need some venue to properly review and adjudicate those claims.”

The discomfort is not restricted to faculty, according to Michael Miller, professor in the Department of Biochemistry.

“I have what I believe is very reliable information that students have been intimidated by very powerful people,” Miller said. “I can’t prove that because they’re terrified. They’re quaking in their shoes.”

Freedom of speech is in jeopardy at West Virginia University, he said.

The motion asking the Faculty Senate to establish a review panel passed in a unanimous voice vote.

Highest on the agenda was a motion to support the call for President Mike Garrison’s resignation passed on May 5 by the Faculty Senate. In a secret ballot, faculty at the mass meeting affirmed their support with 565 voting for, 39 against and 11 abstaining.

The crisis in faculty confidence in Garrison and uncomfortable campus environment under his administration follow an April report finding that senior university officials fabricated grades and credits in order to grant Gov. Joe Manchin’s daughter, Heather Bresch, an MBA she did not earn.

Bresch is a long-time friend of Garrison. She also is chief operating officer for Mylan, Inc. Mylan chairman Milan Puskar is a major contributor to the university.

Four other motions were approved:

• a motion calling for a re-evaluation of the composition of the Board of Governors, the body that oversees university operations and selects the university president;
• a motion for bottom-up rather than top-down processes for filling vacant academic leadership positions.
• a motion asking the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations to establish the nature, legality and consequences for Garrison and staff in awarding the unearned degree;
• a motion calling for, among other things, a new system of checks and balances in university governance.

A motion seeking disciplinary action for faculty engaging in intimidating or threatening behavior, a response to posters found last week on campus, failed under criticism that it was overly broad.

President Garrison issued a statement following the meeting.

“I agree with some of the issues that were raised today,” wrote Garrison in a statement issued after the meeting.

“I strongly agree that there is no place for intimidation of any kind on our campus,” he wrote. “I am a believer in free and open debate and that everyone on this campus has the right to participate in that debate. Any sort of intimidation should be reported.” He added that he has consistently said that he would work with faculty leaders to help express to the governor their desire for additional academic representation on the BOG.

His statement made it clear that he does not intend to resign.

Garrison will report the progress in addressing the conditions leading to the MBA controversy at the BOG’s June 6 annual meeting in Charleston.