LETTER TO THE EDITOR: State senator says WVU is not our call

Dear Editor,

When it comes to hiring a college administrator there is great national debate about hiring an administrator from academia or someone outside the educational community.

West Virginia University has chosen to hire its last two presidents from outside academia. That is the basic reason President Garrison has come under fire from the WVU Faculty Senate (which did not support him in the first place). The WVU Board of Governors hired him and is supporting him in the current controversy over awarding an MBA to Ms. Bresch.

I liken this situation to hiring a county superintendent of schools. Should the local board of education hire the superintendent or should the faculty hire the superintendent? Of course the teachers' union would rather make that decision.

However, school administrators should be just that, administrators. In all I have read about the Bresch situation I have not read anything which would lead me to believe that Mr. Garrison is not a good administrator.

Though I am a lifelong conservative Republican, I do not believe the chairman of the Republican party in West Virginia should make this a party issue. The chairman is elected by a majority of members of the state executive committee. I am sure there are many members of that committee who feel as I do that, as a party, we should stay out of this issue.

Sincerely,
Frank Deem
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Deem is state senator from Wood County.)