May 7, 2008
 
COMMENTARY: The Triumph of Evil at WVU...And Those Who Combat Evil
 
By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Editor
 
A newspaper where I worked as a reporter and editor beginning six years after graduating from Northern Illinois University in 1961 used as its motto a quote attributed to 18th Century British parliamentarian, philosopher and supporter of American independence Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
 
The "good men" (and women) of West Virginia University -- with the faculty senate's 77 to 19 vote of no confidence in WVU President Mike Garrison -- have spoken. (news link:http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08127/879448-298.stm
 
The Monday, May 5, 2008 resolution is non binding, but its message is loud and clear: It calls on the university's Board of Governors to require that Garrison resign if he does not voluntarily quit.
 
Garrison said in a statement that he won't resign, that he'll continue doing the work the board as asked him to do.
 
WVU mathematics professor Sherman Riemenschneider, one of four sponsors of the resignation motion, said: "If he [Garrison] thinks the faculty is going to lay down, he's in for a surprise."
 
Actually, the Burke quotation used by The Milwaukee Sentinel never existed in that form: Burke (1729-1797) did say something similar that's applicable to WVU in the midst of the Heather Manchin Bresch MBA scandal:
 
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.' -- Edmund Burke: "Thoughts on the Cause of Present Discontents."
 
For those who haven't followed the "present discontents" of the Bresch MBA controversy, the faculty senate vote comes two weeks after a WVU investigative panel concluded that WVU had no basis for awarding a masters of business administration degree retroactively last October to Bresch, the daughter of Gov. Joe Manchin, the chief operating officer of Pennsylvania-based pharmaceutical firm Mylan Inc. and a friend and former business associate of Garrison.
 
The inclusion of my alma mater in the first sentence of this commentary was deliberate. I wanted to assure Huntington News Network readers that I have no bias in favor or against the two major state universities in West Virginia. I respect the fine academic traditions of both West Virginia University and Marshall University and wish both institutions and their supporters, faculty, alumni and students all the best.
 
I'm not an academic, but I'm a veteran of 42 years of journalism who has covered ethical issues in the course of his employment. It's clear -- with the actual Burke quotation in mind -- that the "good must associate" as they have done in the 77-19 vote.
 
Mike Garrison should resign for the good of the state's largest university. He should resign and the healing should commence as soon as possible to rebuild and preserve WVU's integrity.