Two high ranking West Virginia University administrators who resigned in the wake of a degree scandal involving the governor's daughter have returned to teaching - and some WVU teachers don't want them there.
Two high ranking West Virginia University administrators who resigned in the wake of a degree scandal involving the governor's daughter have returned to teaching - and some WVU teachers don't want them there.
"There's some strong sentiment that their stepping down into these cushy teaching positions [where salaries are] considerably higher than what most people make is no punishment at all," said English professor Mark Brazaitis. "It is a slap on the wrist."
WVU Provost Gerald Lang and Stephen Sears, dean of the College of Business and Economics, resigned last month after an investigation found them most at fault for the award of an unearned master's degree to Heather Bresch, Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter.
Lang and Sears are tenured faculty members at WVU, meaning their teaching jobs are essentially guaranteed except under extraordinary circumstances. They will return to teaching after their resignations officially take effect on June 30.
As faculty members, Lang will earn nearly $200,000 and Sears will earn nearly $160,000.
"Most of us who are professors are not in this to make money. This is not why we were motivated to do this," said Brazaitis, a member of the group Mountaineers for Integrity and Responsibility, which was formed after WVU President Mike Garrison refused to resign over the scandal.
"We are interested in the students, research and the life and the mind of scholarship. To an extent, most of us did not consider making huge salaries when we joined this profession," he said. "I think the notion that they are going to fly into these big paying teaching slots is disconcerting to a lot of us."
In 2007, Lang earned $243,447.90 and Sears earned $212,187.50, according to the state auditor's office.
Lang, who has been with WVU for more than 30 years, is a tenured professor in the biology department. He was named provost in 1997 by then-WVU President David Hardesty.
According to Lang's contract, as a professor, he will earn about $199,627, or about 82 percent of his current salary.
The average salary of tenured professors in biology at WVU is $82,579 and the average salary of all tenured faculty within the College of Arts and Sciences is $86,845, according to WVU.
Sears became dean of the business school in 2005. Before that, he was senior executive associate dean of the business administration college at Texas Tech University.
According to Sears' contract, his appointment as dean carried with it a tenured position as professor of finance within the College of Business and Economics, with a salary of $159,862.
Two high ranking West Virginia University administrators who resigned in the wake of a degree scandal involving the governor's daughter have returned to teaching - and some WVU teachers don't want them there.
"There's some strong sentiment that their stepping down into these cushy teaching positions [where salaries are] considerably higher than what most people make is no punishment at all," said English professor Mark Brazaitis. "It is a slap on the wrist."
WVU Provost Gerald Lang and Stephen Sears, dean of the College of Business and Economics, resigned last month after an investigation found them most at fault for the award of an unearned master's degree to Heather Bresch, Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter.
Lang and Sears are tenured faculty members at WVU, meaning their teaching jobs are essentially guaranteed except under extraordinary circumstances. They will return to teaching after their resignations officially take effect on June 30.
As faculty members, Lang will earn nearly $200,000 and Sears will earn nearly $160,000.
"Most of us who are professors are not in this to make money. This is not why we were motivated to do this," said Brazaitis, a member of the group Mountaineers for Integrity and Responsibility, which was formed after WVU President Mike Garrison refused to resign over the scandal.
"We are interested in the students, research and the life and the mind of scholarship. To an extent, most of us did not consider making huge salaries when we joined this profession," he said. "I think the notion that they are going to fly into these big paying teaching slots is disconcerting to a lot of us."
In 2007, Lang earned $243,447.90 and Sears earned $212,187.50, according to the state auditor's office.
Lang, who has been with WVU for more than 30 years, is a tenured professor in the biology department. He was named provost in 1997 by then-WVU President David Hardesty.
According to Lang's contract, as a professor, he will earn about $199,627, or about 82 percent of his current salary.
The average salary of tenured professors in biology at WVU is $82,579 and the average salary of all tenured faculty within the College of Arts and Sciences is $86,845, according to WVU.
Sears became dean of the business school in 2005. Before that, he was senior executive associate dean of the business administration college at Texas Tech University.
According to Sears' contract, his appointment as dean carried with it a tenured position as professor of finance within the College of Business and Economics, with a salary of $159,862.
The average salary of tenured professors in economics and finance at WVU is $116,860; the average salary of tenured faculty within the entire business college is $127,949, according to WVU.
Not everyone thinks Lang and Sears should keep their teaching jobs.
"The resignations of Lang and Sears are important first steps, but the Faculty Senate should begin the process of revoking their tenured appointments for severe academic misconduct," former WVU professor Kevin Outterson said in an e-mail earlier this month.
Outterson, an associate professor of law at Boston University, is a former president of WVU's Faculty Senate.
"Normally, it is the Provost who initiates cases to revoke tenure," Outterson said. "In this case the WVU Faculty Senate should take the lead. Senior academic officers who fabricate grades should not remain tenured professors teaching our students."
In their report released last month, a five-member panel investigating the controversy found that high-ranking university administrators "cherry-picked" information and pulled credit "from thin air" to grant Bresch the degree nearly 10 years after she was to graduate.
The panel concluded administrators lacked documentation to prove Bresch's claims that she substituted work experience for her final credit hours, relied too heavily on verbal assertions and caved to political pressure.
Brazaitis said Lang's and Sears' tenure is something Mountaineers for Integrity and Responsibility will address "as soon as Mr. Garrison steps down or is fired."
He noted that some faculty look at Lang's and Sears' involvement in the scandal "as a case of obedience to authority" and say they should be welcomed back into the university.
At a WVU Faculty Senate meeting on May 5, Boyd Edwards, physics professor and president of MIR, commended Lang and Sears for accepting responsibility for their role in the dispute and for stepping down.
"We welcome them wholeheartedly into our faculty," he said.
Last week, Garrison tapped E. Jane Martin, former dean of WVU's nursing school, to replace Lang as provost on an interim basis. Martin most recently served as senior adviser to WVU's vice president for health sciences.
To contact staff writer Veronica Nett, use e-mail or call 348-5113.
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