July 01, 2008
Like we didn't know this already, but now it's confirmed: Mr. Garrison testified that although he stepped down from his post, he did not resign, a distinction apparently designed to give him the option of remaining at the university for...
I live in the most socially conservative state in the country. Goody for me....
June 27, 2008
Earlier this week Charles Vest, President Emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was named to the BOG. The new member announced today is a former WVU and Houston Oilers' QB, Oliver Luck. He's currently President/General Manager of the Houston...
June 17, 2008
I noted earlier that the biggest bit of drama at the state's Democratic convention last week was the defeat of the state party's treasurer. That fight (which the incumbent treasurer lost decisively at in the state party's executive committee, though...
June 08, 2008
She read about it in the local paper in Florida yesterday. I explained the broad outline and her response was: "Well, it's a shame when one person can horse-ass up the reputation of the entire place." Indeed it is, mom,...
June 06, 2008
At the Board of Governors meeting this morning, President Garrison announced he would stay in his position through September 1. Now It's time to clean up the mess, and move forward to rehabilitate WVU's reputation....
His resignation will take effect on Sept. 1....
June 05, 2008
The other day I was talking to a neighbor about the Garrison/Bresch scandal, and I said that this whole thing made me feel like we were having the George Bush/he's either corrupt or incompetent discussion all over again. Turns out...
May 22, 2008
People always move on from college towns. And in my years here, several of my close friends, some of whom were otherwise very happy with life in Morgantown, have left because of their dissatisfaction with the management of the university...
May 15, 2008
Interesting.Gov. Joe Manchin's daughter, Heather Bresch, was being considered for at least two posts on advisory boards for West Virginia University about the time her academic credentials came into question. Last fall Bresch was being considered as a potential member...
May 13, 2008
Miles Layton buried the lead in his story in today's Dominion-Post on the climate of fear that's come to exist at WVU. It's well known that those friendly to the Goodwin/Garrison side of things have been putting pressure on certain...
May 12, 2008
Clueless barely begins to describe it. Faculty wanting to voice their frustrations with our clueless monarch are strongly encouraged to come to the special Faculty Assembly being held at 1:30 on Wed. at the Creative Arts Center. I fear turnout...
May 09, 2008
And 45% of likely Democratic primary voters in WV say there's no way they'd vote for Obama in the fall....
May 07, 2008
A bold move, no? Love this picture. Accompanying story here....
May 05, 2008
Some of these are repeating from comments, but these are the relevant stories covering the WVU Faculty Senate vote that recommended that WVU President Garrison resign: The basic news blurb from our local AM talk radio station. Commentary from one...
Or thereabouts. Either he writes quickly or he had this prepared before the faculty vote. Since my appointment as President of WVU, I have worked with hundreds of students, faculty members, and staff who have stepped forward to address the...
"The WVU Faculty Senate has voted to call on WVU President Mike Garrison to resign "for the good of the institution" as a result of the Heather Bresch scandal. The motion passed 77 to 19 with one abstention during a...
Pardon me while I bang my head against the wall. Mike Garrison still says he has no way of knowing if Bresch earned her degree or not? Was I imagining it when he said he accepted the Bresch report -...
May 02, 2008
Now picked up in the Economist. HT...
April 29, 2008
Courtesy of the commentariat at The Fifth Column... this has been the best chatter anywhere on the Garrison dealio. Matt Vester is the anti-Kevin Leyden. Hey, it's not just faculty, students and alumni getting the shaft. Independent voters are...
A proposed new slogan for West Virginia University I just overheard in the coffee shop....
April 27, 2008
Provost Lang has submitted his resignation in response to the report on the Bresch scandal. Interesting wording ("privilege" twice in the first paragraph) and replay (all he's done for WVU). Doesn't sound very penitent. I wonder if this will be...
April 26, 2008
This fine alum posts on the intemperance of "radical" professors (emphasis mine): As I read the host of negative comments toward President Garrison I was reminded why, as West Virginians we are constantly defending our position in society. Some West...
April 25, 2008
The report investigating the controversial awarding of an advanced degree to Gov. Manchin's (D-WV) daughter is out - and it is scathing. The response so far? Well, among other things the usual critics of President Garrison are promising to propose...
April 13, 2008
That's the way things look according to the reports at West Virginia Blue. And that was certainly the case here in Mon county. As West Virginia's delegates are alotted according to the outcome of the primary election it's not clear...
April 11, 2008
Fyi, the Spring movie I've most been wanting to see has finally made it to town....
April 09, 2008
Here's a primer. It's complicated.Key dates to keep in mind in the near term are this coming Saturday, when the counties are holding their conventions to choose delegates for the state convention in June, and April 22, which is the...
April 03, 2008
I won't be able to go as I have other plans, but it looks like there's a fun collection of bloggers in Morgantown for a panel tonight....
April 01, 2008
So I got an update from Project Vote Smart about what the legislature was up to in its last meeting. Among the highlights (or lowlights) - it made the driving privileges of teens dependent on their school attendance and grades....
March 21, 2008
Interesting. Today through my office building copies of a sheet of paper have been taped up and posted. The paper details Obama's supposed flip-flops on NAFTA (with a reference to the debunked AP/Canada story), supposed flip-flops on troop withdrawals (with...
Not that I am opposed to catching criminals, but I find it awfully interesting that suddenly Morgantown is a hotbed of federal investigation into two criminal rings, one for drugs and another for prostitution....
There really does need to be better signage there that shows that both lanes can turn left. I've thought that for a long time, and the screech and ca-chunk I heard behind me there this morning reminded me of the...
March 16, 2008
Everyone else has heard about Rep. Kern, but we've got ugly in our backyard too. Makes me want to break out the brokeback mountaineer shirts I had ready to go when Fr*d Ph%lps was planning a protest here....
March 13, 2008
How the hell did that happen? Well, Joe Alexander scored a career-high 34 points, but still ... that was unexpected. I presume Georgetown will crush the Mountaineers tomorrow. But then I expected the Huskies to win today, so maybe I...
March 08, 2008
" At age 107, there's not much the war veteran, POW and West Virginia farmer hasn't seen..."...
March 06, 2008
The congressman from coal country, the chairman of the House Resources Committee, has come out in support of Sen. Obama. He becomes, after Sen. Rockefeller, the second member of West Virginia's congressional delegation to endorse the senator from Illinois....
February 26, 2008
Moon passed this along to me. What's Julianne Moore's next movie going to be about? Why in-bred West Virginians of course. A movie about to be filmed in Pittsburgh is casting Gothic characters - including an albino-like girl and deformed...
February 21, 2008
So that RSX that got flipped on Cornell Ave. yesterday - guess where it was registered? Now I should note that it wasn't the car's owner who was driving it, and perhaps the driver wasn't from New Jersey. But it...
February 20, 2008
For anyone in town who likes political commentary, fyi, Arianna Huffington will be speaking in the Mountainlair Ballroom on the 29th....
February 14, 2008
It was a horrible day at Northern Illinois. And it brings to mind something that annoys me no end about West Virginia University. WVU is currently spending who knows how much money on a building spree, building new buildings and...
January 31, 2008
And they are: Marion G. Crain of the University of North Carolina School of Law; Mary J. Davis of the University of Kentucky College of Law; H. Marshall Jarrett of the U.S. Department of Justice; Joyce E. McConnell of the...
January 27, 2008
It's fairly late to be jumping into a congressional race, but with John Unger suddenly dropping out the race the Democrats needed a new candidate in WV-2, and they now have one with excellent political connections. Whether those will be...
January 26, 2008
Looks like West Virginia won't have a single interesting congressional race this year, now that state senator John Unger (D) has dropped his challenge to Rep. Shelley Capito (R)....
January 24, 2008
Two legislators from Raleigh County have filed to run against Joe Manchin. Sen. Russ Weeks (R) and Del. Mel Kessler will both face very long odds given that Manchin is one of the most popular governors in the country....
January 03, 2008
And yes, it's exactly who you'd think we'd hire the day after humiliating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl....
December 17, 2007
While our current coach packs his bags to begin a career that'll hopefully involve many losses to the Buckeyes, talk is building about who'll replace him. The Daily Mail describes likely candidates here. Out of those I'd say Doc Holliday...
December 06, 2007
Given our state's history it seems appropriate to note the anniversary of the worst mining disaster in our country's history. The next time you hear an argument about how bad unions, regulations, and limiting big business are, keep in mind...
November 24, 2007
From the AP: Pat White has No. 4 West Virginia on the brink of playing for a national championship.White rushed for 186 yards and accounted for three touchdowns to lead the Mountaineers to a 66-21 win over No. 20 Connecticut...
November 07, 2007
But I prefer to think happy thoughts... Confetti, right? Nature's confetti?...
October 25, 2007
David Kirkpatrick took to the pages of the school paper today to press for faculty to be more responsive to students. Next up he'll no doubt argue on behalf of puppies, mothers and America. But even in the midst of...
October 20, 2007
Something to add to the list of things I've recently learned about West Virginia: If you are convicted of involuntary manslaughter the maximum sentence you can receive is one year in jail....
October 10, 2007
So I am not an expert on the practices and ethics of judges recusing themselves. But this story on a major case before the West Virginia Supreme Court did make me wonder - Should judges hear cases involving close friends?...
October 06, 2007
I'm betting you already knew the answer was no....
October 03, 2007
Because I can't be the only person who's rather bored with the milieu of my current place, and I am all too often reminded of Cartman's dream when I go there. Only three more hours, sea people. Only three more...
September 27, 2007
In the mail today I received a notice that my "voter registration will be marked as inactive and cancelled" if I don't send in an enclosed postcard with my name, address, phone, date of birth and driver's license number. Identity...
September 18, 2007
The cover of the DA is today emblazoned with the kind of story that'll get our law school mocked throughout the country. The building is being remodeled/redecorated, and the new rule is you can't take any drink into the redone...
September 16, 2007
While we here know about "mountain top removal" (ah, the euphimism), seeing it is something else entirely. I found this set of videos via Dark Daughta. Episode One, Mountain Top Removal: All of the episodes here (in the right hand...
September 12, 2007
The case of Megan Williams, who was found after being tortured and raped for a week by six people (some of whom had been her "friends") has reached the national press. This horrific crime was committed by six white people...
September 11, 2007
That abomination of "Open for Business" has sparked enough controversy to get Governor Manchin to run a survey for a new state slogan for signs. CAST YOUR VOTE HERE For the record, I submitted "Wild and Wonderful." And stay tuned,...
August 20, 2007
West Virginia University, number one party school....
July 24, 2007
Part One and Part Two of Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Byrd's speech about dog fighting. Fourth in line....
July 09, 2007
Interesting. And Obama is in dead heats with the two Republicans in the Mountaineer state. For a little perspective on these numbers, Bush beat Kerry here by about 13 points. If the Republicans are at risk in a state like...
June 22, 2007
Right now one of the most contentious issues in the state is a plan to build a new set of gigantic transmission lines that will run through West Virginia on their way to carry electricity to the East Coast. This...
June 20, 2007
...but West Virginia sure has the failure part going on. Hat tip to Alabama Ass Whuppin....
June 17, 2007
The New Yorker has a depressing profile of the man behind the Taguba report. It's worth a look.By the way, the article also mentions Gen. Bantz Craddock a few times. As he is a WVU graduate it seems entirely possible...
June 14, 2007
Did any of the rest of you know that there's a guy in B&E who writes on political economy issues dealing with pirates?...
May 16, 2007
In the mail today arrived the health newsletter sent to all those on the state insurance plan. Generally it is full of useless tidbits and bland advice about various healthy living items. Presumably, the prevention advice will save the subscribers...
May 15, 2007
As some of you may be aware Allegheny Power is trying to get more power to the East Coast, not by building power plants there, but by building a gigantic set line of huge power lines that will cut across...
April 22, 2007
If I was ruling the world those things would be banned. If only we still had some Cold War conservatives around to remind their right-wing brethern that the whole concept smacks of Soviet all-powerful state tactics. But you know if...
April 18, 2007
I asked because apparently there's no chapter of Drinking Liberally in the state of West Virginia....
April 14, 2007
While in DC this week, the free Washington Post the hotel delivered to my room brought me this gem: But best-in-show honors went to Byrd, who, in a statement notable for its breadth, explained why his eyes had been closed...
April 13, 2007
The WVU Board of Governors moved today (April 13) that Michael S. "Mike" Garrison, managing member of the Morgantown office of Spilman Thomas & Battle PLLC, be the next president of WVU following consent of the West Virginia Higher...
April 06, 2007
Later this month the residents of our little town can go to the polls to vote for the city council. If the feel like it. But they shouldn't feel any pressure to. After all, there is only one candidate in...
Turns out the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys may have been affected by a rare genetic disorder: The most infamous feud in American folklore, the long-running battle between the Hatfields and McCoys, may be partly explained by a rare,...
April 01, 2007
Am I the only one who finds it kind of funny that the federal appeals court court judge (Judge King) who's leading the anti-Mike Garrison forces - discussing the possibility of inside deals and an old (and young) boys network...