Michael Garrison is the former president of West Virginia University, succeeded by C. Peter Magrath on August 1, 2008.[1] A graduate of the WVU class of 1992, Garrison was installed as president in October 2007. He earned a J.D. at WVU in 1996 and taught as an adjunct professor in the university's department of Political Science in the years preceding his appointment as president.[2]
Garrison had been managing member of Spilman Thomas & Battle pllc in Morgantown. He served as chief of staff for former governor Bob Wise and as cabinet secretary in the West Virginia Department of Tax and Revenue.[3] He was also a lobbyist and consultant for Mylan, Inc., a generic pharmaceutical corporation with headquarters in Pittsburgh.[4]
Garrison's selection as president was controversial with the university's faculty; the faculty senate voted no confidence in him in April 2007, before the decision to appoint him.[4] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted concerns about his lack of academic experience and the possibility that his inclusion among the finalists was the result of his political connections.[5][6] In addition to his former West Virginia government posts, Garrison is a "family friend and former business associate" of Heather Bresch, daughter of then West Virginia governor Joe Manchin, and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Mylan, Inc.[7]
In 2008 Garrison became embroiled in a scandal involving the granting of an MBA degree to Bresch, who had failed to complete the required credits. A panel led by WVU faculty members produced a report on the incident described by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as criticising the university administration for having made "a 'seriously flawed' decision fraught with favoritism."[7] In May 2008 the faculty senate voted 77-19 to call for Garrison's resignation[8] - a demand repeated by a vote (565-39, with 11 abstentions) open to all WVU faculty at a mass meeting a week later.[9]
On June 6, 2008, Garrison officially announced he would resign as President of the University effective September 1, 2008.[10] In October 2008 a West Virginia grand jury decided not to indict Garrison on criminal charges relating to the degree scandal.[11]
After leaving West Virginia University, Garrison returned to his former law firm, Spilman Thomas & Battle.[12] Garrison's more recent work includes representing natural gas company Northeast Energy in its $42 million suit against the City of Morgantown, West Virginia.[13] Northeast is seeking an injunction against the city, to prevent enforcement of its recent ban on horizontal hydraulic fracking. Morgantown passed its ban after Northeast sited a drill pad near the city's primary drinking-water intake, and the ban and the issue have received increasing press coverage, both locally [14] and even nationally. [15]