DegreeGate Update

The Associated Press is among those reporting on the latest development, a press release issued Tuesday by West Virginia University outlining the scope of the recently announced review.

"Specifically, the panel is to ascertain whether Ms. Bresch earned her eMBA degree in 1998," the statement from WVU Provost Gerald Lang said. "Were the records of all students handled appropriately in 1998 and 2007? Was Ms. Bresch treated differently than other similarly situated students in the eMBA program in 1998 or in 2007?"

In detailing the scope, Lang also addresses persisting questions about the independence of the three-member investigative panel.

"Since the accuracy of a WVU degree is at issue, it is only right that WVU faculty investigate the matter at their own institution as they do for any other curricular issues," Lang says in the release. "It is the faculty who know what to look for as they have a knowledge and history of administrative processes.”

Lang later elaborated to Vicki Smith, the AP's Morgantown correspondent, while promising the probe would be "fair and honest."

"I think everyone is very comfortable with these individuals and confident that a fair and honest review will occur," he told AP. "The people that have been appointed have been appointed with the support and endorsement of Faculty Senate leadership. I think they will do what they need to do."

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which first questioned Bresch's degree, follows up today regarding whether any records exist to support the retroactive award.

"When asked what records showed Ms. Bresch completed her degree, Mr. Lang replied, 'I don't know,'" the Post-Gazette reports. "School officials said the degree was awarded 'after much research' by the business school."

The article then notes that those researchers would have included Dean R. Stephen Sears, whose chair as head of the College of Business and Economics is endowed by Milan Puskar. Besides being Bresch's boss at Mylan Inc., Puskar is a longtime ally and donor of her father, Gov. Joe Manchin.