MORGANTOWN -- Students, faculty and residents assembled Monday afternoon on the Mountainlair Plaza to voice their opinion that West Virginia University President Mike Garrison should resign.
Organized by the student group Mountaineers for a New Administration, the rally was attended by about 200 people, according to Mark Brazaitis, an English professor who was one of about 20 of those attending to deliver a speech.
"He has disgraced the students who acquire their degrees the old-fashioned my: By actually earning them," Brazaitis said. "He has humiliated the professors who rightfully view their contract with students as sacred. He has made a laughingstock of West Virginia University, which West Virginians across the state and WVU gradustes across the state hold sacred."
"Mike Garrison needs to resign. He needs to resign now," Brazaitis said.
Cindy Frich, a former member of the House of Delegates, also addressed the crowd
"There is a cloud above us this spring day. A dark and threatening cloud has shrouded West Virginia University, stirring storms of dissatisfied faculty," Frich said.
Brazaitis commended Frich on what he called her bravery to step up.
"So many other politicians have been reticent for reasons I don't understand," he said after the rally.
Jesse Johnson, the Mountain Party gubernatorial candidate, also in attendance.
Organizers Kevin Patrick and Timothy Cooper said they were pleased with how the event proceeded.
"It was only the second forum in which students were allowed to speak, so it really stood out in that way," Patrick said.
An invitation to the rally was extended to Garrison, but he declined, according to Patrick.
While some attendants supported Garrison, no one spoke publicly in his defense, Patricji said. |
Staff Writer Billy Wolfe can be reached at 626-1404 or by e-mail at bwolfe@exponent-telegram.com