In a first meeting after controversial legislation removed faculty, staff and students as voting members of higher education boards of governors, the governing board at West Virginia University dramatically changed its top leadership.
In a meeting marked by comments about ongoing discord, board members voted 9-6 for Diversified Energy Chief Rusty Hutson to be the new board chair rather than the current chairman, Martinsburg attorney Rick Pill.
Votes for Hutson included: himself, Bray Cary, Michael D’Annunzio, Elmer Coppoolse, Terry Hauser, Alan Larrick, Paul Mattox, Steve Ruby and Charles Wilfong.
Votes for Pill were: himself, Charlie Capito, Kevin Craig, Patrice Harris, Susan Lavenski, Bob Reynolds
Pill’s term on the board is up at the end of this month, as are terms for businessman Bray Cary and attorney Alan Larrick. Gov. Patrick Morrisey could either reappoint them to the board or go in a different direction.
After Pill’s nomination to continue as chairman was voted down, vice chair Patrice Harris announced that she would decline her own nomination to continue in her role. Instead, Harris nominated the current secretary, businessman Bob Reynolds, to be the vice chair. No one else was nominated, so Reynolds got the role.
There was then a little confusion about who to nominate for secretary. Charlie Capito and Susan Lavenski were asked if they would consider serving in that role but declined. Paul Mattox, former state secretary of transportation, was nominated and selected.
This shuffling has happened during a period of change at West Virginia University. This was the last meeting for President Gordon Gee, who is departing this month. New President Michael Benson is poised to start.
Hutson, in a short address to the board, said the the university is going through change and that the board also needs a change, especially for greater openness and transparency.
“You know, I think we as a university are very crucial time. I think we have big financial challenges ahead, and we have a new president coming in. I think there’s a lot of things that are going to change moving forward,” he said.
“I think we need to make a change as a board and to move in a different direction that’s more transparent, get more involvement with all the board members, and to move this thing in a different direction going forward.”
Pill had made a case that the moment calls for someone with time to devote and the experience of having been in leadership already.
“I’ve made that commitment and I’m willing to make that commitment again,” he said, noting that he has been on the board for seven years and served in almost every capacity.
Frankie Tack, a departing faculty representative who supported Pill, said that the nomination of someone to challenge the current chair must have meaning.
“I guess there’s a sort of elephant in the living room here by implication that if another person’s being nominated for chair, that there’s an implication that the current chair who by practice has been nominated and elected for a second consecutive year by practice for a long, long time is serving ineffectively,” she said.
Hutson responded, “It’s about whether I feel like I can add value to a very challenging time moving forward that my skillset may be different than what I feel Rick’s is.
“It has nothing to do whether I think Rick’s done the best job or I could do the best job. It has to do with the way I feel like the board can be managed going forward and the challenges and the issues that I believe are going to be on the horizon.”
The representatives for faculty, staff and students each verbally expressed support for Pill, but they did not have the power to vote.
Tack, during an annual faculty report that was presented earlier in the meeting, was critical of factions that have resulted in conflict “plaguing this board.”
She said the membership of the board has changed and “this year, the board has weathered an array of dysfunctional practices.”
“If there are attempts to nominate officers other than those BOG members the nominating committee has vetted and voted to bring forward to this board, you will know a power grab is being attempted,” Tack said during her remarks toward the beginning of the meeting.
Gee also made reference to board conflict during his last remarks as president: “For the first time since I’ve been here, we have divisions on our board.”
“Divisions are unhealthy,” Gee said. “I make a plea to all of you today to think about the fact that the university is more important than you.”