What is West Virginia University trying to hide?

The public institution, funded by taxpayer dollars, has a long way to go in answering questions surrounding the Heather Bresch case.

Broken by the Post-Gazette three months ago, the story involves whether Ms. Bresch, an executive with Mylan Inc. and the daughter of West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, fulfilled the requirements for a master's degree in business administration from the university and how WVU determined that she had.

At first the university said she did not have an MBA, then days later it reversed itself. In the meantime, the Post-Gazette learned that in order to grant Ms. Bresch's MBA, which ostensibly was earned in 1998, the university retroactively added six classes to her academic record and affixed grades for two other classes for which the student had received "incompletes."

Along the way, it became apparent that Ms. Bresch's paper-based student file in the business school was missing and that officials found no record of her having paid for the classes that were added last fall. Her name also was not listed on class rosters for five of the six added courses.

Since the case became public, no senior university official has come forth to speak candidly about it, including President Michael Garrison, who is a high school classmate and former business associate of Ms. Bresch. The provost appointed an investigative panel to review how he and other administrators concluded that Ms. Bresch completed the degree requirements. He said he will release a summary of the panel's findings to the public and the panel's report to the faculty senate.

We see no reason why the public should not receive the full report, but WVU's track record on disclosure and transparency has been abysmal.

The Post-Gazette had to file requests under West Virginia's Freedom of Information Act for records in the case. The university's responses, however, have been tardy, incomplete and disingenuous.

For instance, requests for cell-phone records produced a document showing only the total charge for the month's service, and no details on calls made or received. Other records sought, like e-mails and the university president's appointment book, were either denied or heavily blacked out on the claim that they fall under the "internal deliberations" exemption of state law. And many of the "documents" turned over by WVU were only reprints of news stories.

Given this clear pattern of obfuscation, the Post-Gazette had no choice but to file notice that it intends to sue WVU for violations of the state open records law.

Still, the university's general counsel, Alex Macia, had the audacity to tell The Associated Press that "Obviously we firmly believe in the right for the public to know."

If that were true, WVU would release the records it is keeping locked up by citing the "internal deliberations" exemption. The law is very clear on that -- while it does not require the release of documents on internal deliberations, it does not prohibit their disclosure either.

In reality, there's nothing at all "obvious" about WVU's belief in the right to know. The only way it will become obvious is if it discloses the documents, as required or allowed by law, and begins to provide answers about the Bresch case.

With every week, with every month that the university stonewalls, the people of West Virginia and the students who come from far and near, including many from the Pittsburgh region, lose faith in this public institution. Only a full and open accounting will clear the air over Morgantown.