CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The resignation of embattled West Virginia University President Mike Garrison yesterday was greeted with relief by his critics and sadness by his supporters, and leaves enough unanswered questions to cause anxiety on both sides of the fence.

Mr. Garrison's announcement that he will leave Sept. 1 culminates six months of turmoil on the school's Morgantown campus over the school's decision to award an M.B.A. degree to the daughter of West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin that she did not earn.

The university disclosed no details of how and when an interim president will be selected and how the search for Mr. Garrison's successor will be conducted. Some of those questions should be answered next month when the board meets to elect its officers for the coming school year.

"We will try to answer those questions in coming days," said Board Chairman Stephen Goodwin, who thanked Mr. Garrison for his "extraordinary service."

"We know our role and will do our role," Mr. Goodwin said.

Faculty, alumni, donors and students held Mr. Garrison responsible for the decision to retroactively award a master's of business administration degree to Mylan Inc. executive Heather Bresch, Mr. Manchin's daughter, even though official WVU records showed she was 22 credits shy of the 48 credits needed.

Ms. Bresch is a longtime friend of Mr. Garrison, who reported to her at one time as a former lobbyist for Mylan Inc., a Cecil-based generic drug maker. Mylan Chairman Milan Puskar is WVU's biggest benefactor.

Ms. Bresch could not be reached for comment yesterday.

A panel appointed to investigate the matter concluded April 23 that Ms. Bresch's transcript was falsified by adding courses she did not register for, pay for or complete. Grades were awarded for those classes, a matter Mr. Garrison has referred to WVU's Office of Academic Integrity.

Yesterday, Mr. Manchin issued a statement saying "it is my sincere hope that all who truly love WVU will appreciate the president's and the board's efforts and will work with them in coming months."

A grass-roots campus group that advocated Mr. Garrison's ouster thanked him for making a tough decision in the best interests of the university. Leaders of Mountaineers for Integrity and Responsibility said they will turn their attention to two other objectives: a more open and transparent search for his replacement and reforming the way West Virginia's state universities are governed.

"Our activities are under much greater scrutiny. ... I think that's largely a good thing," said WVU psychology department Chairman Michael Perone, the group's vice chairman.

Two board members, Washington, D.C., attorney Robert Wells and Morgantown real estate developer Perry Petroplus, criticized the group's activities.

"I thought we were making great strides in shared governance" under Mr. Garrison, Mr. Petroplus told Dr. Perone.

After the panel's report was released, WVU's faculty twice voted for Mr. Garrison's resignation by landslide margins.

Yesterday, the head of the group representing about 3,000 of the university's union employees criticized faculty leaders in a presentation to the board. Terry Nebel, chair of the WVU Staff Council, said he was "deeply saddened" by Mr. Garrison's resignation, saying it was engineered by a small group of people who tried Mr. Garrison in the media and online.

"Once upon a time, West Virginia was ruled by the law, not by the mob," Mr. Nebel said.

His statements came after the board approved the largest pay raises in recent history to WVU staff. They take effect Oct. 1. The faculty and nonunion staff will get 7.3 percent increases and the union, or classified, staff will receive a 9 percent pay hike.

Dallas Branch, a WVU sport management professor, also supported Mr. Garrison, telling board members hiring him in April 2006 was the right decision "and it's the right decision now."

Mr. Garrison has said he was not involved in the decision to award the degree to Ms. Bresch in October, nine years after she left the program. The panel's report put his key aides at the center of the decision.

WVU math professor Sherman Riemenschneider, co-author of the two no-confidence motions approved by the faculty, said yesterday Mr. Garrison and board members do not realize the harm caused by Mr. Garrison's continued presence at the school.

"The lack of true acknowledgement of the consequences of the report and the lack of true acceptance of responsibility cannot allow the healing process to begin," Dr. Riemenschneider said.

Eleven Republicans in West Virginia's Democratic-controlled legislature yesterday called for a joint committee to investigate how the university awarded the degree to the daughter of the governor, a Democrat.

"This was the worst scandal in the history of higher education in West Virginia," said Jonathan Miller, a Republican member of West Virginia's House of Delegates. "We're not trying to criminally charge anyone or go head hunting ... but Garrison resigning is only the first step. Healing does not stop with his resignation."

Raamie Barker, spokesman for Senate President and Lt. Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, said many who investigated the incident concluded Mr. Garrison was not involved.

"Unless someone brings specific evidence of that, I think [his resignation] should put an end to it. Hopefully, they got it fixed," Mr. Barker said.