I came across this stunning article about the daughter of West Virginia’s Governor, Joe Manchin III, being given an honorary ‘executive master of business administration degree.’ Heather Bresch was awarded the angry-crowd-inducing college degree from West Virginia University. What!? Why?

I’m confused—I was under the impression that anyone having an honorary college degree bestowed upon them was (a) already exhibiting superior amazingness in their field and so warranted a degree in that particular area of expertise for their work; (b) old enough to be solidly a grown-up, past average college age and pretty well into their career, thereby rendering them improbable future matriculation material.

I always saw an honorary college degree as something a college or a university gives to a mature adult who may or may not have earned a degree in their lifetime, but whose career and subsequent gathering of wisdom, knowledge and life experience has shown the world (and apparently the university in question) that they have learned lots of good stuff and have contributed to mankind in such a way that would warrant a matriculation-free degree. So you can see why I’d be confused by the daughter of someone special(ish) receiving an honorary degree. Are her genes worthy of a degree minus the matriculation part?

Bresch is well into her career, yes, and it could be argued that she’s beyond the average age of an MBA student (but that’s iffy, the MBA is a popular degree to come back to as an established professional). She could have maybe convinced me (and the ethics committee) that she was deserving of the degree that she had only done about half the work for if there hadn’t been a lot of covering up, transcript padding, grades added to previously incomplete coursework, and just overall sketchy motives involved with the awarding of the degree.

As it turns out, it was all a big ugly web of politics and lies and had nothing whatsoever to do with special qualities or life experiences. I’m not in the habit of wishing ill on people, but I find it comforting to know that it ended badly for all involved parties. Let’s all learn from their mistakes and not try to give or receive degrees based on doctored transcripts and possible political favors. You can read all the sordid details below.

Further Reading:

WVU Names Magrath Interim President After Scandal
West Virginia U President Will Resign to End Degree Controversy
WVU’s President Will Resign to End Degree Scandal
The Story of a Cover-Up
Criticism for Degree to Governor’s Daughter
Heather Bresch Didn’t Earn Degree From WVU, Report Says
Questions Raised Over How WVU Granted Mylan Executive Her Degree

Posted by Alexa Harrington