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We'll start with this: West Virginia Northern Community College President Daniel Mosser's personal attacks this past week against Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, Vice Mayor Chad Thalman and City Manager Robert Herron over an alleged "Friends and Family" deal with Bluefield State College President Robin Capehart went too far.
But when you get past the personal attacks and allegations in Mosser's speech and consider the underlying concerns presented, there are issues that need to be dealt with.
Chief among those is that city leaders in Wheeling need a class on how to become effective communicators.
Bluefield State has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the city to study the feasibility of opening a satellite campus at the former Ohio Valley Medical Center property. If approved by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, the site would become Bluefield's Engineering and Manufacturing Center.
The city and Bluefield began discussions late last year on the idea, with the memorandum signed on Jan. 5. Bluefield State says there is a need for its programs by the region's business community that is currently not being met.
The local college presidents -- Mosser, at West Virginia Northern; W. Franklin Evans at West Liberty University; and Ginny Favede at Wheeling University -- were understandably upset over not just the idea of Bluefield State moving a campus to Wheeling, but also that city leaders did not inform them of the plan before signing the memorandum.
That was a mistake by city leaders. Consider:
– Evans, in his first full week on the job as president of West Liberty, was blindsided with the news he saw on the front page of our Jan. 6 edition. That's a rather poor "Welcome to Wheeling" message from the city;
– Mosser's campus is located a block from the OVMC property. Community colleges are designed to quickly fill the needs of the local business community through new programs; if there was a need for a certain engineering certificate, why was WVNCC -- which in recent years has quickly created new programs to train oil and gas industry workers and also to staff the local casinos -- not involved?
– Favede is dealing with issues of her own at Wheeling University, as the financial picture there is dim.
– Capehart is a former president of West Liberty University, leading that institution from 2007-2015. He also is a former uncle to Thalman by marriage. Thalman told our reporter the prior family relationship has not influenced his position, though he did not disclose the matter publicly until it was brought before council.
That also was a mistake.
There are several questions to answer here:
– Why did the city choose not to communicate with the local colleges on Bluefield State's proposal?
– What incentives, if any, are being considering by the city for Bluefield to locate here?
– Have the local colleges reached out to any of the manufacturers that say they need specialized programs to see how they can fill those needs?
The last question is the most important, and is the path local colleges now need to pursue. To judge by Bluefield's interest, there is a need from the region's manufacturing base for engineering students. Frankly, we would feel better if the local colleges, rather than attacking council and Bluefield State personally, would meet with businesses to learn their needs -- and if those needs can be met. And if local colleges cannot meet those needs, they should be willing to work with Bluefield State to create a new educational model to service our area.
Animosity with how this deal came together cannot be allowed to hijack one of the primary goals of our local higher education institutions -- preparing students for the jobs that await them after graduation.