West Virginia Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, is pictured during a meeting in September at which he expressed support for WVU’s university-wide restructuring that has resulted in about 300 faculty and staff cuts. Tarr is among the state lawmakers listed as passengers on private charter flights for which WVU has footed the bill.
West Virginia University President Gordon Gee defends his administration's backing of wide-ranging program and faculty cuts during a September interview with the Gazette-Mail Editorial Board. Gee has faced criticism from the WVU community for his reliance on charter flights and not pressing state legislative leaders for more financial support. Â
Then-West Virginia University Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Rob Alsop defends proposed cuts by the university at a September meeting of the state Joint Finance Standing Committee.
Over time, state government financial support for West Virginia University has plummeted. That hasn’t stopped WVU from footing travel bills for state lawmakers and Cabinet leaders.
WVU received invoices for flights transporting leaders in the West Virginia Legislature, in addition to WVU officials, totaling roughly $209,000 from the start of 2021 through June 2023, according to documents obtained through a Gazette-Mail Freedom of Information Act request.
According to plane reservation forms and invoices, passengers on five out-of-state trips during that span included:
West Virginia Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley
House of Delegates Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay
Sen. Glenn Jeffries, R-Putnam
WVU President Gordon Gee
‘Actual transportation costs’ allowed
State law allows members of the Legislature to be reimbursed “actual transportation costs†for travel-related expenses in performing their duties as a member if travel is “by public carrier†or for any combination of means of transportation used.
WVU also was invoiced just over $300,000 for 32 trips from January through June 2023 that transported then-interim Department of Health and Human Resources Secretary Dr. Jeffrey Coben. Coben also was dean of WVU’s School of Public Health at the time.
Airplane reservation forms indicate that Coben’s air travel at WVU’s expense was to perform his duties as interim DHHR secretary. Most of Coben’s trips were from Pittsburgh or Washington County, Pennsylvania, to ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä and back. Washington County is a roughly three-hour drive from ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä.
DHHR spokeswoman Whitney Wetzel said the agency doesn’t pay for an employee to travel from their residence to work, when asked about WVU being charged for Coben’s travel as interim DHHR secretary. Coben is based in Washington County, Pennsylvania, according to his LinkedIn page.
Wetzel did not respond to other emailed questions about Coben’s air travel.
WVU Executive Director of Communications April Kaull did not respond to an inquiry about Coben’s travel.
Coben departed the agency effective July 5. He also stepped down as School of Public Health dean effective Nov. 1 after over six years in the role. He remained on faculty with the Schools of Public Health and Medicine.
Kaull defended WVU’s coverage of expenses for flights transporting state employees at a cost exceeding 20 years of tuition and fees for in-state students.
“West Virginia University is a state agency, and our employees are state employees,†Kaull said in an email. “When another state entity calls on us for help, we do what we can to answer the call to fulfill our land-grant mission.â€
Decline in financial support
The Legislature’s support for WVU has been shrinking as the school’s financial challenges have grown.
The state allocation for WVU’s general administrative fund has declined 25% in the past decade, when adjusting for inflation, according to a Gazette-Mail analysis. West Virginia’s fiscal year 2024 budget allocated roughly $3.2 million less for the fund than the state fiscal year 2014 budget.
State appropriations comprised 21% of WVU’s total revenue for fiscal year 2013, according to an audited school financial statement. That clip dropped to 13% for fiscal year 2022, per another audited financial statement.
Meanwhile, facing a $45 million budget shortfall amid a multiyear enrollment decline and rising long-term financial liabilities, WVU approved wide-ranging faculty and staff cuts this year. In September, WVU approved eliminating 143 faculty positions and 28 majors.
WVU announced more academic job cuts this month, declaring an elimination of library and instructional support unit positions.
Catherine Fonseca, a social sciences librarian, said there’s no way library personnel can offer the same level of service with less staffing. She said she expects the staffing reduction to affect the research capacity of students and faculty.
The latest cuts increased the number of positions to be eliminated university-wide to around 300, as part of a restructuring Gee’s administration has called “Academic Transformation.â€
Brian Powell, a Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering assistant professor, said it’s unfair to WVU students to expect the university to take on extra responsibilities, like economic development and DHHR management, at the same time state support for the university has dwindled.
“Some things have to go to make room in the budget for these new duties, and unfortunately, as we’ve seen with the Academic Transformation process, it is frequently things that directly benefit students that are being cut,†Powell said.
Then-West Virginia University Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Rob Alsop defends proposed cuts by the university at a September meeting of the state Joint Finance Standing Committee.
PERRY BENNETT | WV Legislative Photography
WVU charged for ‘Choose West Virginia’
A Jan. 26 trip during the 2023 legislative session that included a stop in Albany, New York, was to support the West Virginia Department of Economic Development to recruit Plug Power Inc. to locate a manufacturing facility in the Mountain State, according to a WVU-approved airplane reservation form. L.J. Aviation charged WVU over $22,000 for the trip. Listed passengers included:
Gee
Jeffries
Department of Economic Development Secretary Mitch Carmichael
Plug Power is a Latham, New York-based hydrogen fuel cell application provider and project development partner in the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). The hub was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for up to $925 million in funding in October to support a West Virginia-centered hydrogen production network.
Plug Power said its existing cash and available securities won’t be enough to fund its operations through the next 12 months in a federal Securities and Exchange Commission filing last month.
Records indicate a July 2022 trip at WVU’s expense that included a San Jose stop was in part to meet with CEOs and venture capitalists to learn more about possible partnerships and state collaborations. Listed passengers included Gee, Blair, Hanshaw, Carmichael and Marshall University President Brad Smith.
L.J. Aviation charged WVU more than $86,000 for the trip.
A December 2022 trip that included a stop in Charlotte was for “[s]tate policymakers and education and economic development leaders to expand investment opportunities in West Virginia,†per an airline reservation form. Listed passengers included:
Gee
Hanshaw
Smith
Senate Finance Committee Chair Eric Tarr, R-Putnam
Senate Government Organization Committee Chair Jack Woodrum, R-Summers
House Finance Committee Chair Vernon Criss, R-Wood
L.J. Aviation charged WVU just over $20,000 for the trip.
Kaull and legislative leaders say the trips supported economic development outreach the state has branded as “Choose West Virginia.â€
In a statement provided by House Deputy Chief-of-Staff and Communications Director Ann Ali on behalf of Blair and Hanshaw, the lawmakers said WVU and Marshall often offer available passenger capacity to legislative branch representatives traveling with the delegations.
Kaull directed questions on reimbursement to the Legislature.
Ali said the Legislature paid WVU $6,987 for ground transportation the week of July 10, 2022, for the California trip that included visits to New York City and Washington, D.C. The trip included the first of public presentations branded “Choose West Virginia,†Ali said.
She said the Legislature owes a WVU financial management unit $2,043 for transportation related to travel to Seattle in late June 2023.
L.J. Aviation charged WVU roughly $69,000 for that trip, per a company invoice. An airplane reservation form listed 11 passengers that included:
West Virginia Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, is pictured during a meeting in September at which he expressed support for WVU’s university-wide restructuring that has resulted in about 300 faculty and staff cuts. Tarr is among the state lawmakers listed as passengers on private charter flights for which WVU has footed the bill.
Blair and Hanshaw declined to detail the itineraries of the trips, saying companies that engaged with the state because of the visits are under nondisclosure agreements with the state Department of Economic Development. Blair and Hanshaw declined to respond when asked about criticism that the decrease in state financial support for WVU contributed to the university’s broad-ranging cuts throughout 2023.Tarr complimented WVU leaders on their restructuring plans during a Joint Standing Finance Committee meeting in September. “I appreciate the disruptive task that you’re taking,†Tarr said after a presentation from then-WVU Strategic Initiatives Vice President Rob Alsop defending proposed faculty and major cuts approved by the school’s Board of Governors four days later. Tarr said WVU administrators were showing “a lot of courage†in carrying out the restructuring.
West Virginia University President Gordon Gee defends his administration's backing of wide-ranging program and faculty cuts during a September interview with the Gazette-Mail Editorial Board. Gee has faced criticism from the WVU community for his reliance on charter flights and not pressing state legislative leaders for more financial support. Â
West Virginia University video
Gee flew 151 times in less than three years
The Gee administration’s travel investments in economic development predate the state’s Choose West Virginia campaign, first branded as such in July 2022.
Records show Gee was a passenger on seven trips for which L.J. Aviation charged WVU over $34,000 that included business to support development of a high-speed transportation project then known as Virgin Hyperloop.
Since branded as Hyperloop One, the long-stalled project is shutting down on Dec. 31, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.
Virgin Hyperloop said in October 2020 that West Virginia would be the site of a key certification center for the project. Gee committed at the time to building a consortium of universities from across the country to help develop the project.
Records listed Gee as a passenger on 151 trips from 2021 through September 2023, many of which were to ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä to meet with lawmakers and other officials.
But Gee has resisted calls for him to press state legislators for more funding for WVU.
In a September 2023 interview with the Gazette-Mail Editorial Board, Gee called asking the Legislature for $45 million to cover the school’s deficit of that amount “just kicking the can down the road.â€
“That’s the stupidest funding formula you can possibly imagine,†Gee said.
In August 2023, the Legislature allotted $45 million for a Marshall University cybersecurity program.
Gee told the Gazette- Mail Editorial Board facing a $45 million budget deficit was only an accelerant in what he has characterized as a reassessment of university resources in response to declining interest in higher education.
All of Gee’s 151 recorded trips since 2021 followed his December 2020 call to “decrease costs†in a Board of Governors meeting address that WVU has since identified as the start of its Academic Transformation restructuring.
Self-promotional trips?
Some Gee trips listed on airplane reservation forms included objectives that could be viewed as self-promotional.
A March 2021 trip with a Columbus stop resulting in a $7,350 L.J. Aviation bill for WVU included a meeting with Ohio State University faculty member Herb Asher on a book he was writing on Gee’s leadership in higher education, records show.
Also on the itinerary for that trip were meetings for Hyperloop development, per records.
An April 2021 Gee trip to Columbus was, in part, for review of a book being written on Gee’s leadership and to outline a book Gee was coauthoring on university governance with an Ohio State political science professor, per an airline reservation form. L.J. Aviation charged WVU over $6,300 for that trip.
Records show that a May trip for Gee and four university relations officials was for interviews with the Chronicle of Higher Education on “the value and perceptions of higher education,†and Gallup for an interview and taping for its “Leading with Strengths†series on how influential leaders use their strengths to achieve goals. The Washington, D.C., trip cost over $8,000, per records.
WVU has paid L.J. Aviation roughly $12.4 million since July 2014, according to Auditor’s Office data.
Kaull said the data “generally reflects various administrators efficiently conducting the University’s business.â€
When considering how much state legislative and executive travel has comprised that business, Powell came to a different conclusion.
“Whenever there is a need to handle something ... it seems that state government’s standard response has become to call in WVU,†Powell said.
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