West Virginia University is at a crossroads with President Gordon Gee departing, a new president coming in and three top officers on the board of governors up for renewal or rejection in those roles.

During all that change, and following a difficult academic restructuring, the family at the center of power at WVU – the board of governors – is in dissension that sometimes spills out in public.

Much of that discord could come roaring into public view during a meeting this Friday , when the board will make a big decision about its own top power structure.

Currents of disagreement have flowed from the presidential search, which included a top West Virginia political figure as a candidate who did not get the gig, and whether enough decision-making is truly made in public view.

At the center of much of the friction has been board member and businessman Bray Cary, whose term on the Board of Governors is up this month along with board President Rick Pill and another board member, former state Lottery Commissioner Alan Larrick.

Cary, a former senior adviser to Gov. Jim Justice, responded by text message to the ongoing situations at WVU as well as to the central themes of this story.

“Last month, I spoke up for greater transparency and less use of closed sessions by the WVU Board of Governors,” he said.

“Unfortunately, there are those who would rather continue doing business in secret, and they have responded with defamatory personal attacks against me.”

He continued, “I stand by every aspect of my service on the WVU board, including the presidential search, and will continue to advocate for doing board business in the open whenever possible.”

Then, Cary diverted to a much earlier conflict involving WVU – a battle over broadcast rights to Mountaineer athletics where he was then as now a major player in a dispute, saying this story is motivated by bad blood.

West Virginia Radio Corporation (WVRC) held the rights to broadcast WVU football games on radio for many years, partnering with WVU’s Mountaineer Sports Network. However, more than a decade ago, WVU awarded its media rights, including Tier 3 broadcasting rights, to IMG College, leading to a lawsuit from WVRC.

The 2013 lawsuit, which was later settled out of court , accused then-WVU President Jim Clements, the WVU Board of Governors, Athletic Director Oliver Luck, the WVU Foundation, then-West Virginia Media President Bray Cary and several others of fraud, collusion, breach of fiduciary duty and “palpable abuse of discretion.”

WVRC’s wide-ranging lawsuit also charged the WVU Foundation with improperly loaning West Virginia Media $7.75 million in 2002. More than $5 million of that loan eventually was forgiven in 2007. Cary, who was president of West Virginia Media at the time, and several investors were members of the Foundation.

This week, Cary’s comments connected that battle into the current one.

“Given that your story seems to be about alleged conflicts of interest, you are obligated to disclose your ownership’s history of litigation against me, and I request that you do so. Your readers should be aware of your company’s motivation in this matter,” he texted.

In the current moment, some of Cary’s board of governors colleagues are accusing him of a conflict of interest.

The inflection point was when members of the university’s presidential search committee had to sign a code of conduct that included an ethics disclosure. Some board members are asking whether Cary, who they do not name in their comments, fully complied.

The clause says, “I agree to disclose promptly to the Search Committee any conflict of interest, or the appearance thereof, because of a relationship between me and any prospect or candidate, nor for any other reason.”

Cary signed the code of ethics, indicating his agreement and understanding, according to documents MetroNews received through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Yet Cary had an agriculture business relationship with a corporation that included one of the presidential candidates, Roger Hanshaw. Records show Cary’s branch of the business, Vandalia Growers USA, went defunct in 2022.

WVU board members are questioning whether their colleague took appropriate steps to clearly disclose the recent business relationship with Hanshaw, who is speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates.

Their comments don’t call out Cary by name, but that is who they mean.

“As Chair of the Presidential Search Committee, I note that transparency and integrity were critical and necessary components of the presidential search process,” said Patrice Harris, co-Founder and chief executive of eMed in Atlanta, Ga.

Harris, who is vice chair of the full WVU Board of Governors, said members of the search committee should have been well aware of the ethics clause.

“If a member of the committee had a current or prior business relationship with a prospect or candidate and did not proactively disclose it, that would be troubling and should be reviewed.”

Her colleague on the WVU board, businessman Kevin Craig, agreed.

“If any Board member had a prior business relationship with a presidential candidate and failed to disclose it, that would be a serious concern that warrants review,” said Craig, executive vice president of GP Natural Resource Partners.

“Board members, and members of the search committee, have a responsibility to serve the University with integrity, and that includes proactively disclosing any conflicts of interest or the appearance thereof.”

That is part of a stew of conflict that has been stirring for months and could reach a boiling point in short order.

WVU, which went through a difficult academic belt-tightening just a couple of years ago, will bid farewell at the end of this month to Gordon Gee, who has been president for more than a decade.

Coming in July will be new President Michael Benson, who had that same role at Coastal Carolina University.

Meanwhile, the terms are up for several members of the WVU Board of Governors, who are appointed by the governor: Cary, Martinsburg attorney Rick Pill and Alan Larrick. Each was appointed by Jim Justice, who was then governor and now a U.S. senator.

“I think Bray Cary will do a fabulous job. Bray is a guy that is just hungry for knowledge and just hungry for work — and works all the time. I thought he did a great job with us,” Justice said at the time, taking exception to a question about whether selecting close associates like Cary and Larrick would cause undue influence on WVU’s board.

“If you’re insinuating in any way that I’m doing something to gain an advantage then shame on you. That’s all I’d say. Shame on you,” Justice said in a July 2021 news briefing in response to a question.

Justice’s financial disclosure from when he ran for Senate last year shows that he owes Cary and his Cary Foundation up to $10 million, dating to an August 2021 promissory note.

Current Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s impending choices to fill or reappoint those board spots currently filled by Cary, Larrick and Pill will go a long way toward defining the balance of the board steering WVU through a crucial period of renewal.

Cary and another board member, Charleston attorney Steve Ruby, who has represented Justice’s private businesses in court many times, were the only ones to vote against the hiring of Benson in a 15-2 decision.

This Friday, the WVU Board of Governors is set for a meeting that will include a highly anticipated vote on the board’s own power structure for the coming year.

The agenda includes formal recommendations and election of Board of Governors officers for July 1 to next June 30.

A majority of the BOG’s Nominating Committee decided last month to recommend that the current officers – Rick Pill, Patrice Harris and Bob Reynolds – continue as chair, vice chair and secretary.

The one no vote on the Nominating Committee meeting came from Cary.

Cary, during that May 23 meeting , delivered prepared remarks objecting to a motion to enter into a private session for the board to discuss the people who could be recommended as the officers.

Cary’s comments that day went even farther, saying “Board members are not employees of the university, so the personnel exemption in the Open Meetings Act does not apply.” His remarks suggested that participating in a closed session discussion could be a crime.

Members of the committee did briefly enter a private session, but then returned to discuss the officers in open forum before taking a public vote and noting the slate represents recommendations only, not a final call.

“I remain confident that the decision to allow the Nominating Committee to discuss potential nominations for Board officers in executive session was appropriate and fully consistent with the West Virginia Open Meetings Act,” nominations committee chairman Kevin Craig said this week.

Craig said the Open Meetings Act explicitly allows executive session for matters arising from the appointment or promotion of a public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee unless the public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee requests an open meeting.

He said those kinds of public officials would include the WVU Board of Governors.

“I was surprised by Mr. Cary’s objection, as he had not previously expressed concern or raised this issue with me, as Chair of the Nominating Committee, prior to the meeting,” Craig said.

Cary’s real cannonball was his suggestion that the process months earlier for discussing candidates for the new president had been improper.

Cary said that during a March committee meeting in the House of Delegates, Pill had “testified that no votes were taken and no decisions were made during the executive sessions of the of the presidential search that we had.

“That statement wasn’t true based on the way we selected the president for a meeting in February.”

On Feb. 20, the board met for seven hours to discuss and narrow down presidential candidates before taking a public vote for a top selection, who turned out to be Benson . Such a process isn’t uncommon when candidates have other jobs and want to be private about their consideration at other schools.

After Cary’s criticism last month, officers on the Board of Governors swiftly responded with written statements, defending the presidential search.

““The proper process was followed in the hiring of the 27 ^th president of West Virginia University,” stated Pill, Harris and Reynolds.

“Claims otherwise are false, inflammatory and only serve to detract from the important groundwork that is being laid for the future of the state’s flagship university.”

They concluded, “The comments you reference are from a disgruntled BOG member who, candidly, had backed another candidate.”

The candidate was Hanshaw, the Republican speaker of the House of Delegates, who has a bachelors degree from WVU in biochemistry, a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame and a law degree from the WVU College of Law.

Hanshaw made it to the final 11, but most members of the WVU Board of Governors landed on Benson, who has been president of not only Coastal Carolina but also Eastern Kentucky, Southern Utah and Snow College.

“Boards push for unanimity. We leave our horse and unless there is a crazy, crazy reason we coalesce,” said a member of the Board of Governors.

Hanshaw, contacted by telephone, declined an invitation to comment about the search process. He initially said he is not central to any of the events surrounding WVU — not on the governing board and not in contention for the presidency.

“I’m not a character in it at all,” Hanshaw said at first.

Then, Hanshaw did talk in basic terms about the business relationship with Cary. And he talked about House budget decisions affecting WVU — but not a bill that reshaped higher education governing boards, including WVU, even though that question was asked twice.

“I’m going to do what was expected of everyone and maintain confidentiality. Others have elected not to do that. That’s what was asked of me so that’s what I’m going to do,” said Hanshaw, who is a Republican from Clay County.

Cary, one of the two votes against Benson , has known Hanshaw for years in several roles, including his years as a top adviser to Jim Justice, the governor who nominated Cary to the WVU board in 2021.

They have also had a business relationship, although it doesn’t appear to be active.

It is also somewhat complicated. Cary was a manager of a no-longer-active business that is in partnership with a limited liability corporation where one of the members is Hanshaw. There’s a degree of separation in this has-been hydroponic tomato company.

“The actual business entity, the assets of it and the substance of it was sold out years ago. We’ve kept the legal entity for windup purposes,” Hanshaw said, opting to address the basics of the business status in a telephone interview.

Records with the Secretary of State’s Office show Cary as the manager of Vandalia Growers USA, described as a greenhouse, nursery and floriculture product (including mushrooms) company.

Vandalia Growers USA filed incorporation reports with the Secretary of State from 2017 to 2022. The start date parallels Cary’s start with the governor’s office as a much-talked-about but vaguely defined citizen volunteer.

As for the 2022 end date, the Secretary of State’s Office noted, “They are currently non-compliant and will be revoked at the end of this year if they do not file their annual report.”

Cary’s partner in Vandalia Growers USA was a limited liability corporation, Vandalia Growers LLC.

That company, which was also incorporated in 2017 but with a different business address, includes Hanshaw as a member.

The last annual report for Vandalia Growers LLC was filed last year. The Secretary of State’s Office said, “They are currently compliant and will remain in compliance until June 30 ^th. They will then become non-compliant if they do not file the 2024 Annual Report.”

Hanshaw’s thwarted potential to be the next WVU president resulted in undercurrents both in state politics and in higher education.

The budget initially proposed by the House of Delegates this past legislative session included a $15 million cut for WVU. The Senate’s version did not have that cut, and the money was restored in the final version of the budget.

“It was restored, I voted for it and I’m happy I did,” Hanshaw said on the telephone, going on to describe additional public dollars allocated to higher education institutions like WVU in the most recent session.

Generating more waves was a House bill that removes students, faculty and staff from voting roles on boards of governors.

Senator Mike Woelfel, a Democrat from Cabell County, objected to the bill and called it monkey business.

“I think we have to talk about this bill in a little more candid fashion than has occurred. The genesis of this bill and I think everybody in the body knows this, somebody applied for a job,” Woelfel said on the Senate floor.

“They didn’t get the job and now we’re running a bill to change the board of governors for every college and university in the state.”

Senators passed the bill April 9 on a 19-15 vote . The House of Delegates concurred on April 12, completing legislative action on the final day of the regular session. The governor then signed it, and it went into law right away.

On April 22, 10 days after the session was over, the Senate majority caucus cashed a check representing financial support from Cary. Senate leaders this week confirmed to MetroNews the receipt of the check, but emphasized that the session was over by the time it was cashed. The contribution date is outside the most recent public filing period for state records.

When the WVU Board of Governors gathers this Friday, the new law shaping collegiate governing boards means the students, faculty and staff will no longer have voting power.

Mathematically, that means Cary’s votes will carry more weight.