Aug 2, 2019 3 min read

WHEELING, W.Va. – The status of Wheeling University’s two top administrators was unclear Friday after they were apparently placed on administrative leave.

Sources said an email message – sent to the university’s staff email list – informed them that WU President Michael Mihalyo and Senior Vice President Joseph Petrella had been placed on administrative leave. According to one source, the email was not sent to current students.

University officials would neither confirm nor deny the reports. They also would not elaborate on any possible action taken regarding the two administrators.

David Hacker, the university’s vice president of human resources and compliance and WU’s Title IX officer, referred inquiries to Julia Cook, director of communications. In turn, Cook issued a two-sentence statement Friday regarding Mihalyo and Petrella.

“President Michael Mihalyo and Senior Vice President Joseph Petrella are currently employed by the university,” the statement read. “The university does not comment on employment matters and has no further comment at this time.”

Meanwhile, the university’s status with the state is also in limbo.

After learning about the administrative leave decision 10 minutes before a special meeting of the Higher Education Policy Commission Friday morning, the commissioners decided to postpone a vote on the annual reauthorization for Wheeling University until Aug. 16, with an on-site inspection scheduled the week of Aug. 12.

Corley Dennison, vice chancellor for academic affairs with the HEPC, said a number of events over the last 24 hours led to the commission’s postponement, including only receiving needed documents for the reauthorization process Thursday from WU Board of Trustees Chairwoman Ginny Favede and now-interim CEO Laurie McCullough.

“We had been requesting documents from Wheeling University for some time. We had a meeting yesterday morning with (Favede) who was not aware of the request for those documents. After some discussions … they promised to deliver the documents to us, and they did. They delivered a substantial number of documents to us yesterday evening. We have not had time to review those documents.”

Dennison said the HEPC was also informed by the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits degree-granting institutions in 19 states, that a complaint had been filed against Wheeling University.

“A formal complaint had been filed against the university regarding the governance of the university,” Dennison said, adding they learned the president and the senior vice president were on paid administrative leave just seven minutes before the start of the commission meeting.

Mihalyo was elected as the university’s 12th president last August. Petrella also joined the university as senior vice president last August.

According to people who have seen today’s email, the message said information regarding the university’s organizational structure will be released in the next couple of days.

The university’s board of trustees changed the institution’s name to Wheeling University on July 18. Previously, the school had been known as Wheeling Jesuit University.

The Jesuit connection to the school was eliminated when the Society of Jesus, the Roman Catholic religious order that founded the college, severed ties to the school earlier this year. The Jesuit affiliation ended after the financially troubled university dropped several courses of study, including theology, for the upcoming academic year.