At VCU, a scandal weighs heavily

The findings of a recent investigation at Virginia Commonwealth University are grave. In granting one diploma that fell short of the university's academic requirements, VCU has undermined the value of degrees held by thousands of other graduates.

Rodney Monroe, at the time Richmond's police chief, apparently had accumulated the credits he needed for a bachelor's degree. However, he did not come close to qualifying for a diploma bearing VCU's insignia, which he was awarded last spring.

Only six of his 121 credit hours were earned at VCU, far short of the 30 required under university guidelines.

The internal investigation has been criticized - not for treading softly around university leaders, but for pursuing top-tier officials so aggressively that investigators even threatened a faculty member with the loss of tenure if she failed to name names.

The entire agonizing process has left everyone involved shaken and dissatisfied. As a public university with obligations to state taxpayers as well as to graduates, VCU has a responsibility to request an external investigation to clear the air.

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools could both bring fresh, unbiased eyes to the case. All of the findings should be made public.

The external investigation should revisit both the controversy over Monroe's degree as well as the tumultuous investigation that followed. Among the questions it should address:

- Why was the formal waiver process, available to transfer students seeking exceptions to university policies, not used in Monroe's case? What process was used to determine his status and who participated in the decision?

- How did the irregularity become the subject of an anonymous e-mail, and how was that communication handled by university officials?

- Why was a faculty member threatened during the investigation, and what disciplinary action was taken against the person who made the threat?

Finally, the external investigation must address the lingering conspiracy theories that encircle this case.

Richmonders are partial to conspiracy theories because some of them historically have turned out to be true. Obvious questions arise over the Monroe diploma.

Richmond Mayor Douglas Wilder hired Monroe and encouraged him to complete his college degree. Wilder has many close friends among administrators at VCU, where the school of government and public affairs bears his name. An anonymous letter surfaced after Monroe's graduation alleging that political pressures had been at play.

None of that looks proper, but it's strange that Monroe's graduation was initially announced in a front-page feature story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch in which the chief freely acknowledged he had taken only two classes at VCU. If there were a conspiracy afoot, Monroe clearly did not get the memo on the need for discretion.

An external investigation can be the impetus VCU needs to fully air all of the facts surrounding the Monroe case and to put in place safeguards protecting the university's reputation from future cases.