08/28/2026
An Open Letter to the Bluefield State University Community
Stewardship, Transparency, and the Future of Bluefield State
By Vernon Oakes
To the students, faculty, staff, alumni, Board of Governors, President Darrin Martin, the citizens of southern West Virginia, and all who care about Bluefield State University:
The recent announcement that the Bluefield State University Board of Governors called an emergency meeting because of "imminent substantial harm to the institution" should concern everyone who cares about Bluefield State.
Those are among the strongest words a governing board can use.
Yet, after the meeting, the university community was left without an explanation of what that harm was or how the Board reached that conclusion.
As someone who has loved Bluefield State for more than sixty years, I believe this moment calls for transparency, not because anyone should rush to judgment, but because public trust is strengthened when public institutions communicate openly.
I graduated from Bluefield High School in 1965 and from Bluefield State College in 1969. During one of the most turbulent periods in the institution's history, I served as Student Body President. I later earned a Master's degree in Mathematics from Penn State University and an MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.
Bluefield State changed the trajectory of my life.
It prepared me for careers as an educator, business executive, entrepreneur, consultant, and cooperative developer. Every opportunity that followed was built upon the foundation that Bluefield State helped provide.
Because of that, I write this letter not as a critic, but as a grateful son of Bluefield State.
And because I love this institution, I believe we must ask difficult questions—not to assign blame, but to strengthen the university for those who will come after us.
Stewardship Is More Than Managing a Budget
Public universities are entrusted with much more than classrooms and degree programs.
They are entrusted with people.
They are entrusted with land.
Buildings.
Financial resources.
Contracts.
History.
And perhaps most importantly, they are entrusted with the dreams of future generations.
Every president, every Board of Governors, every faculty member, every alumnus, and every citizen becomes, for a brief time, a steward of that trust.
The question every generation should ask is simple: Did we leave Bluefield State stronger than we found it?
Questions About the University's Assets
Much has been written about Bluefield State's history of race, desegregation, enrollment, and governance.
Those are important conversations.
But I believe another part of Bluefield State's history deserves careful examination.
What has happened to the university's assets over time?
Several years ago, I worked with then-President Dr. Marsha Krotseng in an effort to purchase the former Holiday Inn that had been used as student housing.
My purpose was not simply to purchase real estate.
My vision was to create one of the nation's first student-owned housing cooperatives.
Students would learn leadership, budgeting, financial management, governance, maintenance, conflict resolution, food service, entrepreneurship, and democratic decision-making while reducing the cost of attending college.
It would have been education by doing.
Unfortunately, that vision never became reality.
Today, much of that property has been demolished.
Part remains in use.
Other portions appear to have entered private ownership.
Those circumstances naturally raise historical questions.
Who ultimately acquired that property?
Through what public process was it transferred?
What benefit did Bluefield State receive?
How is that property serving the university and the people of southern West Virginia today?
During another administration, I also expressed interest in university-owned property near Interstate 77.
I met with university officials concerning those parcels but was never able to inspect them.
Again, I simply ask:
Were those properties eventually sold?
To whom?
At what price?
How did those transactions strengthen Bluefield State?
I also observed situations in which one contractor appeared to receive a significant amount of university construction work.
I do not know whether every procurement complied with university policy and state law, and I make no allegation that it did not.
But stewardship invites questions.
Not because we assume wrongdoing.
Because transparency builds confidence.
Stewardship Also Includes Governance
Recent reporting has suggested that some members of the Bluefield State University Board of Governors continued serving beyond the terms originally established by state law because successor appointments had not been made.
If that reporting is accurate, it raises important questions—not only for Bluefield State, but for public higher education throughout West Virginia.
Again, these are not accusations.
They are questions that deserve answers.
If Board members' terms expired, why were successor appointments delayed?
Whose responsibility was it to make those appointments?
Were members serving under lawful holdover provisions until successors were appointed?
If appointments were delayed, what effect did that have on accountability and public confidence?
These questions also extend beyond the university itself.
What responsibilities belong to:
the Board of Governors?
the President?
the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission?
the Governor's Office?
the Higher Learning Commission, Bluefield State's accrediting body?
Good governance is not simply about following rules.
It is about earning public trust.
When governance is transparent, accountable, and faithful to the institution's mission, confidence grows.
When questions remain unanswered, confidence erodes.
Following the Power
History is often written through the lives of presidents and famous alumni.
But history is also shaped by decisions about power.
Who hires presidents?
Who hires faculty?
Who hires staff?
Who awards contracts?
Who decides how university land is used?
Who determines the long-term direction of the institution?
Those questions are not political.
They are historical.
Bluefield State experienced profound changes beginning in the late 1960s.
Leadership changed.
Faculty composition changed.
Student demographics changed.
Housing disappeared.
Institutional identity changed.
Historians have written much about race during that period.
Perhaps it is also time to examine how governance, public policy, economic decisions, and stewardship shaped the university's future.
Following the power is not about finding villains.
It is about understanding how institutions evolve.
Looking Forward
Some may ask,
"Why revisit these questions now?"
Because history is not about living in the past.
History should help us build a better future.
If university assets were managed wisely, the historical record should demonstrate that.
If mistakes were made, we should learn from them.
If opportunities were missed, perhaps future generations can seize them.
As someone who has spent much of my professional life helping communities create cooperative businesses, I have learned that healthy organizations are not afraid of questions.
Healthy organizations welcome them.
Transparency strengthens institutions.
Integrity sustains them.
Stewardship ensures they continue serving future generations.
A Hope for Bluefield State
Bluefield State University has served southern West Virginia for more than 130 years.
It changed my life.
It has changed thousands of lives.
Today, the question before us is larger than one president.
Larger than one Board of Governors.
Larger than one emergency meeting.
The question is whether each generation of leaders, trustees, faculty, alumni, and citizens will leave this institution stronger than they found it.
I hope the Board of Governors will provide the public with as much information as legally possible regarding the circumstances that led to its declaration of "imminent substantial harm."
I also hope this moment becomes the beginning of a larger conversation—not simply about today's challenges—but about the long-term stewardship of Bluefield State University.
The university deserves nothing less.
And the students who will attend Bluefield State fifty years from now deserve nothing less.
I have spent much of my life asking one question:
How do we build lives, families, organizations, and communities where people flourish?
I believe Bluefield State can be such an institution.
It has been before.
It can be again.
Let this moment become not merely a crisis to manage, but an opportunity to renew our commitment to stewardship, transparency, integrity, and the university's enduring mission.
We not only inherit Bluefield State from those who came before us. We borrow it from the generations that will follow us.
Respectfully,
Vernon Oakes
Bluefield High School, Class of 1965
Student Body President, Bluefield State College (1968–1969)
Bluefield State College, Class of 1970
Penn State University, M.S. Mathematics, 1971
Stanford Graduate School of Business, MBA, 1976
President, Oakes Management Inc. (1994-2020)
General Manager, Columinate (2024 to present)
Host, Everything Co-op Radio Show (2012 to present)
