What Happens When a Poor State Guts Its Public University
Photographs by Chase BarnesThree years ago, President E. Gordon Gee of West Virginia University had a terrific idea—a career capper. As he neared retirement, he would embrace the “academic transformation” of public higher education and streamline his university.For too long, as Gee told anyone who would listen, public universities had tried to be everything to everyone and keep up with elite private colleges.




























