A college in the Northern Panhandle is postponing its search for its next president amid the coronavirus pandemic.
West Liberty University has suspended its presidential selection process until early August in response to the coronavirus crisis, the college announced in a release on Monday.
Current president Stephen Greiner announced his retirement in November. His contract includes a clause that he would be required to stay on in the case of an emergency. He said it’s a clause he didn’t expect to use.
“You might as well just blame this whole thing on me,” Greiner said, in a phone interview. “I had no idea back then that I would be in the situation, well all of us would be in, right now.”
Greiner, who has served as president of West Liberty for four years, hopes the extension will give the candidates an opportunity to see and experience the college’s culture, a part of the process that solidified his decision to accept the job as president of West Liberty.
West Liberty University, like many colleges across the state, is currently suspending all in person classes in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The campus serves about 2500 students.