He Didn’t Just Leave: The Part of the Story the Board Didn’t Tell

By Bluefield State University Alumni Association

When Bluefield State University Board of Governors Chairman Charlie Cole discussed President Darrin Martin’s departure from a special-called Board meeting, he stated that the Board intended to speak with the president after executive session, but when the
session ended, “the president had left and was not available to speak to the board.”

That statement leaves out important context.

This was not a regularly scheduled Board meeting. It was a special-called meeting. When the Board entered executive session to discuss personnel matters, those not participating were asked to leave, including President Martin.

Martin waited approximately 30 minutes before leaving for a previously scheduled commitment representing Bluefield State University at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

Why he was going matters.

Martin had been invited by the U.S. Department of Energy to participate in a panel addressing how colleges and universities could support workforce needs related to mining and critical minerals. The discussion was directly connected to Bluefield State’s Mining Engineering Technology program and to economic opportunities important to our region.

This was not a ceremonial appearance. For months, Martin and university representatives had been working with the Oak Ridge team toward a Memorandum of Understanding with Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The proposed partnership could create internship opportunities for students, research and collaboration opportunities for faculty, and access to technologies and equipment that could strengthen Bluefield State’s Mining Engineering Technology program.

Martin served on the panel alongside representatives from Virginia Tech, Florida State University, the University of Tennessee, Roane State Community College, and the University of Kentucky.

There is another important fact.

Chairman Cole called Martin after the Board emerged from executive session and asked him to return to campus. Martin explained that he was already approximately halfway to Knoxville and was traveling to fulfill his scheduled commitment at Oak Ridge.
Chairman Cole therefore knew where Martin was going and why he had left.

Yet when Cole later told the public that the president “had left and was not available to speak to the board,” that context was not included.

That omission matters.

There is a significant difference between saying a university president left a Board meeting and was unavailable and explaining that he left after waiting approximately 30 minutes because he was traveling to represent the university in a Department of Energy
workforce initiative.

The first version can leave the impression that Martin simply walked away from an important Board meeting. The fuller account shows a president attempting to balance an unscheduled Board meeting with a significant, previously scheduled responsibility on behalf of Bluefield State.

Chairman Cole did not have to agree with Martin’s decision to leave. The Board could have believed he should have remained. But the public deserved enough information to make that judgment for itself.

That is especially important because the Board subsequently terminated Martin on August 27, citing a lack of confidence in his leadership.
President Martin was not leaving Bluefield State business for a personal matter.

He was leaving one Bluefield State responsibility to fulfill another.

He was traveling to represent Bluefield State, its students, its Mining Engineering Technology program, and the workforce needs of this region.

If Chairman Cole knew where President Martin was going and why, why wasn’t that context provided when he later discussed Martin’s departure publicly?

The public deserves the whole story.

Bluefield, WV