Mountain State University (MSU) was a private university in Beckley, West Virginia. It closed in 2013. It was formerly named Beckley College and then The College of West Virginia. Its Beckley campus is now occupied by West Virginia University Institute of Technology. Its other campus in Martinsburg, West Virginia was sold to a private developer. History Early history The university was founded in 1933 as Beckley College, a junior college, and continued as such until 1991, when it achieved four-year status and was renamed The College of West Virginia. In 2001, the school was renamed Mountain State University. Later history Mountain State University's former president since 1990, Dr. Charles H. Polk, was widely credited for much of the school's previous success. However, many blamed Polk along with his senior administration and MSU's Board of Trustees when the university began facing issues over its continued accreditation. Polk and MSU's Board of Trustees were named as defendants in over 300 lawsuits arising out of the loss of the university's accreditation. A settlement was reached under which MSU admitted no wrongdoing. In 2009, Polk received over $1.8 million in compensation. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Polk was the sixth-highest-paid private-college president in the country that year. However, according to Dr. Jerry Ice, then-chairman of the Mountain State University Board of Trustees, Polk’s actual 2009 salary was $450,000, and included a one-time deferred retirement package that the board established in 2004 and was required to pay out in 2009. As a means of recouping the funds for MSU, the board also purchased a $2 million insurance policy on Polk that will be paid back to the institution upon his death. On January 19, 2012, Dr. Jerry Ice, former Chairman of Mountain State University's Board of Trustees, announced the termination of Polk's employment as president of Mountain State University. Dr. Richard E. Sours was chosen to replace Polk as interim president until the university's closing. Loss of accreditation On June 28, 2012, the Higher Learning Commission, the regional accrediting authority for the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, withdrew the accreditation of Mountain State University, effective August 27, 2012. The date was subsequently extended until December 31, 2012 to allow the university to 'teach out' those students close to graduation. On August 6, 2012, MSU's Board of Trustees formally appealed the withdrawal of MSU's accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission. On December