Eugene Trani is shocked, shocked, to find out the shady dealings going on at Virginia Commonwealth University.

He's saddened that the VCU degree awarded to former Police Chief Rodney Monroe, who completed only two courses at the school, is emanating a foul odor from here to Charlotte.

Also, VCU's cozy relationship with Philip Morris, the nation's largest cigarette manufacturer, landed it on the front page of The New York Times and has inspired such unflattering blogosphere headlines as "Virginia Commonwealth University in Bed with Philip Morris."

VCU has accepted research money from Philip Morris, which has the right to review any proposed publication. It's not alone in taking tobacco money -- Philip Morris last year gave $25 million to the University of Virginia.

VCU, with its medical center and cancer-research facility, does not want to be "in bed" with a historically duplicitous industry that produces a public health hazard.

I don't pretend to be impartial. Before his death in 1992, my father spent time at Medical College of Virginia Hospitals as a lung-cancer patient, blocks away from what would become the Philip Morris research and technology center in the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park.

Trani says there will be an examination of the degree policy and a task force to look into the university's relationship with outside companies. A task force is what institutions put together to give the appearance of response. The "task" is usually to make the matter in question go away.

As for the degree debacle, the "policy" wasn't the problem. Making an exception to it was. Monroe, as it turns out, was the only person among the living to receive a degree from VCU after taking only two courses there.

Look, VCU's stamp on our city is as pronounced as the rams' heads stenciled on Main and Franklin streets. Its redevelopment efforts have changed the face of downtown. Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and VCU are so co-joined that its School of Government bears Wilder's name.

You've got to give the school its props. But this power, influence and penchant for conflict of interest was bound to become a problem. VCU has become as heedless and headstrong as its mascot -- a reflection of its peerless leader.

Trani lands at or near the top of any local "power list." No shrinking violet, he's on the short list of guys who run Richmond. You can rest assured that he runs VCU.

So his statement Friday that he now is "more aware than ever that an enthusiastic, energetic president with lots of ideas may, however inadvertently, impact the behavior of others" is laughable. This is a school where faculty members glance nervously over their shoulders toward the president's office.

VCU's investigation doesn't name names. But if the scene were ever dusted for prints, Trani's and Wilder's would be all over the place.

Wilder has gone mum, but Trani doesn't have the luxury. He needs to take full responsibility before his school's reputation goes up in smoke.
Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or mwilliams@timesdispatch.com.

Mike Williams has taught as an adjunct instructor at the VCU School of Mass Communications.