More than 500 people in Morgantown have signed a petition supporting WVU president Mike Garrison.

Genie Batlas Barnhart is General Manager or the Terrace Heights Apartments in Morgantown. She and several hundred other business and community leaders signed the petition to present to the Board of Governors.

She says they represent an important part of the Morgantown and WVU community, and wanted to have a stronger voice. She says Garrison is a native son of West Virginia, loves WVU. He wants to be here and given the chance, will continue to be an effective leader.

The petition says the following:

"We the undersigned strongly urge the Board of Governors of WVU to continue to support President Mike Garrison. We believe the investigative panel report speaks for itself and we support the panel's report and findings. We support and trust President Garrison to lead us through this and lead our university to the future. In just six months since his inauguration President Garrison has made great progress in so many areas of our institution and we support him now and in the future."