CHARLESTON, W.Va. — WVU President Gordon Gee is apologizing for some comments he made earlier this week about Marshall University in connection with the campus carry debate.

Gee was speaking at a WVU Faculty Senate meeting Monday defending the university’s decision to try and work with the proponents of the campus carry legislation even though WVU was against he bill.

During that conversation with faculty members, Gee was talking about WVU’s influence at the legislature when he made a few comments about Marshall and Marshall President Jerome Gilbert.

“The president of Marshall speaks out (on campus carry), well, that’s because no one cares about Marshall,” Gee said. “I don’t say that negatively. I say that, you know, we represent, our budget is $4.5 billion and their’s is $250 million. We carry a lot of clout. We also carry a lot of responsibility.”

Senator Bob Plymale, D-Wayne, called Gee out on the Senate floor Friday morning. He said Gee may have been being Gee but there was no need for the comments he made.

“He can be loose and free on a lot of those things but don’t be loose and free on saying that no one cares about Marshall. I am a son of Marshall and I’m a proud son of Marshall,” Plymale said.

Plymale also questioned the financial numbers Gee used.

WVU released a statement from Gee Friday apologizing for his comments.

“In an attempt to inject levity into a high-tension conversation, I made an inappropriate comment, as I have been known to do, that I regret,” Gee said.

A WVU spokesperson said Gee has also reached out to Gilbert.

Plymale said he hopes it doesn’t happen again.

“I think that it’s important that we don’t get into this rhetoric of people going back to their home and making statements like that,” Plymale said. “I, for one, am not happy about that.”

The campus carry bill died on the House floor Tuesday night.

Gee’s comment about Marshall is at about the 7:30 mark, in the middle of his discussion of strategy on campus carry: