Pennsylvania system will conduct review of Commonwealth University president who drew no-confidence vote by faculty

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education has commissioned a review of Commonwealth University president Bashar Hanna, who drew a vote of no confidence by faculty and coaches last month.

The system routinely conducts comprehensive evaluations of its presidents, but usually only a year or two before their contracts come up for renewal. In this case, the review is coming earlier ― Hanna’s contract expires in June 2028 — and at Hanna’s request and that of Commonwealth’s Council of Trustees, the system said.

Hanna requested the early review “in order to gather input from campus and community stakeholders on improving communications, transparency, and institutional effectiveness at Commonwealth University,” the president’s office said in a statement.

Interim PASSHE chancellor Christopher Fiorentino announced the review at state House and Senate appropriations hearings last month during questioning by legislators.

“As we complete that evaluation and take into consideration the vote we received from members of [the faculty union], that will all be weighed in terms of what we do moving forward from that point,” Fiorentino told the Senate committee.

» READ MORE: Faculty and coaches vote no confidence in Commonwealth University president

The review is expected to begin after this month’s spring break, with a report ready by early summer, the system said.

A consultant from outside the state will be tapped to assist with the review, which will include a look at how successful Hanna was at carrying out his duties and responsibilities. It also will cover a review of the university’s performance and include input from various campus groups, including students, faculty, and staff.

Commonwealth faculty and coaches voted overwhelmingly last month to approve a no-confidence measure against Hanna, citing concerns about his leadership, declining enrollment, budget woes, and a lawsuit verdict. The vote was open to about 700 faculty and coaches, with 406 approving the measure and 52 opposing it.

It follows a jury verdict last year that found a dean who helped an employee file a sexual harassment complaint against Hanna had been wrongfully terminated. A federal court jury in August awarded $4 million to Jeffrey Krug, former business school dean at Bloomsburg University, who said in a 2018 whistleblower lawsuit he was mistreated and ultimately fired that year for helping Hanna’s executive assistant in filing the complaint.

» READ MORE: Commonwealth University president should resign or be fired over wrongful termination suit, faculty union leader says

Bloomsburg is now part of Commonwealth, which was formed when Bloomsburg, Mansfield, and Lock Haven Universities were merged in 2022. Hanna led Bloomsburg for five years before taking the helm at Commonwealth, one of 10 state universities governed by PASSHE.

Following the vote, Hanna, who is paid $425,080 annually, said he had no intention of stepping away. He cited an increase in first-time, full-time enrollment and graduate enrollment since integration and “record-breaking fundraising,” state debt relief of $38 million for the Mansfield campus, and new shared governance and financial aid models achieved during his tenure. The council also “overwhelmingly remains in support” of Hanna, its chair, John Wetzel, said at the time.

Kenneth M. Mash, president of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, the faculty union, said Tuesday that the review or whether Hanna and the council requested it really doesn’t matter.

“There is only one real resolution to this situation, and that is that President Hanna has to resign or he has to be removed from his position as president,” Mash said. “Anything short of that is unsatisfactory.”

Union members are not the only ones concerned. At the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Lindsey Williams, a Democrat from Allegheny County who is the minority chair of the Education Committee, said that as an attorney she once worked with the National Whistleblower Center.

“I know it’s a high bar for a jury to find that there is unlawful retaliation,” she said. “I hope and I expect that the system takes these matters seriously and holds its leaders accountable. … It will reflect and have dramatic impact on the culture of the entire institution if those things are not taken seriously.”

Mash last year called on Hanna to resign or be fired, asserting that Commonwealth had not thrived under Hanna’s leadership but, rather, suffered “budget woes, declining enrollment, hiring issues, major technical failures, various leadership crises, and sinking morale.”

A 2019 Inquirer investigation found that Hanna also had been quietly pushed out of two other jobs after being accused of mistreating employees, women in particular. The state system has continued to defend Hanna, who asserted at the time that he left Kutztown University — another school in the state system — and Delaware Valley University because of disputes over leadership style, not misconduct.

» READ MORE: Bloomsburg University president, accused of sexual harassment, was previously forced out of two jobs

At Bloomsburg, his executive assistant alleged that Hanna engaged in inappropriate and unwanted behavior — calling her “dear,” rubbing her shoulder, and kissing her on the forehead behind his closed office door. Hanna also was accused of sliding the tip of his toe against her shin.

PASSHE, after investigating the woman’s claims, found that Hanna’s behavior was “clearly inappropriate” but not “sexual in nature.” In a settlement with the woman, the school and PASSHE agreed to pay $40,000 for her attorney’s fees and to cover her tuition if she left the university before finishing her degree.

Hanna, in a 2019 Inquirer interview, responded to the allegations at the three universities: “Every one of us has detractors. Every one of us has critics. When you are engaged in being a transformational change agent, some people who have done some things the way they have done them for 50 years might not like the direction we’re going.”