Point Park faculty OKs vote of no confidence in president
Board of trustees supports Hennigan
Citing long-simmering complaints over declining pay and staffing issues, Point Park University faculty have approved a vote of no confidence in school president Paul Hennigan.
Mr. Hennigan has served as the top administrator at the Downtown school for the past 11 years.
In response, Point Park University Board of Trustees has appointed an independent expert to “thoroughly review this matter and report back to the board,” according to a school press release.
The school, which declined to give more details on who would conduct the review or the timeline for the investigation, stated, “President Hennigan and the administration have the full support of the Board of Trustees.”
The no-confidence vote was held Wednesday during a faculty assembly meeting on campus. Though an earlier statement from the faculty had said 140 professors were expected to vote, the final tally included 89 professors, according to John Shepard, a professor of theatre.
The measure, which included seven broad grievances including failures to “honestly and fully inform” faculty and to “sustain a culture of diversity and equality,” passed with 53 percent approval. About 44 percent voted against the measure and 3 percent abstained, according to Mr. Shepard.
Although largely symbolic, the no-confidence is a sign of tumult in Point Park faculty ranks and forces the school to address grievances as classes are set to begin next week.
It also comes as Point Park full-time faculty members are scheduled to vote on their firstever union-bargained contract on Friday. A tentative agreement was announced on Wednesday by the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh, which the faculty voted in 2004 to represent them.
(Disclaimer: The Newspaper Guild, a local chapter of the Communications Workers of America, also represents editorial staff members at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)
Mr. Shepard emphasized the no-confidence vote was
independent of the union’s efforts and a result of issues that had developed over a period of years.
“Even if we had a contract, and in a perfect world we had our perfect contract last May, we still would have held the vote,” he said. “We’re sending a strong message to the Board of Trustees about our relationship with Paul Hennigan.”
In a press release issued by the faculty organization ahead of the vote, the group took issue with a “strategic realignment” that resulted in the dismissal of 32 fulland part-time staff members over the summer break in 2016.
Meanwhile, the school issued a defense of Mr. Hennigan and the administration.
“The board has heard high praise and positive feedback regarding Dr. Hennigan’s leadership from students, parents, donors, alumni and community leaders,” the school said in its press release responding to the vote. “The board has received two professionally administered faculty evaluations of Dr. Hennigan that were positive.”
Yet the statement noted “the need for continuous improvement and trust in building effective relationships between faculty and administration.”