He says he was promised a new role, then let go with no hearing
A former university administrator alleges he was fired without a hearing after he reported that student technology fees were being misused. He is now suing.
The complaint, filed July 24, 2026 in the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, names Bloomsburg University - now known as Commonwealth University - and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), together with four senior administrators. For HR readers, the filing turns on two familiar pressure points: the process owed before a termination, and whether an adverse decision followed a protected disclosure.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff joined the university in August 2018 as a tenure-track assistant professor in the College of Business. The filing says he was later named a fellow, co-coordinated a graduate program, and was promoted to associate professor in his third year rather than the standard five. He was later put in charge of a project to integrate the technology systems of three campuses, and by June 2023, the complaint states, he had been promoted to chief information officer.
The complaint alleges that he discovered a significant portion of student technology fees had been, in its words, "illegally transferred" to the state system instead of being spent locally on technology. The filing says that when he raised the issue with the university president, he was told the matter was already known but that he should not discuss it and should instead resolve it with the chief financial officer.
The complaint also describes growing friction with the university president. It alleges that after the plaintiff met with a technology vendor about problems with the project, the president confronted him, asking, "What the hell happened yesterday?" and telling him, "The chancellor wants me to fire you." The filing says the president went on to criticize the plaintiff's handling of project spending, at one point mockingly calling a campus wireless project the plaintiff's "Maserati project" and brushing aside the plaintiff's response that an outside consultant had approved it two years earlier.
The filing says the plaintiff was told a new faculty position was being created for him for fall 2024. Instead, the complaint alleges, on or about July 30, 2024 a vice president terminated his employment - at the direction of the president and the system chancellor - without giving him the hearing the filing says was required under Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, the 1985 US Supreme Court decision addressing the process public employees are generally due before dismissal.
The complaint describes the plaintiff as a "whistleblower" under Pennsylvania's Whistleblower Law who reported "wrongdoing" and "waste." Across seven counts, it alleges violations of due process and the First Amendment under 42 U.S.C. §1983, retaliation under the Pennsylvania Whistleblower Law, civil conspiracy, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The plaintiff seeks damages in excess of $75,000, along with punitive damages, front and back pay, and attorney's fees.
The claims rest on issues public-sector HR functions encounter regularly: whether an employee with a property interest in their position received the process due before termination, and whether an adverse decision followed a protected disclosure closely enough to support a retaliation claim.
The allegations have not been tested in court. The defendants have not yet filed a response, and no court has ruled.
