Litigation Update: De Piero v. Pennsylvania State University

Professor Zack De Piero was an English professor at the Pennsylvania State University Abington campus before resigning and filing a lawsuit against the University in 2023 alleging that administrators and faculty members discriminated against him because of the color of his skin.

Professor De Piero claims the University's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives created a hostile work environment with a race-essentialism focus. Professor De Piero was required to attend professional development meetings to view videos such as “White Teachers Are a Problem”, and was directed to “assure that all students see that white supremacy manifests itself in language and in writing pedagogy.” He took the prescribed course of action and filed a bias report, to no avail.

Professor De Piero has now filed suit against Penn State in federal court, alleging violations of his civil rights under federal and Pennsylvania law. Penn State initially argued that De Piero's disparate treatment claim must be dismissed because he resigned from his job at Penn State, and, thus, did not suffer an adverse employment action. On January 11, 2024, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied Penn State’s motion to dismiss the discrimination claim against it by Professor De Piero. The case has now entered the discovery phase.

This was a Litigation Update on De Piero v. Pennsylvania State University with Michael Allen, one of Professor De Piero's attorneys and Partner at Allen Harris Law, and moderator William Trachman, General Counsel at the Mountain States Legal Foundation.