A federal judge dismissed on Thursday, March 6 a 2023 lawsuit filed by Zack K. De Piero against the school, Penn State trustees, and Penn State administrators.
De Piero, a former writing professor at Penn State Abington, alleged in his lawsuit that the school violated Title VII and the Pennsylvania Human Rights Act by “creat[ing] a racially hostile environment”.
Judge Wendy Beetlestone of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania wrote that to succeed on his hostile work environment claim, De Piero must show that: “(1) he suffered intentional discrimination because of his protected status; (2) ‘the discrimination was severe or pervasive;’ (3) it ‘detrimentally affected’ him; and, (4) it ‘would detrimentally affect a reasonable person in like circumstances'”. To determine employer liability, “the plaintiff also must show that respondeat superior liability exists.”
Beetlestone held that the alleged conduct was neither severe nor pervasive enough to establish a hostile work environment claim under federal or state antidiscrimination laws, granting summary judgment in favor of the university.
“No rational trier of fact could view occurrences such as receiving campus-wide e-mails about the murder of George Floyd, Juneteenth, and the hiring of police officers; being invited to review scholarly materials and engage in conversations about antiracist approaches to teaching and learning; and, discussing allegations of harassment levied by and against him as sufficiently ‘extreme’ to sustain his charge of ‘severe’ harassment,” Beetlestone wrote.
The decision can be found below:
The lawsuit alleged that the university maintained a racially hostile work environment through a series of incidents that involved discussions on race, antiracism and critical race theory as well as a series of internal complaints involving the plaintiff.
An excerpt from the suit:
First, Defendants’ bigotry manifests itself in low expectations. They do not expect black or Hispanic students to achieve the same mastery of academic subject matters as other students and therefore insist that deficient performance must be excused. Accurate assessment of abilities, if it happens to show disparate performance among different racial groups, is therefore condemned as ‘racist.’ Second, Defendants’ bigotry manifests itself in overt discrimination against students and faculty who do apply consistent standards, especially white faculty.
De Piero, who was hired in 2018 and resigned in August 2022, has filed multiple complaints with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging discrimination.
His lawsuit can be found below:
According to higher education-centric news outlet HR Dive, allegations of “reverse discrimination” by majority-group employees are expected to increase in the foreseeable future in part due to renewed public scrutiny of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“Some federal courts have allowed majority-group plaintiffs to proceed with discrimination lawsuits in recent weeks, but litigation against employers’ DEI programming has seen mixed results for plaintiffs,” HR Dive said.
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Feature image courtesy of Fox News