Penn State Professor Says School Forced Him to Teach English Language Is ‘White Supremacy’

A professor is suing Pennsylvania State University for race discrimination after he was subjected to instruction that the English language is racist and the embodiment of “White supremacy,” along with additional tirades against White people in professional development trainings, according to a lawsuit.

Professor Zack De Piero “was individually singled out for ridicule and humiliation because of the color of his skin,” the lawsuit, filed by The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), said.

De Piero was an English professor at Penn State Abington.

“When he complained about the continuous stream of racial insult directed at White faculty in the writing department, the director of the Affirmative Action Office told him that ‘There is a problem with the White race,’ that he should attend ‘antiracist’ workshops ‘until you get it,’ and that he might have mental health issues,” the lawsuit alleged.

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De Piero explained in an interview with Fox News Digital that he was expected by the university to submit to antiracist brainwashing and doctrine, particularly that he as a White person was inherently flawed on the basis of history.

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De Piero continued, “I think there is almost a religious, cult-like environment where you had this Original Sin. In this case, I’m White. I need to repent for that sin. I need to keep going to these [trainings], keep doing the work… I think they were waging a psychological war campaign and they’re trying to break people. And they almost broke me. But they didn’t.”

His direct report in the English department, Liliana Naydan, “expressed her view that racism practiced against White faculty and students is legitimate,” according to the lawsuit. {snip}

The lawsuit alleged Nayden tried to coerce faculty to introduce equity into the grading process to ensure there weren’t disparities by “penaliz[ing] students academically on the basis of race.”

“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,” the lawsuit said. “Second, Defendants’ bigotry manifests itself in overt discrimination against students and faculty who do apply consistent standards, especially White faculty.”

An equity administrator named in the suit, Alina Wong, engaged in breathing exercises in one session and suggested White staff needed to hold their breath longer than people of color in order to “‘feel the pain’ that George Floyd endured,” according to the lawsuit.

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Another professional development video said that “White English… kills people of color,” according to the suit.

De Piero’s direct report – Naydan – similarly “instructed her writing faculty to teach that White supremacy exists in language itself, and therefore, that the English language itself is ‘racist’ and, furthermore, that White supremacy exists in the teaching of writing of English, and therefore writing teachers are themselves racist white supremacists,” the suit said.

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The suit added Penn State maintained a “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” webpage where it “disseminated racist tirades against White faculty and students on the basis of their race,” the lawsuit said.

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