(OPINION) 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.
Some of the workshops included a presentation captioned “White Teachers are a Problem,” according to the lawsuit.
“The ‘White Teachers are a Problem’ video imposed on Penn State faculty… associated ‘White supremacy’ with all the evils of the world,” according to the suit.
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.
He said the university wanted him to believe that “as a White individual, I’m somehow responsible for all the injustices and suffering currently in the world and in the history of the world.”
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. Naydan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
