Kelly v. Pennsylvania State University Extension

The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Dr. Molly Kelly, an Enology Extension Educator at Pennsylvania State University Extension, against the Pennsylvania State University Extension and senior university officials. The case challenges Penn State’s use of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideology as a condition for promotion, and its refusal to promote Dr. Kelly because she did not sufficiently advance or describe the university’s DEI agenda in her promotion materials.

Dr. Kelly has served at Penn State Extension since 2018, working with grape and wine producers across Pennsylvania and co‑leading the Grape and Wine Team. She currently holds the rank of Educator Level 4 and became eligible for promotion to Educator Level 5 in 2023. She applied for promotion in 2023 and again in 2024.

In both cycles, the State Promotion Review Committee acknowledged that Dr. Kelly’s dossier showed “some evidence of meeting the requirements” for an Educator Level 5, yet each time, the committee denied her promotion after focusing on perceived shortcomings in the civil rights, diversity, and DEI‑related portions of her dossier, rather than her teaching, research, and service.

In a 2024 denial letter, the committee stated there was “no evidence of efforts to reach underserved audiences,” criticized “minimum diversity training hours,” and noted Dr. Kelly used an “old affirmative action and non-discrimination statement.”

When Dr. Kelly revised her materials and reapplied the following year, the 2025 denial letter again centered on DEI concerns. The committee questioned how activities such as site visits and technical assistance to LGBTQ‑owned and Greek Orthodox‑owned businesses reflected “receiving diversity training,” and stated that “the perception is that this ‘checked the box,’” suggesting that her efforts did not conform to the university’s preferred DEI narrative.

As a public institution, Penn State must comply with the First and Fourteenth Amendments. By conditioning promotion on Dr. Kelly’s willingness to frame her work through a DEI lens and articulate specific “learnings” from diversity training, the university has discriminated against Dr. Kelly for failing to promote the administrators’ preferred ideas about diversity, and forced her to endorse a state-approved message on DEI as a prerequisite for advancement in her vocation.

The Liberty Justice Center’s lawsuit seeks to halt Penn State’s use of DEI ideology as a gatekeeping tool in promotion decisions, to restore a merit‑based process, and to remedy the harm Dr. Kelly has suffered, including lost pay, loss of professional status, and reputational damage among her colleagues and the wider extension community.

“When universities punish educators for failing to conform to the dictates of DEI, they cross a constitutional line,” said Reilly Stephens, Senior Counsel and Director of Amicus Practice at the Liberty Justice Center. “Dr. Kelly declined to bend to the ideological coercion that has overtaken our public universities, and we are proud to represent her in asserting her rights.”

Kelly v. Pennsylvania State University Extension was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on February 5, 2026.