The dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School has called for a \u201cmajor sanction\u201d against a tenured professor known for making controversial statements about race and sexual identity.<\/p>\n
In late June, Law School Dean Ted Ruger sent a 12-page letter<\/a> accusing Professor Amy Wax of \u201cincessant racist, sexist, xenophobic and homophobic actions and statements.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAcademic freedom for a tenured scholar is, and always has been, premised on a faculty member remaining fit to perform the minimal requirements of the job,\u201d Ruger wrote. \u201cHowever, Wax\u2019s conduct demonstrates a \u2018flagrant disregard of the standards, rules, or mission of the University.’\u201d<\/p>\n According to Penn\u2019s policy handbook<\/a>, a \u201cmajor sanction\u201d means \u201ctermination; suspension; reduction in academic base salary; zero salary increases stipulated in advance for a period of four or more years.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Penn did not respond to a College Fix<\/em> request to comment. In a statement<\/a> to The Daily Pennsylvanian<\/em>, Penn Law spokesperson Meredith Rovine confirmed the charges against Wax will now be evaluated by “a group of her peers” among the university’s tenured faculty.<\/p>\n Wax\u2019s public comments have long been<\/a> the subject of controversy.<\/p>\n In 2018, she bemoaned the underperformance of black students at the Penn Law School, saying, \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen a black student graduate in the top quarter of the [law school] class, and rarely, rarely in the top half.\u201d<\/p>\n Wax later told<\/a> television host Tucker Carlson there \u201cis just a tremendous amount of resentment and shame of non-western peoples against western peoples for western peoples\u2019 outsized achievements and contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2021, Wax invited a white supremacist named Jared Taylor to be a featured guest speaker in one of her courses.<\/p>\n \u201cTo have Taylor as her guest at a lunch with her students who were expected to attend, crosses the line of what is acceptable in a University environment where principles of non-discrimination apply,\u201d Ruger wrote in his letter.<\/p>\n In 2022, Wax said America would be \u201cbetter off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration.\u201d She allegedly stated in class that Mexican men are more likely to assault women and that such a stereotype was acceptable because everyone believes \u201cGermans are punctual.\u201d She also allegedly said gay couples are not fit to raise children.<\/p>\n As a result of her comments about black achievement, Wax was barred in 2018 from teaching first-year classes.<\/p>\n Wax did not immediately respond to a request by The College Fix<\/em> to comment.<\/p>\n Wax has set up a website<\/a> to raise money for her legal defense fund. To date, she has raised over $25,000 to pay her legal bills, including a single anonymous $10,000 contribution.<\/p>\n On the fundraising site, she states Ruger\u2019s letter is \u201clittered with indignant invective and unsubstantiated and distorted claims.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPenn Law Dean Ruger\u2019s latest steps are part of a longstanding campaign at Penn Law School against me based on my stated positions, opinions, and speech, and despite my stellar performance as an award-winning teacher and academic during my decades-long career as a law professor,\u201d Wax wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cPenn\u2019s actions represent an unprecedented and deeply destructive threat to the practice and traditions of free expression on campus and the tenure protections afforded to professors who express unpopular views. They are further evidence of the \u2018woke\u2019 takeover of our university system, which seeks to stifle and punish dissent and purge our campuses of any deviation from a narrow set of progressive dogmas.\u201d<\/p>\n Wax is represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a group supporting free speech on college campuses.<\/p>\n In a summary<\/a> of the Wax case, Graham Piro of FIRE wrote that while Wax\u2019s statements may be \u201coffensive to many,\u201d her speech \u201cremains protected by Penn\u2019s promises of academic freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUniversities should take pervasive complaints against faculty members seriously, and conduct falling outside of First Amendment protection \u2014 or, at a private university like Penn, protections promised by the university \u2014 should be dealt with in a clear and transparent manner,\u201d Piro wrote. \u201cBut faculty must not be penalized for their protected expression, especially protected expression outside the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruger\u2019s letter charges that Wax\u2019s statements, which he calls \u201cantithetical to the University\u2019s mission to foster a diverse and inclusive community,\u201d make her class less hospitable for students of color.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a result of Wax\u2019s derogatory and misleading statements, students who have taken her classes have expressed anxiety that they will be accused of being at the bottom of their class since the number of minority students in her classes is finite and easily identifiable,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n In late January, Wax participated in an interview<\/a> with Concordia University Professor Gad Saad in which she predicted she would be \u201croadkill \u2026 a casualty in the culture wars.\u201d<\/p>\n