Racial remarks made by a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School have led to her suspension.
University officials announced that Professor Amy Wax has been suspended for one year at half pay, along with other sanctions, following her racially charged comments made over recent years. The punishment also includes a public reprimand.
In addition to the suspension, Wax, who has questioned the academic performance of Black students, invited a white nationalist to speak in her class, and suggested the U.S. would benefit from reduced Asian immigration, will lose her named chair and summer pay in perpetuity. She is also required to clarify in public appearances that she speaks for herself and not as a representative of the university or law school.
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The suspension will begin in the 2025-2026 academic year. However, the university has not fired her or revoked her tenure, according to The Associated Press.
After the announcement, Wax told the New York Sun that she intends to remain at the school as a “conservative presence on campus.” She dismissed allegations of mistreatment of students as “totally bogus and made up,” and characterized her treatment as “performance art,” claiming the administration “doesn’t want conservatives like me on campus.”
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In a notice posted in the university’s almanac, the school stated that a faculty hearing board found Wax guilty of “flagrant unprofessional conduct” following a three-day hearing in May of last year. The board cited a history of making “sweeping and derogatory generalizations about groups by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status.” Additionally, Wax was accused of breaching confidentiality by publicly discussing student grades by race and making discriminatory statements in the classroom, specifically targeting racial and ethnic groups with which many students identify.
Provost John L. Jackson Jr. emphasized that while academic freedom should be broad, instructors must maintain impartiality and not engage in conduct that creates an unequal educational environment. He noted that Wax’s behavior left many students concerned about her ability to fairly evaluate their academic performance.
Wax’s lawyer, David Shapiro, told the Daily Pennsylvanian in November that the university’s actions were driven by her public comments and some elements of her class on conservative thought, including hosting a white nationalist speaker. He added that the university’s case included “a handful of isolated, years-old allegations” of interactions with minority students, which he said were “highly contested.”
Wax, however, told the New York Sun that the allegations of abuse or discrimination were fabricated and used to justify penalizing her for expressing conservative, anti-“woke” views. She stated her commitment to exposing students to opinions they may not want to hear and expressed concern that campuses like Penn are “raising a generation of students who can’t deal with disagreement.”
In 2018, Wax was removed from teaching required first-year law courses after the law school dean accused her of making “disparaging and inaccurate” comments about the performance of Black students.
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