Penn Suspends Amy Wax, Law Professor Accused of Racially Inappropriate Remarks

The University of Pennsylvania has suspended Amy Wax, a tenured law professor accused of making racist, sexist and homophobic remarks, for a year and a half of salary. It’s a significant sanction, but it falls short of the dismissal some students have sought.

The university sent a “public letter of reprimand” to Dr. Wax outlining the terms of his suspension, which will begin in the fall of 2025 and also includes the loss of his professorship and the loss of his summer salary in perpetuity.

The disciplinary proceedings against Dr. Wax have tested tenure protections for professors and whether those protections permit them to express views that might be considered Dr. Wax’s comments were inappropriate or downright insulting. Many students said they couldn’t trust Dr. Wax to grade students without bias. But many professors — even those who found her comments deeply racist — opposed punishing her, in the name of academic freedom.

She has been accused, among other things, of calling some non-Western countries “dums” and saying that “women, on average, are less educated than men.” She has said that black people in the United States and people in non-Western countries feel shame for the “outsized achievements and contributions” of Westerners, and has called television advertisements showing “black men married to white women in a high-society home” unrealistic.

Dr Wax denied making some of the comments and said others were taken out of context.

She also invited a white nationalist, Jared Taylor, to class.

In a 12-page complaint filed in 2023, Theodore Ruger, then dean of the law school, wrote that Dr. Wax had shown “blatant and callous disregard” for students, faculty and staff, subjecting them to “intentional and relentless racist, sexist, xenophobic and homophobic actions and statements.”

Her statements, the complaint adds, “led students and faculty to reasonably believe that they would be subjected to discriminatory animus if they came into contact with her.” Mr. Ruger declined to comment Monday.

Dr. Wax declined to comment on the decision. She has previously warned that she would sue the university if she were sanctioned. Dr. Wax’s attorney, David J. Shapiro, also declined to comment.

For many free speech groups, the case represented a threat to one of the fundamental principles of academic tenure: the right of professors to speak freely, without fear of punishment, whether in public or in the classroom.

Responding to the suspension, Alex Morey, an official with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech advocacy group, said Penn’s decision “should send a chill down the spine of every faculty member, not just at Penn but at every private institution in the country.”

Morey, the director of the student rights group, said the University of Pennsylvania had changed its usual disciplinary procedure to pursue Dr. Wax. She added that she was pleased that the University of Pennsylvania had not revoked Dr. Wax’s tenure, which she said showed how baseless the allegations were.