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University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax is suing her institution, asking a judge to overturn Penn’s sanctions against her. Those punishments—handed down by some of Wax’s fellow faculty and approved by two successive Penn presidents—were finalized in September after Wax’s long history of offensive statements.
Among other sanctions, Penn has publicly reprimanded Wax and is suspending her next academic year at half pay, plus eliminating her summer pay in perpetuity.
Wax filed the federal lawsuit Jan. 16, alleging that Penn racially discriminated against her by punishing her speech as a white Jewish woman about Black students but not pro-Palestinian faculty members’ expression that allegedly endorsed violence against Jews—or another professor’s praise of the Penn alumnus who allegedly killed UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive officer.
“Some races may not be criticized while other racial or ethnic groups can be—and routinely are—subjected to virulently racist speech without consequence,” the suit says. It adds that “White speakers are far more likely to be disciplined for ‘harmful’ speech while minority speakers are rarely, if ever, subject to disciplinary procedures for the same.”
A former dean of Penn’s law school previously alleged that Wax told a Black student that “she had only become a double Ivy ‘because of affirmative action.’” He also alleged that Wax said in class that “gay couples are not fit to raise children” and that “Mexican men are more likely to assault women,” and alleged she publicly said that “given the realities of different rates of crime, different average IQs, people have to accept without apology that Blacks are not going to be evenly distributed through all occupations.”
Wax didn’t comment Friday. A Penn spokesperson said, “We typically do not offer comment on pending litigation.”