Law Schools

Dean Calls Amy Wax's Remarks 'Xenophobic And White Supremacist,' Passes World's Easiest Issue-Spotter

Don't worry, the school isn't go to DO something about it or anything.

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Amy Wax

Amy Wax

On the heels of Professor Amy Wax’s latest shenanigans — this time declaring that the country needs “fewer Asians” — Dean Ted Ruger of Penn Law School responded by calling out Wax’s statements as “xenophobic and white supremacist” because they were, in fact, xenophobic and white supremacist.

On the one hand, it’s encouraging to see the school issue a swift rebuke of these comments. From the Guardian:

“They serve as a persistent and tangible reminder that racism, sexism and xenophobia are not theoretical abstractions but are real and insidious beliefs in this country and in our building,” Ruger said of Wax’s comments.

Students and alumni need to know that the school doesn’t condone the sentiment spewing forth under its good name. Every time Wax pops up in white nationalist whack-a-mole, she drags the University of Pennsylvania’s reputation and credibility into it. She’s trading on her institution’s good will every time she cites Wikipedia to make an “academic” case for bigotry.

On the other hand, this response just underscores the school’s repeated attempts to slide Wax’s behavior under the rug for years. In 2017,  when students and alumni first called on the school to do something about Wax’s public comments, Dean Ruger refused to do so and then tried to pretend nothing happened. Months later, after Wax took the lack of action as an invitation to go bolder and claim that Black students rarely finish in the top half of Penn Law, Ruger finally relieved her of 1L teaching duties.

Query whether that was a punishment or a gift.

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Whatever it was, it wasn’t a deterrent. Wax next spoke at a conference that wasn’t named “Take Back The White” but could’ve been, telling attendees that “our country will be better off with more whites and fewer non-whites.” At this point, Dean Ruger really put his foot down and gave her a paid vacation. As we wrote at the time:

A statement from Dean Ted Ruger said, “At best, the reported remarks espouse a bigoted theory of white cultural and ethnic supremacy; at worst, they are racist.” How is that “at best”? What, exactly, is the distinction between “a bigoted theory of white cultural and ethnic supremacy” and racism? Even if we were to adopt Wax’s own hypertechnical theory that it’s not racist if it’s not biologically based, it’s all white supremacy. Dean Ruger’s literally saying “at best X, at worst also X.”

But now we have a fresh set of “xenophobic and white supremacist” remarks. What’s going to happen now…

In a scathing response, Dean Theodore Ruger acknowledged that while Wax’s comments were protected by freedom of speech and she held tenure at the college, they were “diametrically opposed to the policies and ethos of this institution”.

So… not so scathing.

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Not to continue to repeat myself, but tenure has limits. The institution protects academic freedom and scholarly exploration not the right to slap together unsupported troll articles and appear on webcasts to complain about “non-whites.” Most tenure agreements include provisions for terminating a professor for failing to fulfill their teaching obligations — she’s been banned from teaching 1Ls! If there’s any dip in attendance for her random electives it would seem as though she’s not living up to her end of the tenure agreement. That’s before we get into whether it’s fair to say that someone who publicly declares that Black students aren’t doing well at Penn contributes to a discriminatory environment (and that’s entirely fair).

But I guess I have to repeat myself, because Penn keeps repeating itself: “blah blah these statements are offensive and white supremacist but tenure is more important than a respectful, discrimination-free environment for minority students blah blah blah.”

Stay tuned for the inevitable next article on this topic in a few months.

US law professor condemned for ‘white supremacist’ comments by own dean [The Guardian]

Earlier: Law Professor Amy Wax Expands Racism Portfolio To Declare That America Needs ‘Fewer Asians’
Penn Law’s Holiday Letter Adroitly Avoids That Whole ‘Superior Culture’ Incident This Year
Law School Professor Amy Wax Cites Wikipedia And We Need To Stop Pretending Tenure Was Made For This
Amy Wax’s Racist Remarks Force Penn Law School To Let Her Take A Paid Vacation
T14 Law Professor Goes To White Nationalism Conference And Says White Nationalist Things And Somehow Still Has A Job
Academia Means Never Having To Say, ‘I Got Fired’
T14 Law Professor Goes To White Nationalism Conference And Says White Nationalist Things And Somehow Still Has A Job
Professor Amy Wax And The Bell Curve
Law Professors Say White ’50s Culture Is Superior, Other Racist Stuff
Penn Law School Prof Amy Wax Stumbles Into A Truth… Before Delving Back Into Vile Conspiracy Theories
Amy Wax Relieved Of Her 1L Teaching Duties After Bald-Faced Lying About Black Students
Professor Declares Black Students ‘Rarely’ Graduate In The Top Half Of Law School Class
Dog Whistling ‘Bourgeois Values’ Op-Ed Gets Thorough Takedown From Other Law Professors
Law Students Seek To Ban Professor From Teaching 1Ls
Law School Professor Says Dr. Ford ‘Should Have Held Her Tongue’ In Latest Embarrassment To Her School
Berkeley Law School Group Invites Amy Wax To Headline Event In Effort To Lower The Bar Even Further

HeadshotJoe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

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