Penn Law Prof Amy Wax Speaks Out About Sanctions Imposed On Her: 'The Woke Catechism Is Contrary To Every First Amendment Principle'

Law.com, UPenn Law Professor Amy Wax Speaks Out About the Sanctions Brought Against Her:

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School professor Amy Wax spoke to Law.com on Friday about sanctions the Penn Faculty Senate imposed on her last May, as she maintains that her speech is protected by the Constitution.

“I’m totally screwed and Penn is just sailing along regardless of all their rhetoric about the First Amendment and free expression, they don’t mean a thing,” Wax said in an interview with Law.com. “The fact that they’re continuing to pursue me shows that none of that stuff can be taken seriously.” ...

[A] three-day hearing was held ... in May 2023, where the hearing board recommended that Wax should face sanctions, including the school issuing a public reprimand, being suspended for a year at half-pay, losing her named chair, and loss of summer pay in perpetuity. ...

While Wax said the May meeting was supposed to be kept confidential, The Philadephia Inquirer obtained documents from the meeting and reported on the proposed sanctions in late February. Wax speculated that the leak may have been an effort to “light a fire under Penn.”

“It’s all psychologized,” Wax said. “What the woke catechism, the woke set of precepts, has done is that they’ve taken subjective reactions and made them reign supreme, which is completely contrary to every First Amendment principle that ever existed.”

The hearing board said Wax’s behavior “exemplifies inequitably targeted disrespect, a completely made up standard,” which Wax said is “totally fabricated, found nowhere in any authoritative source and the faculty handbook in any prior statement, and a standard that is egregiously, glaringly and blatantly violated by some of the pro-Palestinian and the Antisemitic statements that have recently been made. I mean, if I’m guilty of that, they’re guilty of that exactly.” ...

“The hearing conducted by the so-called hearing board can only be described as grotesque and its report is a shambles,” Wax said, adding that the report “doesn’t even address most of the allegations and charges against me.”

New York Sun, Free Speech Group Accuses Penn of Illegitimately Sanctioning Professor Who Enraged Liberals With Statements About Black Student Achievement:

The University of Pennsylvania’s law school has for years been seeking to punish Professor Amy Wax, who publicly stated that she had never ‘seen a Black student graduate in the top quarter of the class, and rarely, rarely in the top half.’

A free speech group, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, is denouncing the University of Pennsylvania for its years-long efforts to punish a tenured law professor, Amy Wax, for her provocative comments about race and gender.

FIRE’s criticism of Penn comes as documents leaked from Dr. Wax’s June 2023 “trial” bolster her assertion that the charges against her are pretextual and a clumsy attempt by disgruntled administrators to circumvent the professor’s tenureship. Dr. Wax has enraged Penn students and faculty with statements she made about the performance of Black students in her classes, among other heterodox comments.

• Daily Pennsylvanian, Leaked Documents Shed New Light on Recommended Amy Wax Sanctions, Her Appeal to Penn
• Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Amy Wax Hearing Report Confirms Fears Over Erosion of Academic Freedom at Penn
• Philadelphia Inquirer, A Leaked Memo Offers Details on the Case Against Penn Law Professor Amy Wax, Accused of Racist Speech and Behavior

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Wax & Alexander: Paying The Price For Breakdown Of The Country's Bourgeois Culture (Aug. 13, 2017)
• Reaction To Law Profs' Op-Ed On The Breakdown Of The 'Bourgeois Culture' (Aug. 25, 2017)
• Penn Law Students Try To Ban Amy Wax From Teaching Civil Procedure Due To Her Breakdown Of The Bourgeois Culture Op-Ed (Sept. 10, 2017)
• Controversy Over Law Profs' Op-Ed On The Breakdown Of The 'Bourgeois Culture' Shifts From Penn To San Diego (Sept. 21, 2017)
• More Law Prof Reactions To The Wax & Alexander Op-Ed On The Breakdown Of The 'Bourgeois Culture' (Sept. 22, 2017)
• Reynolds: It Is Time Academics Preach the Virtues They Practice (Sept. 26, 2017)
• Penn Alumni Speak Out Against Breakdown Of The 'Bourgeois Culture' Op-Ed (Sept. 26, 2017)
• Wax: The Closing Of The Academic Mind (Feb. 19, 2018)
• Penn Dean Denies Amy Wax's Claim That He Asked Her To Take Leave Due To Controversial Op-Ed (Feb. 21, 2018)
• Heather McDonald: The Penn Law School Mob Scores A Victory (Mar. 19, 2018)
• Amy Wax: The University Of Denial — Aggressive Suppression Of The Truth Is A Central Feature Of American Higher Education (Mar. 24, 2018)
• Amy Wax Controversy Drags Penn Law Into Free-Speech Dilemma (July 27, 2019)
• Penn Law Removes Statement On RBG’s Death After Inclusion Of Amy Wax Quote Sparked Outrage (Sept. 29, 2020)
• Penn Law Dean Ruger Responds To Comments Made By Professor Wax (Jan. 6, 2022)
• Debate Intensifies Over Potential Discipline For Penn Law Prof Amy Wax (Jan. 15, 2022)
• Penn Law Dean Starts Process That Could Lead To Sanctions On Professor Amy Wax (Jan. 19, 2022)
• More Commentary On The Amy Wax Controversy At Penn (Part 1) (Jan. 25, 2022)
• More Commentary On The Amy Wax Controversy At Penn (Part 2) (Jan. 31, 2022)
• Penn Law Dean Ted Ruger Requests Faculty Senate Impose ‘Major Sanction’ Against Tenured Professor Amy Wax (July 18, 2022)
• Amy Wax Raises Over $125,000 To Defend Against ‘Major Sanction’ By Penn; Academic Freedom Alliance Calls For 'Complete Exoneration' (July 25, 2022)
• A Response To Penn Dean Ruger’s Letter Calling For A Major Sanction Against Professor Amy Wax (Aug. 4, 2022)
• Are Contributions To Amy Wax's Legal Defense Fund Tax Deductible? (Sept. 5, 2022)
• Amy Wax Submits 59-Page Memo Seeking Postponement Of Penn Disciplinary Proceedings, Citing Cancer Treatment (Sept. 20, 2022)
• post, Facing Major Sanctions, Amy Wax Files Grievance Against Penn Law Dean Ted Ruger (Jan. 27, 2023)
• This Penn Law Professor Has Been Offending Minorities For Years. Will Tenure Save Her? (Feb. 18, 2023)
• NY Times: UPenn Accuses A Law Professor Of Racist Statements. Should She Be Fired? (Mar. 15, 2023)
• 'Academic Freedom Has To Protect The Amy Waxes So It Can Be There To Protect The Galileos' (Mar. 22, 2023)
• Tenured Law Professor Amy Wax, Under Siege For ‘Truth Telling’ On Race, Makes Her Case (Apr. 5, 2023)
• Amy Wax And The Limits of Academic Freedom (Apr. 19, 2023)
• Amy Wax Appeals Sanctions Imposed By Penn Faculty Senate (1-Year Suspension At 50% Pay, Loss Of Chair) (Feb. 21, 2024)
• More Criticism Of The Sanctions Imposed On Penn Law Prof Amy Wax (Feb. 27, 2024)