Amy
Wax
Penn
Law
School
professor
Amy
Wax
got
off
remarkably
light
when
a
hearing
board
recommended
a
one-year
slap
on
the
wrist
for
her
persistent
attacks
on
the
integrity
of
the
school
and
its
minority
students.
But
she
appealed
anyway
only
for
the
full
procedure
to
reach
the
same
conclusion
as
the
hearing
board.
She
still
has
a
job
and
her
tenure
remains
intact.
Not
a
bad
outcome
for
Wax.
While
the
professor
certainly
would
rather
suffer
no
sanction,
having
beaten
back
the
tenure
challenge,
she
can
carry
on
reasonably
secure
in
the
knowledge
that
there’s
nothing
she
can
do
that
can
get
her
much
more
than
a
temporary
pay
cut.
Technically,
the
final
sanction
is
one
year
at
half
pay
and
summer
pay,
a
public
reprimand,
the
loss
of
her
named
chair,
and
a
requirement
that
she
must
always
clarify
that
she’s
not
speaking
for
or
as
a
member
of
Penn
Law.
Very
interested
to
see
how
that
last
bit
gets
interpreted
when
she
appears
on
an
hour-long
webcast
with
“Penn
Law
School
Professor”
slapped
on
a
chyron
the
whole
time.
It’s
been
a
long
journey
to
this
point.
In
2017,
Penn
Law
School
professor
Amy
Wax
wrote
an
article
extolling
the
superiority
of
white
culture.
The
school
did
nothing
at
that
juncture,
respecting
her
free
speech
rights
over
their
interest
as
an
employer
in
not
having
a
professor
publicly
suggest
that
the
school’s
minority
students
are
inferior.
Then
she
publicly
declared
Black
students
don’t
graduate
in
the
top
half
of
the
Penn
class
despite,
obviously,
having
no
support
for
this
claim.
Making
up
stuff
about
the
school
and
undermining
the
integrity
of
the
school’s
blind
grading
policy
got
her
suspended
from
teaching
1Ls.
From
there,
she
said
the
country
needs
“fewer
Asians,”
blamed
women
for
ruining
universities,
and
brought
a
white
nationalist
to
campus.
At
that
point,
the
school
had
enough
and
conducted
an
independent
investigation
and
ultimately
went
to
the
Faculty
Senate,
settling
on
the
lackluster
sanctions
now
affirmed
on
appeal.
Oh,
and
because
the
school
year
has
already
started,
these
won’t
take
effect
until
next
year.
Presumably
that
means
Wax
will
still
bring
that
white
nationalist
back
to
class
this
year…
he’s
scheduled
to
address
the
class
in
December.
Alex
Morey
of
the
Foundation
for
Individual
Rights
and
Expression
complained
of
the
sanctions:
Faculty
nationwide
may
now
pay
a
heavy
price
for
Penn’s
willingness
to
undercut
academic
freedom
for
all
to
get
at
this
one
professor.
After
today,
any
university
under
pressure
to
censor
a
controversial
faculty
member
need
only
follow
Penn’s
playbook.But
academic
freedom
is
designed
to
protect
controversial
faculty
from
being
punished
for
their
speech
or
opinions.
In
an
era
when
political
forces
right
and
left
are
all
too
eager
to
sanitize
campuses
of
voices
and
views
they
dislike,
faculty
nationwide
must
be
able
to
rely
on
the
time-tested
principles
of
academic
freedom.
I’m
not
sure
“academic
freedom”
is
about
professors
collecting
paychecks
to
cite
Wikipedia.
Which
is
both
objectively
funny
and
quite
relevant.
Academic
freedom
is
designed
to
allow
scholars
to
pursue
controversial
research…
and
then
have
it
peer
reviewed
and
published
and,
ideally,
advance
the
field.
An
academic
who
can’t
find
better
support
for
their
theories
than
Wikipedia
would
dismiss
their
hypothesis
and
move
on.
Wax
just
shifted
to
writing
newspaper
op-eds
about
white
superiority
which
is
not,
to
be
clear,
scholarship.
Nothing
about
Wax’s
punishment
has
anything
to
do
with
academic
freedom.
The
school
isn’t
penalizing
her
for
pursuing
controversial
work,
they’re
penalizing
her
for
lying
about
the
school’s
grading
policies,
bashing
Asian
Americans,
and
bringing
a
white
nationalist
to
class.
Of
the
three,
only
the
last
is
marginally
defensible
as
a
matter
of
“academic
freedom,”
and
it’s
only
as
defensible
as
the
idea
that
you
have
to
show
hardcore
porn
in
class
to
understand
obscenity
laws.
You
don’t.
You
can
just
teach
the
material.
Law
students
are
sharp
enough
to
understand
Skokie
without
actually
bringing
Nazis
to
campus.
Rather
than
attacking
her
academic
work
—
or
even
her
free
speech
rights
as
a
private
citizen
—
these
sanctions
reflect
Penn’s
right
as
an
employer
to
not
tolerate
a
hostile
and
discriminatory
environment.
Which
is
why,
despite
FIRE’s
protestations,
faculty
nationwide
will
not
pay
a
heavy
price
over
this.
Defending
free
speech
sometimes
requires
draping
oneself
in
the
slippery
slope,
but
there’s
nothing
about
the
7+
years
of
inaction
that
got
to
this
point
that
will
translate
to
a
random
professor
doing
genuine
research.
Which
isn’t
an
excuse
not
to
remain
vigilant
against
attacks
on
academic
freedom.
But
these
facts
aren’t
the
rallying
cry
they
think
it
is.
Penn
will
sanction
Amy
Wax,
the
law
prof
who
invited
a
white
nationalist
to
speak
to
her
class
[Inquirer]
Earlier:
Penn
Decided
‘Inviting
White
Nationalists
To
Campus’
Only
Earned
Amy
Wax
A
Pay
Cut…
She
Appealed
Anyway
Law
Professors
Say
White
’50s
Culture
Is
Superior,
Other
Racist
Stuff
Joe
Patrice is
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Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
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