Law Professors
Judge refuses to block sanctions for Penn Law prof accused of ‘discriminatory and disparaging statements’
The eastern facade of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School in 2006. (Photo by Jeffrey M. Vinocur, CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
A federal judge in Philadelphia has refused to block the University of Pennsylvania from sanctioning controversial professor Amy Wax of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, finding that the harm that she claims is not imminent and irreparable.
Senior U.S. District Judge Timothy Savage of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania denied Wax’s injunction request in a June 23 opinion, report Reuters and Bloomberg Law. The Volokh Conspiracy published opinion highlights.
Citing Wax’s “discriminatory and disparaging statements,” the university determined in September that it would suspend Wax with half pay and full benefits for the 2025-2026 academic year. The school also imposed a public reprimand, revoked her named chair position and blocked summer pay “in perpetuity.”
In a March 2022 letter to Wax, the university cited alleged conduct showing a callous disregard to the university community, including:
• Wax told a Black student who asked whether she agreed that Black people are inferior to white people, “You can have two plants that grow under the same conditions, and one will just grow higher than the other.”
• Wax asserted on a panel that “our country will be better off with more whites and fewer nonwhites.”
• Wax told the New Yorker that “women, on average, are less knowledgeable than men” and “less intellectual than men.”
• Wax said Black people have “different average IQs” than people of other races, and they won’t be “evenly distributed throughout all occupations.”
• Wax said Asian people lack “thoughtful and audacious individualism,” and “the United States is better off with fewer” of them.
Savage said Wax had not satisfied the requirements for an injunction.
“Wax has failed to show that harm to her reputation is imminent,” Savage said. “What effect the sanctions may have on her reputation has already occurred. She has been publicly disciplined and reprimanded. The sanctions have been publicized. Her suspension was announced. An injunction will not erase that record.”
Wax’s damages, if any, are monetary, Savage said.
Wax has sued for breach of contract, racial discrimination and false light invasion of privacy.
See also:
Penn Law is quicker to discipline whites than minorities, controversial prof alleges in lawsuit
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