ANALYSIS: After years of investigating Wax and impugning her character, the university wanted her to be quiet
The University of Pennsylvania offered Professor Amy Wax $50,000 and reduced penalties if she would promise not to publicly criticize it ahead of tougher sanctions.
Wax is a conservative law professor who has faced years of investigations and criticism from university leaders and activists because of her comments on immigration, race, and IQ. The university announced earlier this week Wax will be suspended next year and only receive half of her salary during that time.
Interim President Larry Jameson accused Wax of “a history of making sweeping and derogatory generalizations about groups by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status,” in his “public reprimand” of her.
She will also be stripped of her named chair and lose her summer pay in perpetuity. She also has been ordered to “note in public appearances that you speak for yourself alone and not as a University or Penn Carey Law School faculty member,” according to the punishment announcement from Provost John Jackson.
She recently told The Washington Free Beacon that the school tried to get her to stay quiet in exchange for money. When she ultimately refused, Penn announced the sanctions, including suspension next year and a loss of pay.
The Free Beacon reported:
The quid pro quo was outlined in a draft settlement agreement presented to Wax in August and reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. That agreement—the product of months of negotiations between Penn and its embattled gadfly—would have let Wax keep her base salary during the course of her suspension and thrown in a one-time payment of $50,000, partially offsetting the loss in summer pay.
In return, Wax would agree “not to disparage the University” over the two-year-long process to which it subjected her. She would also waive her right to sue Penn or disclose the evidence she had presented in internal hearings to clear her name, including testimony from former students who called into question the charges against her.
“This case is about free expression,” Wax told the Free Beacon. “Penn wanted absolute silence. The big question is: Why do they want to hide what they’re doing?”
Wax has said “family breakdown,” “high crime rates,” and “educational underachievement” are what hold black Americans back more than racism or discrimination, as previously reported by The College Fix.
She also has suggested black law students underperform at the university, an allegation Penn has never disproven.
Meanwhile, several Penn professors and affiliates cheered on the punishment of a tenured law professor who offered her political opinions.
Penn Carey Law Dean Sophia Lee praised the process as “thorough, deliberative, and faculty driven,” in an email, as reported by The Daily Pennsylvanian.
The punishments are a “step in the right direction,” according to the personal opinion of law school student council president Alexander Diwan.
“Professor Wax’s racist comments threw her ability to fairly assess her students into question and undermined core values that should be dear to any educational institution: namely, the inclusion and acceptance of all students regardless of their identity,” Diwan said, as reported by the student newspaper.
The Black Law Students Association said it wants her fired.
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IMAGE: Federalist Society Penn Law/YouTube
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