The College Fix

‘Might as well just erase the veritas from our mission statement’

“Truth doesn’t matter,” at the University of Pennsylvania, according to Professor Amy Wax.

Wax, who is currently facing a slew of punishments for a handful of comments made through the year, made the comment during an interview with Brown University Professor Glenn Loury.

The law school wants to cut her pay, remove her classes from the law school, and prohibit her from speaking in public as a Penn law professor. She would also be publicly reprimanded and lose her professor chair, according to the leaked document.

Her case is currently in its final appeal, Wax told Loury on his podcast March 20, but released last week. It has been with the Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility for five months now, Wax said

She also called the report “brazen and absurd.”

Loury, who is black, said that Wax’s statements are “arguably true” as facts or reasonable opinions.

They include: saying that black Americans have “on average…lower cognitive ability than whites,” saying there are differences in average IQs which contribute to uneven distributions of black people through different occupations, and saying crime in the cities is a “minority problem.”

She also said “family breakdown,” “high crime rates,” and “educational underachievement” is what holds black Americans back more than racism or discrimination.

Wax called her views “standard conservative takes on very important social issues of group differences and group performances,” she said. “Social issues that are at the heart of woke ideology, which is taking over the university, and which are totally appropriate for comment and critique.”

Loury agreed.

“Here’s what I find to be absolutely shocking: Those statements are demonstrable statements of fact or legitimate statements of opinion, some of which I’ve made myself,” he said. “You can’t say that, you cannot say that without violating the standards… That’s very distressing to me.”

She said this report says there are only “narrowly defined statements or opinions” allowed.

“You violated the orthodoxy by deviating from the script, from the accepted script” Wax said. “They seem unabashed about imposing that, while at the same time talking about how they have to protect academic freedom, they have to protect free speech.”

She compared her treatment to how former President Liz Magill told Congress the university protects First Amendment standards of free speech, in reference to antisemitism complaints on campus.

Wax brought up complaints about antisemitism from Jewish students as a contrast to how other students have their concerns heard when their feelings are hurt.

However, when asked by Loury, she said conservatives should be careful about restricting speech due to complaints about antisemitism.

“I don’t think that… I actually am very suspicious of these claims of antisemitic upset on campus. I am a free speech absolutist,” she said.

“Conservatives should be very wary of these claims of offense and lack of safety because it will be turned against them,” she went on to say. “It will be predictably turned against them, it will be predictably turned against them as it has been turned against me.”

MORE: Check out the Campus Cancel Culture Database

IMAGE: The Glenn Show

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