The University of Pennsylvania on Monday suspended a law professor who once said the country would be better off with fewer Asians and called India a “shitty country.”
Some called for Amy Wax to be fired.
Instead, she will be suspended for one year for what the faculty senate committee called “clearly unprofessional conduct,” the Philly Voice reported.
She will also have to forgo her summer pay, lose her professorship at Penn and must include a disclaimer when making public statements saying she is not speaking on behalf of the university or Penn Law School.
The university called the decision “final,” concluding a two-year investigation into her conduct.
Wax had appealed against the earlier ruling after the panel last year decided to sanction her following a hearing.
In an interview in 2021, Wax said the county would be better off “with less Asians and less immigrants.”
“When you bring in a lot of people who are new to our way of life, it makes it harder to assimilate them and have confidence that our way of life will continue,” she said.
In another Fox appearance, she described India as a “shitty country” and singled out Indian Brahmin women, saying they are successful in the US but “continue to trash America” despite their success.
Brahmins are the highest caste in Hinduism and make up about 5% of India’s population.
Inside Higher Education reports that Monday’s ruling marks the culmination of a debate between those who believe her comments were speech protected by academic freedom and those who argue that freedom does not include speech that is widely considered racist.
Wax declined to comment.
She will not lose her job or tenure.
According to The Daily Pennsylvanian, Wax regularly invites white supremacists to speak at his classes.
She has also made derogatory remarks about the academic performance of black students and said, “Our country would be better off with more white people and fewer non-white people.”
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