A White Jewish professor has sued the University of Pennsylvania for breach of contract, accusing the institution of “racist double standards” for suspending her over race-related comments while allowing other employees to smear Jews without consequence.
Amy Wax, a tenured law school professor known for outspoken views on race and culture, asked a federal court to lift the sanctions imposed on her last year after a faculty hearing board found that her politically incorrect remarks violated the university’s speech policy.
In her lawsuit, Ms. Wax swung back by charging the university with applying a sliding scale on speech, citing examples of faculty members and staff making antisemitic remarks over the last year in relation to the Israel-Gaza War.
“The University’s Speech Policy discriminates based not only on the content of speech but also the racial identity of the speaker,” said the 53-page motion filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
“White speakers are far more likely to be disciplined for ‘harmful’ speech while minority speakers are rarely, if ever, subject to disciplinary procedures for the same,” the lawsuit said.
The complaint by Ms. Wax, who is White and Jewish, promises to set off fireworks as it takes on a host of hot-button issues in U.S. higher education, including free speech, diversity priorities, and anti-Israel protests on campus.
Private institutions like the University of Pennsylvania are not subject to the First Amendment, but the lawsuit argued that the school created a hostile work environment by allowing “speech targeting Jews while punishing Professor Wax for speech about affirmative action and other racial topics.”
The complaint also said that the university deviated from its own disciplinary policies by charging her with a “major infraction,” which the lawsuit described as reserved for criminal behavior, as opposed to a “minor infraction” for academic-conduct issues.
A Penn spokesperson told The Washington Times that “we typically do not comment on pending litigation.”
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>BREAKING: Amy Wax sues Penn, alleging the university’s speech policies and practices are both racially discriminatory and fail to meet promised First Amendment standards. Complaint is here: <a href=”https://t.co/1phntQcxmJ“>https://t.co/1phntQcxmJ</a> <a href=”https://t.co/6VJX1lOyRP“>pic.twitter.com/6VJX1lOyRP</a></p>— Alex Morey (@1AMorey) <a href=”https://twitter.com/1AMorey/status/1879952771853742210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw“>January 16, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8”></script>
Ms. Wax first ran afoul of the university in 2017 when she co-authored an article saying that “all cultures are not created equal,” arguing that the decline of “bourgeois values” like hard work and discipline had contributed to social ills.
She told Brown University Professor Glenn Loury, a Black conservative economist, in a 2021 podcast interview that “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Black student graduate in the top quarter of the class, and rarely, rarely in the top half.”
Later, she said that she worries about Asian immigrants because they tend to vote Democrat, and “the Democratic Party is a pernicious influence and force in our country today.”
As long as Asian Americans support Democrats, she said, “I think the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration.”
Ms. Wax added fuel to the fire in a 2022 interview with Tucker Carlson, then a host for Fox News Channel, by saying “there is just a tremendous amount of resentment and shame of non-Western people against Western peoples for Western peoples’ outsized achievements and contributions.”
Petitions calling for her suspension drew thousands of signatures. A faculty hearing board found in May 2023 that she had engaged in “flagrant unprofessional conduct,” and a Senate faculty committee rejected her appeal.
In September, the university slapped her with a one-year suspension at half pay; the loss of her named chair and summer pay; a public reprimand; and a requirement that she make clear in public appearances that she speaks for herself and not the university.
Provost John Jackson said in a Sept. 24 letter to Ms. Wax that the board “has determined that your conduct failed to meet these expectations, leaving many students understandably concerned that you cannot and would not be an impartial judge of their academic performance.”
Ms. Wax was accused of causing “harm” with her statements, but the lawsuit said that the university’s actions “have nothing to do with its pretextual ‘harm’ rationale and instead are overwhelmingly driven by the discriminatory nature of the University’s Speech Policy.”
“Under that policy, some racial and ethnic groups — such as Jews — can be criticized with absolute impunity,” said the complaint.
The filing drew a contrast between the reaction to her comments and the apparent lack of concern about antisemitic speech, including a cartoon by lecturer Dwayne Booth that showed three Jewish men drinking blood from glasses labeled “Gaza.”
“There is no rational way to conclude that Professor Wax’s statements would cause more ‘harm’ than Mr. Booth’s blood-libel cartoon,” the complaint said. “Yet the University has sought only to discipline Professor Wax, while hiding behind disingenuous paeans to free speech and a supposed commitment to academic free expression to justify its decision not to lift a finger against Mr. Booth.”
Other examples included a professor who called for “intifada revolution,” or a rejection of a two-state solution, and another professor who defended the Islamist terror group Hamas on social media and insulted Jews.
The campus was beset by months of anti-Israel protests spurred by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israeli civilians. In May, police were called to break up a pro-Gaza encampment set up by students on campus.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.