To
borrow
from
The
West
Wing,
“Let’s
forget
the
fact
that
you’re
coming
a
little
late
to
the
party
and
embrace
the
fact
that
you
showed
up
at
all.”
We’re
several
years
into
the
Penn
Law
School’s
slow-motion
Amy
Wax
train
wreck.
It’s
a
well-worn
cycle:
Wax
says
something
wildly
offensive
in
an
entirely
non-academic
setting,
students/alumni/media/people
with
souls
complain,
the
school
wrings
its
hands
and
does
little
to
nothing,
and
then
Wax
ups
the
stakes
and
the
cycle
repeats.
But,
finally,
Wax
might
have
pushed
administrators
too
far,
with
Dean
Ted
Ruger
announcing
today
that
he
will
file
a
formal
complaint
launching
the
school’s
process
to
consider
sanctions
against
Wax.
One
might
have
thought
the
final
straw
would
be
when
she
spoke
at
the
white
nationalism
conference.
Or
when
she
claimed
—
in
seeming
violation
of
blind
grading
policies
—
to
know
that
Black
students
can’t
succeed
in
law
school.
Alas,
it
was
declaring
that
the
United
States
needs
“fewer
Asians”
that
ultimately
triggered
a
review
with
potentially
serious
ramifications.
So,
if
that
was
on
your
Amy
Wax
BINGO
card,
congrats!
The
school
has
a
detailed
process
for
dealing
with
faculty
conduct.
A
board
will
review
the
matter
and
consider
a
response
that
could
range
from
reprimand
to
termination.
Per
the
Philadelphia
Inquirer:
“Her
conduct
has
generated
multiple
complaints
from
members
of
our
community
citing
the
impact
of
pervasive
and
recurring
vitriol
and
promotion
of
white
supremacy
as
cumulative
and
increasing,”
Ruger
said.
“The
complaints
assert
that
it
is
impossible
for
students
to
take
classes
from
her
without
a
reasonable
belief
that
they
are
being
treated
with
discriminatory
animus.
These
complaints
clearly
call
for
a
process
that
can
fairly
consider
claims,
for
example,
that
her
conduct
is
having
an
adverse
and
discernable
impact
on
her
teaching
and
classroom
activities.”
Now
begins
the
annoying
stage
of
the
proceedings
where
Wax
supporters
flood
the
zone
with
disingenuous
slippery
slope
arguments
about
how
academic
freedom
requires
schools
to
sit
back
and
watch
institutional
goodwill
evaporate
while
professors
promote
views
undermining
the
school’s
scholarly
reputation.
“Regardless
of
what
one
thinks
about
Professor
Wax’s
personal
political
views,
the
only
appropriate
action
that
the
University
of
Pennsylvania
should
take
in
this
situation
is
to
publicly
reaffirm
the
free
speech
rights
of
the
members
of
its
faculty,”
said
Keith
Whittington,
chair
of
the
[Academic
Freedom
Alliance’s]
academic
committee.
“It
is
quite
clear
that
her
public
comments
as
a
private
individual
on
matters
of
public
concern
cannot…
be
understood
to
constitute
a
‘flagrant
disregard
of
the
standards,
rules,
or
mission
of
the
University
or
the
customs
of
scholarly
communities’
that
might
give
rise
to
disciplinary
action
under
the
Faculty
Handbook.”
Oh
yeah?
Where
does
“publicly
claiming
the
school
lies
about
the
grades
of
its
Black
students”
come
in?
Because
that
seems
like
it
might
slide
somewhere
into
the
“standards,
rules,
or
mission”
section.
An
even
more
flagrant
bout
of
whataboutism
featured
in
the
Inquirer
the
other
day:
Even
some
academics
who
ardently
despise
Wax’s
comments
say
they
would
rather
she
retains
the
right
to
say
them
than
allow
her
to
be
fired.
Removing
her
could
open
the
door
to
censorship
for
professors
who
espouse
views
opposed
by
conservatives,
such
as
critical
race
theory.“How
in
the
same
breath
do
you
oppose
those
measures
but
also
say
you
should
fire
Amy
Wax,”
said
Jonathan
Zimmerman,
a
Penn
professor
of
the
history
of
education,
who
has
ardently
defended
free
speech.
“I
don’t
think
we
can
have
it
both
ways.”
Right…
because
scholarly
works
by
Black
law
professors
are
of
an
academic
kind
with
Amy
Wax
going
on
a
webcast
to
say
America
needs
fewer
Asians.
Totally
equivalent!
In
reality,
there
is
a
clear
distinction
between
those
examples.
Amy
Wax
long
composed
controversial
scholarship,
cobbling
together
objectionable
but
at
least
facially
serious
arguments
about
family
law
and
discrimination.
Yet
her
date
with
a
faculty
review
board
has
nothing
to
do
with
any
of
these
edgy
law
review
articles.
That’s
because
this
all
started
when
she
traded
any
pretense
of
serious
academic
work
to
just
rant
about
minorities.
When
Wax
systematically
got
every
factual
premise
wrong
in
her
first
“big
break”
op-ed,
that’s
where
she
started
down
the
path
to
today.
At
some
point,
reality
and
data
clearly
became
problems
for
her
academic
work
(as
her
sometimes
co-author
recently
learned
when
a
review
rejected
his
article
for
its
failure
to
meet
minimum
standards
of
evidentiary
support).
But
Wax
realized
she
didn’t
need
to
clear
those
hurdles
to
get
a
platform
at
Tucker
Carlson’s
Make
America
White
conference.
Once
she
walked
away
from
the
scholarly
angle,
she
could
just
cite
Wikipedia
and
move
on.
In
a
sense,
her
supporters
are
correct
that
this
may
be
a
referendum
on
academic
freedom,
but
it’s
about
the
“academic”
part
and
not
the
“freedom”
part.
She’s
not
being
“silenced”
just
for
holding
unorthodox
views.
If
Wax
confined
herself
to
work
that
could
pass
the
minimum
academic
muster
or,
at
the
very
least,
made
sure
her
public
comments
had
some
factual
foundation
she’d
not
be
in
this
mess.
Wax’s
cardinal
sin
is
not
her
views
in
a
vacuum,
it’s
the
“cumulative
and
increasing”
provocations
disrupting
the
school’s
pedagogical
mission
while
adding
exactly
zero
to
the
school’s
scholarly
mission.
If
anything,
the
school’s
watched
its
credibility
erode
while
Wax
spouts
knockoff
“academic-ish”
drivel
under
the
school’s
banner.
Academia
has
profound
patience
for
objectionable
scholarship
as
long
as
it
plays
the
game
and
tries
to
be
“scholarship.”
The
fact
that
Wax
went
years
before
a
formal
complaint
is
a
testament
to
that
patience.
But
the
protections
afforded
to
promote
scholarly
inquiry
only
extend
so
far
when
the
professor
decides
to
trade
law
reviews
for
webinars
on
Substack.
Penn
law
dean
starts
process
that
could
lead
to
sanctions
on
professor
Amy
Wax
[Philadelphia
Inquirer]
Earlier:
Dean
Calls
Amy
Wax’s
Remarks
‘Xenophobic
And
White
Supremacist,’
Passes
World’s
Easiest
Issue-Spotter
Law
Professor
Amy
Wax
Expands
Racism
Portfolio
To
Declare
That
America
Needs
‘Fewer
Asians’
Penn
Law’s
Holiday
Letter
Adroitly
Avoids
That
Whole
‘Superior
Culture’
Incident
This
Year
Law
School
Professor
Amy
Wax
Cites
Wikipedia
And
We
Need
To
Stop
Pretending
Tenure
Was
Made
For
This
Amy
Wax’s
Racist
Remarks
Force
Penn
Law
School
To
Let
Her
Take
A
Paid
Vacation
T14
Law
Professor
Goes
To
White
Nationalism
Conference
And
Says
White
Nationalist
Things
And
Somehow
Still
Has
A
Job
Academia
Means
Never
Having
To
Say,
‘I
Got
Fired’
Professor
Amy
Wax
And
The
Bell
Curve
Law
Professors
Say
White
’50s
Culture
Is
Superior,
Other
Racist
Stuff
Penn
Law
School
Prof
Amy
Wax
Stumbles
Into
A
Truth…
Before
Delving
Back
Into
Vile
Conspiracy
Theories
Amy
Wax
Relieved
Of
Her
1L
Teaching
Duties
After
Bald-Faced
Lying
About
Black
Students
Professor
Declares
Black
Students
‘Rarely’
Graduate
In
The
Top
Half
Of
Law
School
Class
Dog
Whistling
‘Bourgeois
Values’
Op-Ed
Gets
Thorough
Takedown
From
Other
Law
Professors
Law
Students
Seek
To
Ban
Professor
From
Teaching
1Ls
Law
School
Professor
Says
Dr.
Ford
‘Should
Have
Held
Her
Tongue’
In
Latest
Embarrassment
To
Her
School
Berkeley
Law
School
Group
Invites
Amy
Wax
To
Headline
Event
In
Effort
To
Lower
The
Bar
Even
Further
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
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Executive
Search.