A University of Pennsylvania law school professor is facing wide criticism after saying “that our country will be better off with more whites and fewer nonwhites,” Vox Media reported.
Amy Wax’s remarks attracted the attention of law school Dean Ted Ruger, who called her comments “repugnant” in a statement released Tuesday.
“At best, the reported remarks espouse a bigoted theory of white cultural and ethnic supremacy; at worst, they are racist,” Ruger said.
Wax made the remarks July 15 as part of a panel discussion dubbed “American Greatness and Immigration: The Case for Low and Slow” at the inaugural National Conservatism conference in Washington, D.C.
During the panel, she advocated for an immigration policy that would favor immigrants from Western countries over non-Western ones. She also said immigrants are too loud and responsible for an increase in “litter,” Vox Media reported.
Luis Bravo, a University of Pennsylvania student, started a petition to see the professor fired for her words.
“I, and the countless of other students of color at the University, are not litter,” Bravo said in the petition.
It had gained more than 2,080 signatures as of 11 a.m. EDT on July 25.
The University of Pennsylvania Black Law Students Association showed in a thread of Twitter messages that Wax has been making “false allegations against black students and alumni” for more than a year.
The student group posted video of the professor arguing March 9, 2018, that Black students are not competitive at top universities.
“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,” she said in the video. “I can think of one or two students who’ve scored in the top half in my required first year course.”
In the video interview with economist Glenn Loury, she went on to say that if Black students “were better matched, it might be a better environment for them.”
“We’re not saying they shouldn’t go to college,” Wax said. “We’re not saying that. I mean, some of them shouldn’t.”
Although the University of Pennsylvania has not responded to Atlanta Black Star’s request for comment on Wax’s employment status, Ruger said, “when Professor Wax speaks about race and culture, she does not speak for this institution or those who work and study here.”
“I know these statements by Professor Wax have caused pain and outrage to many in the Penn community,” Ruger said. “My colleagues and I pledge to work with you so that together we can heal, and learn from this experience and each other.”
