{"id":719,"date":"2018-03-13T13:20:39","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T17:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=719"},"modified":"2018-03-21T13:27:10","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T17:27:10","slug":"penn-law-dean-relieves-controversial-law-dean-professor-of-some-teaching-duties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=719","title":{"rendered":"Penn Law Dean Relieves Controversial Law Dean Professor of Some Teaching Duties"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amy Wax, who had made unsupported claims about the performance of black law students, will no longer teach mandatory courses.
\nby\u00a0ERNEST OWENS<\/a>\u00a0\u00b7<\/span>\u00a0

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Penn Law faculty member Amy Wax, left, and law dean Theodore Ruger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

UPDATE, 3\/13, 6:30 p.m.:<\/strong>\u00a0Late Tuesday afternoon, Theodore Ruger, dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, informed students and faculty by email that Amy Wax will no longer teach required first-year courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn light of Professor Wax\u2019s statements, black students assigned to her class in their first week at Penn Law may reasonably wonder whether their professor has already come to a conclusion about their presence, performance, and potential for success in law school and thereafter,\u201d Ruger said in the email. \u201cThey may legitimately question whether the inaccurate and belittling statements she has made may adversely affect their learning environment and career prospects. These students may also reasonably feel an additional and unwarranted burden to perform well, so that their performance not be used or misused by their professor in public discourse about racial inequality in academic success. More broadly, this dynamic may negatively affect the classroom experience for all students regardless of race or background.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAfter consulting faculty, alumni\/ae, Overseers, and University officials, I have decided that Professor Wax will continue to teach elective courses in her areas of expertise, but that are outside of the mandatory first-year curriculum. This curricular decision entails no sanction or diminution of Professor Wax\u2019s status on the faculty, which remains secure. Normally, this decision would be private, but because Professor Wax made these inaccurate public statements, and students and alumni raised their concerns publicly, sharing it with our community is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the email, Ruger also addressed the substance of Wax\u2019s claims: \u201cIt is imperative for me as dean to state that these claims are false: black students have graduated in the top of the class at Penn Law, and the Law Review does not have a diversity mandate. Rather, its editors are selected based on a competitive process. And contrary to any suggestion otherwise, black students at Penn Law are extremely successful, both inside and outside the classroom, in the job market, and in their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n

ORIGINAL:<\/strong>\u00a0Black students at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s law school have denounced unsupported claims about their academic performance made by\u00a0controversial law professor Amy Wax<\/a>\u00a0in a September 2017 online interview that\u00a0recently resurfaced<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen a black student graduate in the top quarter of the [Penn Law school] class and rarely, rarely in the top half,\u201d Wax says in the video, titled \u201cThe Downside to Social Uplift\u201d and hosted by Brown University professor Glenn Loury. \u201cI can think of one or two students who\u2019ve graduated in the top half of my required first-year course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Loury, who is Black, to explain further, Wax responds \u201cI haven\u2019t done a survey, I haven\u2019t done a systematic study\u201d and argues that because she teaches \u201c89 to 95 students\u201d a year, she is \u201cgoing on that because a lot of this data is a closely guarded secret, as you can imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n