July 18, 2019
Contributed image/Penn Law
Amy L. Wax, the Robert Mundheim Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania, said at a conference on conservatism in July that the United States would be "better off with more whites and fewer nonwhites".
University of Pennsylvania professor Amy Wax is receiving backlash for racist comments she made at a conference about conservatism over the weekend.
The conference took place in Washington, D.C., from Sunday through Tuesday. Among the keynote speakers was Fox News personality Tucker Carlson.
Wax was speaking on a panel titled “American Greatness and Immigration: The Case for Low and Slow”.
A full transcript or video of Wax's talk doesn't seem to be available online as of early Thursday afternoon, but a story from Vox on the conference included these racist comments from Wax:
"In a panel on immigration, University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax claimed that immigrants are too loud and responsible for an increase in 'litter.' She explicitly advocated an immigration policy that would favor immigrants from Western countries over non-Western ones; 'the position,' as she put it, 'that our country will be better off with more whites and fewer nonwhites.' (She claims this is not racist because her problem with nonwhite immigrants is cultural rather than biological.)"
Unsurprisingly, Wax received backlash almost instantly, including from Penn alumni:
The fact that @PennLaw continues to employ Amy Wax and allows her to peddle her unvarnished racism backed up by no "academic" evidence in their name is an insult to every non-white student or alumnus of Penn, and I imagine quite a few of the white ones too. https://t.co/VxZBkktayR
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 18, 2019
How is Amy Wax still teaching at Penn? https://t.co/0BPbaYaPnl
— Corrina Laughlin (@CKLaughlin) July 17, 2019
Hey @Penn, I'm an alumna who is more than happy to end my regular contributions to the University if Amy Wax remains on staff. This is certainly not the first time Wax has made abhorrent statements as a Penn professor, but it absolutely needs to be the last. @PennLaw https://t.co/aJ9KByLihh
— Sara-Paige💫 (@SP_Silvestro) July 17, 2019
The least persuasive / most cringe worthy moment of today's #nationalconservatism conference was Amy Wax saying immigrants are bad because they're loud and litter too much.
— Samuel Hammond 🌐🏛 (@hamandcheese) July 16, 2019
Amy Wax is a racist.https://t.co/nSEtwBTLrc
— Jonah Gelbach (@gelbach) July 17, 2019
@PennLaw, fire Amy Wax.
— Brittney Plesser (@plessered) July 17, 2019
We've found the racist bone!
— Adam Rothman (@arothmanhistory) July 17, 2019
Penn law professor Amy Wax is quoted in the article cited here saying "our country will be better off with more whites and fewer nonwhites." https://t.co/k5Stc2GSl2
The Vox story later quotes Wax further:
"'Conservatives need a realistic approach to immigration that ... preserves the United States as a Western and First World nation,' she said on the panel. 'We are better off if we are dominated numerically ... by people from the First World, from the West, than by people who are from less advanced countries.'"
A spokesperson for Penn provided this statement to PhillyVoice:
"As a member of the faculty Professor Wax is free to express her opinions as provided in Penn's policies protecting academic freedom and open expression. It is also the case that views of individual faculty members do not represent the views of the institution, but rather their own personal beliefs."
This isn't the first time Wax has received backlash because of racist comments. In March 2018, she was removed from teaching required courses after suggesting black students rarely graduate near the top of their class. She kept her full salary.
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