| | | The War on Woke: Professor Amy Wax vs. the University of Pennsylvania
Feb 5, 2025 10:00 am
By Hugh Fitzgerald
1 Comment
Amy Wax is a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania who has been a victim of a monstrous regiment of wokesters at her institution. They have been outraged at her remarks in class and in her postings on social media. She is not taking their brickbats— some might call it persecution— lying down, and is now suing the university in federal court for not protecting her First Amendment rights, and for engaging in racial discrimination. More on the background to her lawsuit can be found here: “EXCLUSIVE: Sanctioned Penn Professor Amy Wax Says ‘Possibility’ Trump Will Join Her Fight Against University That Punished Her for ‘Offensive’ Speech,” by A.R. Hoffman, New York Sun, January 24, 2025:
Professor Amy Wax, in an interview with the [New York] Sun, discloses that “the possibility has been brought up” that the Trump administration could join her federal civil lawsuit against the University of Pennsylvania for violating “core principles of the First Amendment” and enforcing policies that are “racially discriminatory.”…
Her complaint alleges that at Penn, “Speakers, like Professor Wax, who are White and/or Jewish are far more likely to be disciplined for offending speech than speakers who are racial minorities (other than Jews).” Dr. Wax argues that this disparate treatment violates, among other statutes, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
That law prohibits racial discrimination by all institutions that receive federal funding. The university’s annual financial report discloses that Penn received $15.8 billion in federal funds in 2024, though the total could well be higher. Typically at elite private universities, federal grant money is the second-largest source of income after tuition, and is essential to their operations as major research institutions.
I find it difficult to believe that the tuition money that the University of Pennsylvania takes in every year is greater than the $15.8 billion that it receives in federal funds.
If Dr. Wax succeeds, her case could be a template. Washington is undoubtedly watching. The professor, though, adds a word of warning — she reckons that “we have not yet reached peak woke. The universities, especially, are resistant” to any reckoning with their dominant ideology.
This will be a trial to watch. Think of the Scopes trial. Or of Captain Dreyfus and his court martial. One hopes that the Department of Justice, now under new management, will take a sympathetic interest in Professor Wax’s travails, and participate actively in pressing her case against those who have been attempting to make her life hell. And put UPenn on notice that the Trump administration is looking very carefully at the question of whether UPenn has by its discriminatory behavior violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and, as a consequence, forfeited the right to receive federal funding. |
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