Amy Wax’s suspension from Penn can take effect for the academic year, federal judge rules

Controversial University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax will be suspended for one year earning half pay ahead of the 2025-2026 academic year after a federal judge denied her request to pause the disciplinary action.

Wax sued Penn in January, alleging that the sanctions over what Penn called "years of flagrantly unprofessional conduct" were not in line with the university’s policies and were part of a pattern of racial discrimination against white and Jewish faculty in the Ivy League school.

In March, Wax’s legal team asked a federal judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to issue a preliminary injunction preventing the sanctions from taking effect. The sanctions include one-year suspension at half pay with benefits, a public reprimand issued by university leadership, the loss of her named chair, and summer pay.

» READ MORE: Amy Wax sues Penn, claiming a ‘racially discriminatory’ speech policy led to her suspension

If the sanctions were allowed to go into effect, Wax argued, she would face irreparable harm.

“The stripping of her title and Defendants’ painting of Professor Wax as unprofessional, racist, and mendacious in their public reprimand have continuing effects on Professor Wax, including cancellations of interviews and speeches due to Defendants’ sanctions,” Wax said in a court filing.

But Judge Timothy J. Savage was not convinced, and on Monday ruled that the sanctions can go into effect.

In his opinion, Savage said that Wax failed to show a direct connection between the sanctions and the canceled interviews and speaking opportunities.

Wax’s discipline has been widely publicized, and her positions on controversial issues are well-known, the judge said. The law professor herself spoke about the disciplinary actions, contributing to how public opinion about her is shaped.

“The sanctions have been publicized. Her suspension was announced. An injunction will not erase that record,” Savage said.

Wax argued that the one-year suspension would cause her harm. But the judge wrote that losing half her salary is only monetary harm, and does not meet the high legal bar required for an injunction.

“In short, whatever harm she claims, it is not imminent, irreparable harm,” Savage said.

Penn declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. Wax’s legal team did not respond to a request for comment.

» READ MORE: Penn asks for Amy Wax’s racial discrimination lawsuit to be dismissed

The sanctions will go into effect in August, according to court filings, more than three years after the disciplinary process against her began.

Wax — who questioned Black students’ academic ability, invited white nationalist Jared Taylor to her classroom, and said the United States would be better off with fewer Asian immigrants — said in her lawsuit that she was sanctioned after a “kangaroo-court-like” process, and called the university’s speech policies racially discriminatory.

The law professor contrasted the discipline against her to Penn faculty and staff who engaged in anti-Israel speech, which she calls antisemitic, but were not disciplined.

She said in court filings that Penn painted her “as a liar, racist, and harasser, none of which she is.”

Penn asked the court in March to dismiss the lawsuit, saying that Wax does not deny making the statements that led to her suspension and that her lawsuit does not show how the disciplinary process deviated from university policies.

The university also noted that Wax has said she views being called a racist as an “honorific” because it “means you notice reality, and to me that’s a positive thing.”

Savage hasn’t ruled yet on Penn’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.