The University of Pennsylvania Law School is in the middle of a controversy surrounding the comments of law Professor Amy Wax, who told an interviewer last fall that she cannot recall black law students being in the top quarter or top half of her classes in academic rankings.
Campus Reform has the story. Law school dean Ted Ruger removed Wax from teaching a mandatory first year law class and issued a statement that criticized her comments, alleging that she was revealing the confidential grades of her students. But, Ruger did not make a mention whether statistics back up his statement, or Wax’s observation. Also, Ruger’s statement, in part, read that the law school does not track data by race, and therefore her point cannot be proved or disproved. Ruger also said that Wax’s comments may make incoming students uncomfortable, especially African-American law students, as they appear to be critical of a specific race of potential students.
Per Ruger’s statement, Wax has not been removed from the law school, and is still a tenured, full-time faculty member and will not suffer any financial repercussions from the suspension of teaching the aforementioned first-year law school class.
Ruger has since gone on a vacation of an unspecified length.
