Amy Wax invites white nationalist to Penn Carey Law for a second time

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law professor Amy Wax has invited avowed white nationalist Jared Taylor to speak on campus for the second time in two years.

Wax — who is embroiled in disciplinary proceedings over a lengthy history of racist, homophobic, and xenophobic remarks made on campus and to the media — invited Taylor to speak to a Nov. 28 meeting of her Conservative and Political Legal Thought class on the U.S radical right, according to a syllabus first obtained by the Daily Pennsylvanian.

Wax, Penn Carey Law, and Taylor did not respond to requests for comment from The Inquirer.

Taylor founded New Century Foundation, the nonprofit behind American Renaissance, a publication the Southern Poverty Law Center has called a promoter of eugenics and deemed a hate group. In his own words, Taylor has “spent 25 years patiently establishing the factual and moral bases for discrimination.”

Taylor wrote The Color of Crime, which perpetuates unsubstantiated claims to argue that Black people are inherently criminal. His views were cited in the manifesto of Dylann Roof, who was convicted of murdering nine Black members and attempting to kill three others at an African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina in 2015.

“I’m very confused about what he can offer to a class. … He’s a known white nationalist. He exists in circles of neo-Nazis,” said Vinila Varghese, a third-year law student and Council of Student Representatives president. “I don’t know what type of informative or evidence-based conversation he could have, but that falls in line with Amy Wax. Nothing she says is based on actual data.”

Taylor has lectured on pseudoscientific differences between white people and people of color at Temple University Beasley Law School in 1993, as well as at Northwestern University, Vanderbilt University, and Arizona State University, where students protested last year.

Taylor previously spoke on campus in fall 2021, when Wax invited him to lecture a section of her Conservative and Political Legal Thought class. Wax’s invitation to Taylor has come up repeatedly in proposed sanctions levied by former Penn Carey Law dean Ted Ruger for “a callous and flagrant disregard for our university community.”

» READ MORE: Penn law dean seeks ‘major sanction’ against professor Amy Wax

Wax’s initial invitation to Taylor “cross[ed] the line of what is acceptable in a university environment where principles of non-discrimination apply,” Ruger wrote in a 12-page report initiating the sanctions process in 2022. “Taylor’s explicit racism, hate-speech, and white supremacy contravenes the university’s express policies and mission, and his white supremacist ideology has been associated closely with those perpetrating violence towards minorities.”

Wax has long been accused of making racist remarks toward Penn Carey Law students — including that a Black student attended two Ivy League institutions only because of affirmative action — but her conduct came to a head in 2018, when she was barred from teaching required first-year law classes after claiming that she had never seen a Black student graduate at the top of a class.

Penn’s disciplinary proceedings against Wax began formally in July 2022 after Wax told economist Glenn Loury that the United States was “better off with fewer Asians,” prompting Philadelphia’s City Council to pen a bipartisan letter calling for a review of Wax’s tenured position.

» READ MORE: Lawmakers call for Penn to revoke professor’s tenure after racist comments: ‘We do not stand for hate speech’

The University of Pennsylvania’s open expression policy protects professors from “official reprisal” for hosting controversial speakers on campus but does not mention whether those protections cover speakers whose remarks could be interpreted as hate speech.

Some Penn Carey Law students believe Wax re-invited Taylor to speak in spite of the ongoing disciplinary proceedings as part of a provocative campaign to spark counter-protests and garner media attention.

“I think she’s [bringing Taylor] on purpose,” Varghese said. Wax “has been open about doing what she wants.”

In the months since Penn’s disciplinary proceedings began, Wax has doubled down on xenophobic and homophobic remarks aimed at students and faculty: At an April discussion hosted by the Philly-based Foundation for Individual Rights and Expressions, Wax confirmed that some of the instances Ruger brought up in his report were true, such as poking fun at students with foreign-sounding names.

» READ MORE: Penn Law’s Amy Wax makes her case to college professors, hoping to gain their support

Wax has also defended Taylor’s initial lecture in 2021, alleging that Penn Carey Law administrators approved of his visit and reimbursed her for the lunch during which he spoke.

Chioma Uba, the co-president of the law school’s Black Law Students Association, said she also believes Wax is doing this to garner media attention.

“She’s not [bringing Taylor to campus] to encourage debate or conversation or whatever,” Uba said. “She’s doing it to get a little sound bite for Fox News.”

» READ MORE: Pro/Con: Should Penn revoke tenure for controversial law professor Amy Wax over racist comments?

The Asian Pacific American Law Students Association and Black Law Students Associations have said they are discussing ways to condemn Wax’s continued presence on campus.

The law school’s Latinx Law Students Association also released a statement urging “Penn Carey Law administration to bar Taylor from stepping on campus.”