Penn law professor Amy Wax Image by Screenshot/Youtube

The University of Pennsylvania law school took disciplinary action this week against a professor who made remarks asserting black students are rarely successful, according to the Washington Post.

Tenured professor Amy Wax, who is Jewish, faced sharp criticism in recent days after video surfaced of an interview she gave in September 2017 on the YouTube show, “The Downside to Social Uplift.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a black student graduate in the top quarter of the class, and rarely, rarely, in the top half,” Wax said, discussing affirmative action policies. “I can think of one or two students who scored in the top half of my required first-year course.” She also claimed the law review has a diversity mandate.

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Theodore Ruger, dean of the law school, disputed her remarks.

“Black students have graduated in the top of the class at Penn Law,” Ruger said. “And contrary to any suggestion otherwise, black students at Penn Law are extremely successful, both inside and outside the classroom, in the job market.”

Wax will no longer teach required first year courses, but will continue to teach electives in her specialty area, social welfare law and policy.

A black student in the class of 2018 posted a thread on Twitter detailing her experience in Wax’s first semester class.

Contact Avichai Scher at scher@forward.com or on Twitter, @avi_scher

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