The University of Pennsylvania law school, under sustained protest, has agreed to pursue disciplinary action against Amy Wax, a long-time professor with a history of comments that are widely considered to be racist.

Penn¡¯s law school dean, Theodore Ruger, had for years resisted taking the step, even as Professor Wax questioned the academic ability of black students and advocated a US with greater white dominance.

But in a?, the dean said he now accepts that Professor Wax¡¯s ongoing promotion of white supremacy is making it difficult for students to expect fair treatment in her classes.

Professor Ruger also said that Professor Wax ¡°has exploited her faculty access to confidential information about students in ostensible support of her inaccurate statements¡±.

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The Ivy League university, in a separate statement, said the dean¡¯s decision begins a process??if her conduct warrants sanction, and its severity. Professor Ruger will serve as the complainant and Professor Wax will be allowed ¡°full due process¡± in the matter, the university said.

The case raises the possibility of escalating the intensity of conservative political criticism of US higher education. One Penn colleague, Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of education history, reiterated both his opposition to Professor Wax¡¯s political views and his concern that the university faces even greater danger should it attempt to restrict her speech.

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Professor Wax has long been part of that fray in the wider political sphere and ¨C backed by tenure and more than two decades of experience at Penn ¨C gives indications of revelling in it.

On a??hosted by Glenn Loury, a leading black conservative intellectual and professor of economics at Brown University, Professor Wax said that US immigration policies should emphasise ¡°cultural compatibility¡± and criticised ¡°the influx of Asian elites¡±, who she regards as favouring Democratic party policies.

Professor Wax also dismissed any concern about Penn taking action against her, saying she already has been ¡°cancelled¡± repeatedly ¨C using a term frequently employed by conservatives to describe public protests of intolerant perspectives. Professor Loury is a critic of affirmative action, and has been a regular public sounding board for Professor Wax.

An??started earlier this month, urging Professor Ruger and the faculty senate to take action against Professor Wax and her ¡°obviously racist statements¡±, has collected more than 2,500 signatures.

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In her interview with Professor Loury, Professor Wax described the complaints against her as largely non-specific and coming from alumni with names she does not recognise.

The petitioners, however, complained that her ¡°racist comments have become a semi-annual ritual that receives temporary furore and temporary consequences¡±.

In 2018, after Professor Wax?co-wrote an editorial?extolling the superiority of the nation¡¯s white male-dominated political culture of the 1950s, Professor Ruger?removed her?from teaching any courses that students may need as mandatory for graduation. In 2019, the dean issued a statement rejecting her calls for white societal dominance as ¡°repugnant to the core values and institutional practices of both Penn Law and the University of Pennsylvania¡±, but?declined to take further action.

Her critics signing this month¡¯s petition said that Professor Wax felt emboldened by the university¡¯s hesitancy to respond. ¡°Such impunity reflects poorly upon Penn Law, the University of Pennsylvania, and, if seen through the lenses of foreign communities, even American higher education environment,¡± they wrote.

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paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com