NAPALSA Statement of Solidarity With Penn Law APALSA AND SALSA Against Professor Amy Wax

The National Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (“NAPALSA”) stands in solidarity with the University of Pennsylvania Law School (“Penn Law”) Asian Pacific American Law Student Association (“APALSA”) and Penn Law South Asian Law Student Association (“SALSA”) in condemning the recent remarks made by Penn Law Professor Amy Wax. NAPALSA supports all of the demands APALSA and SALSA made in this letter in calling for Penn Law to (1) immediately investigate Professor Wax for her comments and to suspend her throughout the investigation and (2) reaffirm its commitment to diversity and racial justice.   

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Professor Wax recently made disturbing comments in an interview on December 20, 2021 about how “the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration.” Her comments come at a time when the Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community faces a disturbing increase in hate incidents against our community as a result of COVID-19. This rise in hate incidents against AANHPIs has resulted in brutal assaults and even death of some in our community. Professor Wax’s comments only add to false, negative, and harmful perpetual foreigner stereotypes used against AANHPIs. Her comments are without a doubt xenophobic and racist and should be condemned by Penn Law and the rest of the legal community as a whole.

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This is also not the first time Professor Wax has made disturbing comments. In September 2017, Professor Wax made racist comments about how she observed Black students are “rarely, rarely in the top half” of classes. And in July 2019, Professor Wax made xenophobic comments while discussing U.S. immigration policy in which she noted how the U.S. would “be better off with more whites and fewer non-whites.” Following her prior comments, Penn Law’s Dean Ted Ruger merely rebuked Professor Wax’s comments and continued to allow Professor Wax to teach without sufficient accountability for her harmful comments.

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The gravity of Professor Wax’s comments and Penn Law’s prior lack of accountability against her only further our support for APALSA and SALSA’s demands found in this letter. We stand in solidarity with APALSA and SALSA and co-sign onto their letter on behalf of our member chapters across the country.

Sincerely, 

NAPALSA Board 2021-2022