A University of Pennsylvania professor faced heat for making derogatory comments on Asian immigrants in the US. "The US is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration," the law professor, Amy Wax, said during an online interview last month.
Wax, 68, during a conversation with a fellow academic concerning US immigration, noted that 'its hard to assimilate those people [immigrants]' in the American way of living. She appeared to be particularly referring to Chinese immigrants.
The professor went on to say that fewer immigrants would mean more white people in the US. "We'll have fewer people from Africa. We'll have fewer people of some parts of Asia, and it'll be more white - not that many white people want to come to the United States," she said.
'Danger of the dominance of an Asian elite in the US'
During her anti-immigration rant, Wax termed the South Asian elites' migration to the US a 'concerning' occurrence. The prof stressed the need to distinguish the mass immigration from the South of the border, of Hispanics. She further noted that the immigration of Hispanics poses different questions and challenges from that of Asian elites.
"It doesn't mean that the influx of Asian elites is unproblematic. I actually think it's problematic... I think it's because there's this... danger of the dominance of an Asian elite in this country," she added.
The professor, who had been teaching at the University of Pennsylvania for more than two decades, was interviewing for an African-American, Loury's YouTube program, The Glenn Show. The program covers a wide range of topics including journalism and various social issues.
'United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration'
After the interview was uploaded on December 21, viewers slammed Professor Wax for her 'racist' tirade. Massive online criticism prompted the professor to release a public response to clarify her comments. "As long as most Asians support Democrats and help to advance their positions, I think the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration," she said in the letter, inviting even more backlash.
As Professor Wax's response drew more attention and flak online, Penn Law School Dean Theodore Ruger bashed her comments as 'anti-intellectual' and 'racist' in a statement to DailyMail on Tuesday, January 4. "Wax's views are diametrically opposed to the policies and ethos of this institution," Ruger noted in the statement that was published in an official bulletin by his university.
It was not clear at the moment whether Wax would be dismissed from her post as Robert Mundheim Professor of Law at the Philadelphia school.
