Penn faculty hearing board recommended sanctions for Amy Wax last summer; she is appealing

MOVING TO FRONT FROM FEBRUARY 24--SEE UPDATE

The recommended sanctions consist in "a one-year suspension at half pay, the removal of her named chair and summer pay, and a requirement for Wax to note in public appearances that she is not speaking on behalf or as a member of Penn Carey Law."  Only the last requirement (that she make clear she does not speak for the law school) is unproblematic.  It is unclear at this stage what precise "behavior" prompted the other sanctions, but it seems almost certain that Penn is punishing her for her offensive extramural speech, which is protected by her academic freedom rights.  (As I have noted before, only two incidents could, in principle, be sanctioned consistent with her academic freedom rights:  her denigration of the competence of an identifiable segment of the Penn student body [which was already sanctioned by then Dean Ruger]; and her invitation of a racist know-nothing to a law school class.  I strongly suspect the sanctions were not confined to these incidents.)

If Professor Wax loses her appeal, I would expect her to sue for breach of contract.

UPDATE:   Here is the letter from the "Hearing Board" to former President Magill regarding Professor Wax.  The only portion that isn't obviously outrageous is the section on violations of student privacy (although Professor Wax's attorney also disputes that in the appeal.)  The rest of the letter was written by someone with no knowledge of the law of academic freedom.   Almost all the evidence of "unprofessional" conduct involves extramural speech, which is not covered by the standards applicable in professional scholarship or pedagogy:   this is just a breathtaking confusion about core AAUP academic freedom principles, which vitiates almost the entire letter.   (Much of the evidence in Appendices 2 and 3, by the way, was not confirmed by the independent investigator retained by former Penn Law Dean Ruger [see item #3 here], yet is repeatedly invoked in the letter.)  (Thanks to Ed Rock for the pointer.)

(Here are the members of the Hearing Board.  Professor Wax's appeal, above, reports that Penn law professor Anita Allen addressed the Hearing Board; unfortunately, her views on academic freedom under the AAUP standards are also completely mistaken.  If they influenced the Board, this will be another disaster for Penn when this lands in court.)