James W. Wagner (born 1953) served as the 19th President of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia from 2003 to 2016.

[3][4] From 1998 to 2000, he served as Dean at Case Western Reserve University, and from 2000 to 2003 he was Provost and interim President.

He wrote, "One instance of constitutional compromise was the agreement to count three-fifths of the slave population for purposes of state representation in Congress...

"[7] The essay sparked controversy on Emory's campus and attracted national and international media attention[8][9] and an apology from Wagner.

Leslie Harris, an Emory history professor who has worked to address issues of race at the college, countered that “[t]he three-fifths compromise is one of the greatest failed compromises in U.S. history .... Its goal was to keep the union together, but the Civil War broke out anyway.”[12]