
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, February 19, 1991                   TAG: 9102190474
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

PROFESSOR'S CLASS METHODS QUESTIONED

College of William and Mary officials are investigating a sociology professor's teaching methods after a student complained the teacher told off-color and racial jokes in the classroom.

Sophomore Michael Halpin said Vernon Edmonds imposed his views of homosexuals and blacks on students in his introductory sociology class.

"It's perfectly OK for him to think that way, but when he forces such things into class time, they become a detriment to the class," Halpin said in a letter to school officials.

Edmonds often used classtime to tell jokes about "blacks, homosexuals, Christians, the government and feminists," Halpin said. Halpin, a history major from Orchard Park, N.Y., said the class was made up of 15 white males and one white female.

David Lutzer, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said he is investigating the way the course is being taught, but not the content.

"It's not appropriate for the administration to be telling faculty what theories they can present in the classroom," Lutzer said.

Edmonds called the controversy a "tempest in a teapot."

Edmonds said he thinks Halpin filed the complaint because he was upset over comments made about gays. "I think he was offended by some of the descriptions of gay activities in a cavalier manner," Edmonds said. "I just don't like the glorification of homosexuality."

Halpin said he is not gay but was offended by the remarks.

by CNB