THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, September 13, 1995          TAG: 9509130079
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   42 lines

BATTLE ROYAL SHAPES UP TOMORROW IN DEBATE OVER INTELLIGENCE AND RACE

SOCIAL SCIENTIST Charles Murray sparked controversy last year with his examination of race, class and intelligence in his book ``The Bell Curve.''

Murray will be at Old Dominion University on Thursday to debate his theories with Harvard University professor Alvin Poussaint.

In ``The Bell Curve,'' Murray and co-author Richard Herrnstein argue that intelligence is largely determined by heredity and that it varies among ethnic groups. The proclivity for intelligent people to marry one another, producing gifted, successful children, is widening the gap between society's haves and have-nots, they contend..

Poussaint disagrees. He believes that IQ scores aren't reliable predictors of a person's success in life. Socioeconomic factors play a major role, he says.

Murray is now a Bradley Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, and Poussaint is clinical professor of psychiatry and faculty associate dean at Harvard Medical School. He's also director of the Medical Center for Children at Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston. MEMO: The debate, which is the kickoff for the ODU President's Lecture

Series, begins at 8 p.m. in the university's fieldhouse. It is free and

open to the public.

For more information call, 683-3115. ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Harvard University professor Alvin Poussaint believes socioeconomic

factors play a major role in IQs.

Charles Murray is co-author of ``The Bell Curve,'' which says

intelligence varies among ethnic groups.

by CNB