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Column: College professor clueless, not racist
Monday, November 29, 2004

"Andrew Gulliford is not William Shockley.

Unlike Shockley, the infamous professor who claimed genetic differences made blacks intellectually inferior to whites, Gulliford is no racist.

He just plays one in an overwrought drama underway on the Fort Lewis College campus in Durango.

"I apologized for any misunderstanding," Gulliford said Friday.

In reference to charges of racism, the professor said, "I'll stand on my writing."

That's a shaky platform. Some of Gulliford's pronouncements about Indians smack of the old cliché once applied to blacks: "They make good singers, dancers and athletes."

The problem with such thinking is that it applies characteristics to an entire race that can only be determined individually. Worse, it implies limits on what members of an ethnic group can or should become."

Get the Story:
Jim Spencer: Clueless, yes; racist, unlikely (The Denver Post 11/28)

Relevant Links:
Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College - http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu
American Studies International - http://www2.gwu.edu/~asi

Related Stories:
Native college students upset with professor (11/22)

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