Between the Lines: Professor's lecture blatantly misleads students

The Student Printz
University of Southern Mississippi
by Jennifer Morgan

Hattiesburg: So close to graduation, I was sure that I wouldn't have to say anything about the university and instead could focus on issues pertinent to the presidential election, however I was wrong.

Two weeks ago, I was enraged when I received slides from a FAM 450 (sexuality and the family) class that had blatantly false statements about why homosexuality might occur.

Lloyd Pickering taught his students, who will potentially go on to teach our children, blatantly untrue statements about homosexuality.

These slides included statements like, "In a similar pattern for women, some (e.g. Scharff, 1998) have suggested the following scenario related to familial influence: Afraid of men because of childhood guilt toward mom-afraid of men because of fear of disappointment and rejection by dad-deficiency of mother's ability to compensate for these fears."

The research cited in this slide comes from a 1982 study that was reprinted in 1998. In 2004, David Scharff even apologized for his position. Not to mention that both major sources, Scharff and Bieber have been completely discredited, and offered no alternative sources such as the American Psychological Association to counter these homophobic statements.

Even though I was enraged, I felt sure that the GSA would handle the situation in a professional manner without having to bring this to the public spotlight, and they tried.

After being denied a meeting with Pickering, the GSA spoke with the head of his department and were hopeful that things would be rectified.

Although Pickering was made to change his slides and address the issue, the actions taken were not enough.

First of all, I believe that Pickering must sit down with the GSA. It is obvious that his views on homosexuality are skewed, and he needs to responsible for teaching the truth.

Second, there needs to be department oversite on his teaching and curriculum. As a friend told me, he can change his slides but that doesn't mean that he will change his lecture.

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