"Races are different for many genetic systems that influence everything from behavior and psychology to physiology, medicine and sports," states Whitney in an e-mail interview. "Screaming nasty words does not change the reality."

That others have found Whitney's words worse than nasty isn't surprising. In the foreword to "My Awakening," he calls Republican congressional candidate and former Klansman Duke "a Moses-like prophet" and warns that disregarding Duke's prophecies amounts to "toying with a path that leads to another Dark Age."

Recently Whitney made the rare switch from research on the genetics of sensory system function in mice -- research that is safe, generally, from politics and emotion -- to the study of racial genetics in humans. After several years studying what he claims are genes for IQ, impulsiveness, aggression and testosterone count in different races, the professor released data indicating blacks and whites are, at their core, different. Yet in defending his work he argues that in pointing out such racial distinctions, he is not betraying prejudice, but offering information that might even help African-Americans improve their lives through better recourse to medicine. As an example, he cites the fact that black men's higher incidence of prostate cancer has not been sufficiently publicized because certain people consider it politically incorrect to acknowledge that black men have generally higher levels of testosterone, a hormone often associated with aggression.

Ironically, just before the Whitney story broke, Black Enterprise magazine ranked Florida State as one of the top 50 schools for African-American students. Roughly 20 percent of FSU's 30,000 students claim minority status, and the number of black students has steadily risen over the last five years.

The publication of Duke's book launched a torrent of criticism from the campus and from local newspapers. "If students want to learn about racism, they need not spend hours in the midst of dusty library bins," a columnist for the Tampa Tribune wrote. "Why, they need only drop in on the Mr. Chips of Chintzy Science for a master class on high dudgeons and blow-dried dragons." At a university forum, nearly 300 concerned students and faculty members expressed their outrage. Some demanded the professor's resignation.

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