Making a Mockery of Academic Debate Late this January, the Lehigh University College of Business published a short video about poverty. In the video, professor of economics Frank Gunter sets out to debunk three myths about poverty: that it is mainly a matter of race, that it is a generational curse, and that the poor have no power to change their circumstances. Gunter claimed, instead, that poor people, whatever the causes of their poverty may be, can escape poverty. The poor are not “victims of large impersonal forces.” Naturally, people were outraged. As the editorial board of Lehigh University’s student newspaper put it, Gunter’s claims “are not only false and damaging but are also blatantly racist.”