IRVINE : Professor to Resume Class After Inquiry
A UC Irvine social sciences professor is scheduled to resume teaching the same class that sparked a university inquiry into an exercise in which students invested in Swiss francs and gold futures.
Alain Lewis, the instructor of a course called “Games as Models of Social Phenomena,” was relieved of teaching the class for the rest of the current quarter after complaints were filed with campus officials. He is to start teaching it again next quarter, a campus official said.
Some students and parents complained that Lewis stood to benefit from the investments. “As far as I know he’s coming back unless the inquiry finds out something different,” said Colleen Bentley-Adler, a university spokeswoman.
She said the inquiry was being conducted by William Schonfeld, dean of the school of social sciences, and Ron Wilson, the university’s ombudsman.
Students said they had been asked to invest between $25 and $100. Bentley-Adler said more than $1,400 had been invested and that students would receive their money back.
“If there are any profits, they will go to to the students,” she added.
She said that Lewis is continuing to teach graduate courses.
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