Virginia Tech instructor accused of "white supremacist" statement speaks out

A Virginia Tech teacher is working to clear his name, after making what some call "racist" and "threatening" statements online.

Mark Neuhoff, a graduate teaching assistant, was accused of posting a statement on Facebook saying, among other things, that he's a "white supremacist."

A Virginia Tech student said Neuhoff harassed her on social media, after she shared his post.

Virginia Tech leaders conducted two investigations and found no evidence that Neuhoff violated University policy.

When Virginia Tech senior Tori Coan found a Facebook post from what she believed to be a teacher at her school, professing to be a"white supremacist," she felt compelled to alert her fellow students.

"White supremacy is an inherently violent ideology," she said. "It believes that folks are sub-human and inferior."

Coan said the posts were made by Graduate Teaching Assistant, Mark Neuhoff.

Neuhoff was asked, point blank, if he considered himself a white supremacist.

"No of course not," he answered.

Neuhoff said his comments were taken out of context.

"White supremacy, according to John Derbyshire, means a society where the key decisions in society are made by white European people, and that's what it's always been like in America," Neuhoff explained.

Since the posts were made public, Neuhoff said some at Virginia Tech have wrongly accused him of being racist.

"Racism is evil," he said. "I'm married to an Asian woman. We're going to have mix-raced children. It's ridiculous."

Coan said someone posted her cell phone number on Neuhoff's Facebook page and encouraged people to harm her.

She explained, "My number had been posted to an online sex chat website and I started receiving texts soliciting me for sex."

Neuhoff said about the post on his Facebook page, "I didn't make the post. I don't know who Tori is, I have nothing against her."

He said he knows who posted Coan's cell phone number, but couldn't identify the person.

Coan said Neuhoff has lost his objectivity and shouldn't be allowed to teach at Virginia Tech.

"You can't teach people effectively who you believe to be sub-human," she said.

Neuhoff said in response, "If I was treating these students unfairly, there'd be complaints, I wouldn't be a teacher."

Neuhoff went onto say he made the decision to not teach next semester, but plans to remain on campus as a student.

He'll be designing free speech classes for the English Department next semester, still as a teaching assistant.