Prof denies ties to secessionist group

BALTIMORE, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- An economics professor at Loyola University Maryland says he has no relationship with the League of the South, a secessionist group.

The league, which advocates an independent republic made up of the former Confederate states, has been described as a racist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay accused Thomas DiLorenzo of ties to the group when he testified last week at a subcommittee hearing on the Federal Reserve.

Timothy Law Snyder, Loyola's vice president, said the school is looking into whether the league is, in fact, a hate group and whether DiLorenzo is affiliated with it.

"All this takes place in a background of academic freedom and free speech, both of which we need to be concerned with in a situation like this," Snyder said.

Loyola is a Catholic school in Baltimore.

The league on its Web site takes an anti-Federal Reserve position and calls for a return to the gold standard. The Web site does not mention race or slavery, although it says the future southern confederation will be based on Christian principles.