A University of Wisconsin professor accused of making racist comments last spring broke his months-long silence and addressed the incident Wednesday.

Law professor Leonard Kaplan was accused of dedicating several minutes of his Feb. 15 lecture to making racist comments against members of the Hmong community, sparking a series of talks regarding the issue.

UW graduate student KaShia Moua, who was not present in the Feb. 15 lecture, circulated e-mails alleging the professor had said, "Hmong men have no talent other than to kill" and "All second-generation Hmong end up in gangs and other criminal activity."

Kaplan later responded to the accusations in a letter to Law School Dean Ken Davis, in which he wrote, "Had I made the hateful comments wrongly attributed to me, I would repudiate them without hesitation. I did not make them."

On Wednesday, he said this controversy "has left important issues of principle unresolved." The event was closed to the public, and only Rotary members and their guests were allowed.

"My class discussion on Feb. 15 was intended to be sympathetic to the Hmong

people. I intended to illustrate the inadequacy of legal formalism," Kaplan said according to a transcript of the speech acquired by The Badger Herald. "My examples of cultural practice were directed against the legal system, not against any immigrant group. My examples were intended to show the disorientation that new immigrant groups can feel when confronting a formalist legal system."

According to Patricia Jenkins, Rotary Club executive director and secretary, the event drew nearly 300 people Wednesday afternoon.

In his statement, Kaplan also said universities have the obligation to show students legal principles at work in difficult and controversial settings.

"We are all harmed if professors avoid controversial material in deference to some accepted or imposed correctness or an apprehension that a topic may offend sensitivities," Kaplan said.

He added the safe setting for discourse is important to the success of the class.

"It is a law school's obligation to provide an environment in which faculty can address and teach students how to assess volatile issues," Kaplan said. "The maintenance of an appropriate environment must take precedence over the issues being discussed. If a law school fails to do this, our rights and the rule of the law itself may be put at risk."

Carl Rasmussen, Kaplan's legal advisor with Boardman Law Firm, declined comment Wednesday.