In "The Virginia Scholar," Bauer argues that the implementation of diversity programs led to a decline in academic standards. He characterizes such programs as promoting "feminoid sexists calling men sexist" and "racist black fanatics calling others racist." Bauer opposed the formation of a police "Sensitive Crime Unit" meant to deal with sexual assault and hate crimes at Virginia Tech, suggesting that these issues were not a serious problem on campus and did not merit special attention. Bauer called the police unit a threat to free speech. He criticized Virginia Tech’s creation of a new administrative position for multicultural affairs in response to racial incidents at the university in the mid-1990s as a wasteful allocation of resources. Bauer found fault with Virginia Tech’s policy of excusing student absences for attending religious or ethnic observances. As black enrollment at Virginia Tech declined during the 1990s, Bauer stated that the University was already doing too much ("pulling out all the stops") to attract minority students, and should instead concentrate on raising academic standards. Bauer also drew criticism for his comments on homosexuality. In his pseudonymously-written memoir "To Rise Above Principle: The Memoirs of an Unreconstructed Dean", Bauer writes, "I regard homosexuality as an aberration or illness, not as an ‘equally valid life-style’ or whatever the current euphemism is." In his book, Bauer attributes the perceived problem of homosexuality to genetic, hereditary, and environmental factors, and suggests that the free speech and other civil rights of homosexuals should be withdrawn to prevent what Bauer views as the negative effects of homosexuality from spreading. Bauer has since stated he no longer holds this view, saying he had been "wrong" about the issue and had, in particular, mistakenly relied on the "naturalistic" fallacy that reduced culture and ethics to biology. AIDSTruth.org, an AIDS information resource, notes Bauer posted the statement one day after an account of his views appeared on their website. Several years after retiring from Virginia Tech, Bauer began to assert that there are "substantive grounds for doubting that HIV is the necessary and sufficient cause of AIDS and that antiretroviral treatment is unambiguously beneficial." In his 2007 book, "The Origins, Persistence, and Failings of HIV/AIDS Theory", Bauer questions whether HIV exists, claiming that HIV tests are not accurate and that AIDS death statistics are exaggerated by mainstream media, scientists and pharmaceutical companies. Bauer’s beliefs on HIV/AIDS are rejected by the mainstream scientific community, based upon the substantial body of research confirming that HIV exists, is infectious, causes AIDS, and that HIV tests are accurate.