Mark Clark,
Those people at the U. of V. are morons and suffer two dimensional thinking in terms of their musicality.

The rule of thumb, theory wise is quite simple (but confusing to some people nevertheless.)

The key signature determines the semantics. If you're playing in a sharp key (ie: E, A, D, G, B,) than all half steps from the supposed anchored note, are treated as sharps.

If you're playing in a flat key, (Eb, Bb, Db, Ab, Gb) than all half steps as notated, would be treated as flats.

Two exact sides of the identical coin. Just semantics to give musical theorists more tripe to discuss over Cognac and cigars.