FREDONIA, N.Y. (WKBW) — A SUNY Fredonia professor is "being assigned to duties that do not include his physical presence on campus and will not have contact with students" as an investigation continues following his comments on adult-child sex.
BREAKING: Professor Stephen Kershnar will not hold class, effective immediately, as the investigation into comments he has made continues. @WKBW https://t.co/ou7sPiQ9ly
— Natalie Fahmy (@NatalieFahmy) February 3, 2022
The comments were made by Dr. Stephen Kershnar "a distinguished teaching professor in the philosophy department at the State University of New York at Fredonia and an attorney," according to his faculty page on the SUNY Fredonia website.
In a video on the "Brain in a Vat" YouTube channel titled "Sexual Taboos" from January 30, 2022 Kershnar spoke with the hosts for about an hour. At the start of the video a host asks Kershnar if he would like to start with a "thought experiment" which Kershnar responds to with the following:
"Imagine that an adult male wants to have sex with a 12-year-old girl. Imagine that she's a willing participant. A very standard, very widely held view, is there's something deeply wrong about this and it's wrong independent of it being criminalized. It's not obvious to me that it's in fact wrong, I think this is a mistake and I think that exploring why it's a mistake will tell us not only things about adult-child sex and statutory rape, but also about fundamental principals of morality," said Kershnar.
In a video on the Unregistered Podcast YouTube channel titled "Unregistered 142: Stephen Kershnar" from December 5, 2020 Kershnar discusses similar topics with the host for about two hours. It is discussed in the video that Kershnar has written several books, including one titled "Pedophilia and Adult–Child Sex: A Philosophical Analysis" that was originally published in 2015.
In response to Kershnar's comments on "Brain in a Vat" SUNY Fredonia President Stephen H. Kolison released the following statement Tuesday:
"SUNY Fredonia is aware of a video posted online involving one of its professors. The views expressed by the professor are reprehensible and do not represent the values of SUNY Fredonia in any way, shape or form. They are solely the professor's views. The matter is being reviewed."
Kolison issued an updated statement Thursday that Kershnar would be assigned to duties that do not include his physical presence on campus and he would not have contact with students as the investigation continues. You can read the full statement below.
A message to the SUNY Fredonia community from President Stephen H. Kolison, Jr. pic.twitter.com/9UG3H5nvZR
— SUNY Fredonia (@FredoniaU) February 3, 2022
In a statement to 7 News, YouTube has pulled the video due to, "violating YouTube's child safety policy."
