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Note: The below letter was sent to SUNY Fredonia President Stephen Kolison on February 4, 2022, and FIREinvites additional faculty to add their names to the list of signers. Titles are for identification purposes only. Faculty who are interested in joining this letter may email facultyoutreach@thefire.org.

Dear President Kolison,

We understand that some have called for Stephen Kershnar to be fired from his position as professor of philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia because of his appearance on a philosophy video podcast where he discussed some of his scholarly work on the ethics of human sexuality, including sexual activity between adults and children. After initially announcing that the matter was “being reviewed,” you have now announced that Professor Kershnar has been barred from campus or from contacting students during a university investigation of “this situation,” that is “the matter involving one of our professors interviewed in a widely shared video podcast.”

Such a suspension from his normal academic duties – let alone any further disciplinary action including his potential termination – is contrary to basic academic freedom principles which SUNY-Fredonia has explicitly recognized as governing its own relationship to the members of its faculty.

It is unquestionably true that Professor Kershnar was discussing extremely sensitive topics during this interview (though his views have been widely misrepresented – he argues, for example, that pedophilia should in fact be illegal), just as he discusses such sensitive topics in applied ethics in his research and teaching. Many scholars and members of the public will no doubt disagree with his arguments and his conclusions, and some might find any discussion of these issues at all to be disturbing.

But academic freedom protects Professor Kershnar in discussing those topics, offering those arguments, and reaching those conclusions, regardless of whether we agree with them or not. Sanctioning Professor Kershnar for the ideas he expressed in an hour-long serious discussion on the respected philosophy podcast “Brain in a Vat” attacks the very heart of the academic enterprise.

Although you have described the video podcast as “widely shared,” in fact the podcast in which Professor Kershnar discussed arguments on ethical issues relating to sexual contact with children has not been widely viewed. What has been widely shared is a brief clip from the . Universities should be places where scholars can safely engage in the task of carefully thinking through the logic and implications of arguments about ethical human behavior, and that is what Professor Kershnar and his interlocutors do in this podcast. Society will be impoverished if such inquiries cannot take place and if ideas about morality are suppressed and censored because they are unpopular or offend the sensibilities of the broader public. If Professor Kershnar’s ideas are wrong, then we all benefit from seeing those errors exposed through intellectual engagement.

The tradition of Western philosophy famously begins with the example of Socrates being silenced and put to death for asking questions and pursuing arguments that his fellow citizens found discomforting. The philosophical enterprise – and indeed the scholarly enterprise broadly – requires the freedom to ask uncomfortable questions and explore unpopular arguments. Universities forsake their central mission if they yield to popular demands that dissident scholars be driven from campus.

Academic freedom will be an empty promise if university officials are not willing to defend a member of the faculty targeted for public outrage for the crime of expressing his thoughts. Firing or otherwise sanctioning Professor Kershnar for his views will send a message to others at SUNY-Fredonia and elsewhere that it is risky for scholars to pursue their profession and share their expertise with the public. Scholars pursuing any research topic that might be controversial will learn that free inquiry and honest discussion should be avoided if they value their careers.

Sincerely,

1. Keith E. Whittington, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics, Princeton University
2. Jonathan H. Adler, Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University
3. Roger L. Albin, MD, Anne B. Young Collegiate Professor of Neurology, University of Michigan
4. Jason Aleksander, Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of Faculty Success and Research, College of Humanities and the Arts, San José State University
5. Gustaf Arrhenius, Director and Professor of Practical Philosophy, Institute for Futures Studies
6. Lyell Asher, Professor of English, Lewis and Clark College
7. Ethan Akin, Professor of Mathematics, The City College of New York
8. David F. Austin, Associate Professor of Philosophy, North Carolina State University
9. Jonathan Auyer, Adjunct Faculty, Philosophy Department, State University of New York at Geneseo
10. J. Michael Bailey, Professor, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University
11. Jennifer Baker, Professor, Department of Philosophy, College of Charleston
12. Galen Barry, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Iona College
13. Timothy Bays, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
14. Jc Beall, O’Neill Family Chair in Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
15. Francis J. Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies and Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy, Baylor University
16. David Benatar, Professor of Philosophy, University of Cape Town
17. Russell Blackford, Conjoint Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Newcastle, NSW
18. Josh Blander, Associate Professor of Philosophy, The King's College
19. Ned Block, Silver Professor, New York University
20. Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology, University of Toronto and Brooks and Suzanne Ragen Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Yale University
21. Peter Boghossian, Founding Faculty, University of Austin
22. Hilary Bok, Associate Professor, Philosophy, Johns Hopkins University
23. David Boonin, Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado Boulder
24. Peter Bornschein, Part-Time Lecturer, Department of History & Philosophy, Eastern Michigan University
25. Ben Bradley, Sutton Professor of Philosophy, Syracuse University
26. Robert Briscoe, Professor of Philosophy, Ohio University
27. Christopher Devlin Brown, Associate Professor, Philosophy Department, Xiamen University
28. Alex Byrne, Professor of Philosophy, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
29. Andrei A. Buckareff, Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Cognitive Science Program, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Marist College
30. Tim Campbell, Research Fellow, Institute for Futures Studies
31. Peter Carruthers, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland
32. Spencer Case, Lecturer, University of Colorado Boulder
33. Eric Chwang, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers University, Camden
34. Nevin Climenhaga, Senior Research Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University
35. John Coetzee, Professorial Research Fellow, University of Adelaide
36. Andrew Jason Cohen, Professor of Philosophy, Georgia State University
37. John Collins, Associate Professor of Philosophy, East Carolina University
38. Kevin Cope, Associate Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of Virginia
39. John Corvino, Professor of Philosophy and Dean of the Irvin D. Reid Honors College, Wayne State University
40. David C.K. Curry, Professor of Philosophy, SUNY Potsdam
41. Brian Cutter, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
42. Eva Dadlez, Professor, University of Central Oklahoma
43. Partha Dasgupta, Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics, Cambridge University
44. James J. Delaney, Professor of Philosophy and Ostapenko Endowed Director of Professional Ethics, Niagara University
45. Nicolas Delon, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies, New College of Florida
46. Dan Demetriou, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Morris
47. Huzeyfe Demirtas, PhD Candidate & Teaching Associate, Department of Philosophy, Syracuse University
48. Lara Denis, Professor of Philosophy, Agnes Scott College
49. Cian Dorr, Professor of Philosophy, New York University
50. Matti Eklund, Professor of Theoretical Philosophy, Uppsala University
51. Paul Elbourne, Professor of the Philosophy of Language, University of Oxford
52. Ted Everett, Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, State University of New York at Geneseo
53. Mark Fedyk, Associate Professor of Bioethics, University of California, Davis
54. Neil Feit, Distinguished Teaching Professor, State University of New York at Fredonia
55. Graeme Forbes, Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado Boulder
56. Jennifer Frey, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of South Carolina
57. Brett A. Fulkerson-Smith, Professor of Philosophy, Harper College
58. Molly Gardner, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Florida
59. Justin Garson, Chair and Professor, Department of Philosophy, Hunter College of the City University of New York
60. Anthony S. Gillies, Sherwin Scott Professor of Philosophy, University of Arizona
61. Daniel Greco, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Yale University
62. Leslie Green, Professor Emeritus of Law, University of Oxford and Queen’s University
63. Darij Grinberg, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Drexel University
64. Shane Gronholz, Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, Gonzaga University
65. Matthew Hanser, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Santa Barbara
66. Chris Heathwood, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Boulder
67. Raja Halwani, Professor of Philosophy and Faculty Liaison, Liberal Arts Department, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
68. Nathan Hanna, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Drexel University
69. Bashshar Haydar, Professor of Philosophy, American University of Beirut
70. David B. Hershenov, Professor, Department of Philosophy and Director, Romanell Center for Clinical Ethics and the Philosophy of Medicine, University at Buffalo
71. Carl Hoefer, Director, Barcelona Institute of Analytic Philosophy and ICREA Research Professor, Departament de Filosofia, Universitat de Barcelona
72. Carole Hooven, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
73. Thomas Hurka, Chancellor Henry N.R. Jackman Distinguished Professor of Philosophical Studies, University of Toronto
74. Jenann Ismael, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Columbia University
75. Hrishikesh Joshi, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Bowling Green State University
76. Justin Kalef, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University
77. Bradley Kaye, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Erie Community College
78. Zvi M. Kedem, Professor of Computer Science, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
79. Peter D. Klein, Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, Rutgers University
80. Bernard W. Kobes, Faculty of Philosophy, Arizona State University
81. Zak A. Kopeikin, Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Colorado Boulder
82. Matthew H. Kramer FBA, Professor of Legal & Political Philosophy, Cambridge University
83. Andy Lamey, Associate Teaching Professor, Philosophy Department, University of California, San Diego
84. Brian Leiter, Karl N. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Chicago
85. Mark Lance, Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Justice and Peace, Georgetown University
86. David Levy, Associate Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York at Geneseo
87. Matt Lutz, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Wuhan University
88. Stephen Macedo, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values, Princeton University
89. Edouard Machery, Distinguished Professor, University of Pittsburgh
90. Stephen Maitzen, W. G. Clark Professor of Philosophy, Acadia University
91. Ron Mallon, Professor & Chair, Department of Philosophy and Director, Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program, Washington University in St. Louis
92. JB Manchak, Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of California, Irvine
93. Jose Luis Marti, Associate Professor of Legal and Political Philosophy, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
94. Ron McClamrock, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University at Albany, SUNY
95. Jeff McMahan, Sekrya and White’s Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford
96. Dale E. Miller, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, College of Arts and Letters and Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Old Dominion University
97. Francesca Minerva, Research Fellow, University of Milan
98. J.J. Moreso, Professor of Legal Philosophy, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
99. Christopher W. Morris, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Maryland
100. Wes Morriston, Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado Boulder
101. Joshua Mugg, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Park University
102. Jeremy Ravi Mumford, Assistant Professor of History, Brown University
103. Peter Murphy, Professor of Philosophy, University of Indianapolis
104. Eric Nelson, Robert M. Beren Professor of Government, Harvard University
105. Alastair Norcross, Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado Boulder
106. John Oberdiek, Distinguished Professor of Law, Rutgers University
107. Serena Olsaretti, Research Professor, ICREA & Universitat Pompeu Fabra
108. Camilo Ortiz, Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Clinical Training, Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus
109. Jonathan Parry, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, London School of Economics and Political Science
110. Steve Petersen, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Niagara University
111. Charles Pigden, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Otago
112. Allen Podet, Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Buffalo State College, State University of New York
113. Douglas W. Portmore, Professor of Philosophy, Arizona State University
114. Jason T. Potter, Assistant Teaching Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder
115. Dr. Eliezr Rabinovich, Former Adjunct Professor, Department of Materials Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
116. Joel Pust, Professor of Philosophy, University of Delaware
117. Philip Reed, Professor of Philosophy, Canisius College
118. David Rosenthal, Professor, Programs in Philosophy and Linguistics Coordinator, Cognitive Science Concentration, Graduate Center, City University of New York
119. Gabriel Rossman, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles
120. Ruth Sample, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of New Hampshire
121. George Schedler, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
122. Paul Schofield, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Bates College
123. Udo Schuklenk, Professor of Philosophy and Ontario Research Chair in Bioethics, Queen’s University
124. John Schwenkler, Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University
125. Stefan Sciaraffa, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, McMaster University
126. Andrew Sepielli, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto
127. Rob Sica, Social Sciences & Humanities Librarian, Colorado State University Libraries
128. Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University
129. Geoffrey R. Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Chicago
130. Andrew Sneddon, Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Ottawa
131. Bradford Skow, Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
132. Barry Smith, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University at Buffalo
133. Rogers M. Smith, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science, University of Pennsylvania
134. Walter Soffer, Professor of Philosophy, State University of New York at Geneseo
135. Hillel Steiner, Emeritus Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Manchester
136. Nadine Strossen, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, Emerita, New York Law School
137. Alison Suen, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Iona College
138. David Sullivan, Professor of Philosophy, Metropolitan State University of Denver
139. David Talcott, Associate Professor of Philosophy, The King's College
140. James Stacey Taylor, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Classical Studies, The College of New Jersey
141. Torbjorn Tannsjo, Kristian Claeson Professor of Practical Philosophy, Stockholm University
142. Sergio Tenenbaum, Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto
143. Christopher Tollefsen, Professor and Chair of Philosophy, University of South Carolina
144. Michael Tooley, College Professor of Distinction, Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado
145.  Mel A. Topf, Feinstein College of Arts and Sciences, Roger Williams University
146. Rebecca Tuvel, Associate Professor and Chair, Philosophy, Rhodes College
147. Peter Vallentyne, Florence G. Kline Chair in Philosophy, University of Missouri
148. Tim van Gelder, Associate Professor, University of Melbourne
149. Pekka Väyrynen, Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Leeds
150. Michael Veber, Associate Professor, East Carolina University
151. Eugene Volokh, Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Los Angeles
152. David Wallace, W.A. Mellon Professor of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh
153. Brandon Warmke, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Bowling Green State University
154. Justin Weinberg, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina
155. Andy Wible, Instructor of Philosophy, Muskegon Community College
156. Nathaniel Wilcox, Professor of Economics, Appalachian State University
157. James Lindley Wilson, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
158. LTC Stephen N. Woodside, Academy Professor of Philosophy, Department of English and Philosophy, United States Military Academy