That said, “We vehemently condemn the transphobic hate speech and physical threats directed at Dr. Walker as well as our faculty, staff and students are safe, and that no violent acts were carried out.” Richards, associate professor of English at Old Dominion University and president of the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said that he and his colleagues “are-first and foremost-glad that Dr.
The First Amendment rights of free speech and academic freedom protect the ability of public college faculty to explore ideas, no matter how controversial or how many people agree or disagree with them.”ĭaniel P. By removing Walker from the classroom, Old Dominion capitulated to the loudest, angriest voices and gave hecklers a veto over what faculty can research, publish or say. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which supported Walker throughout their brief suspension from campus and teaching, said in its own statement about Walker’s resignation that “threats of violence (or violence itself) must not dictate what can be said or researched in higher education. The campus reportedly experienced safety threats, as did Walker. While fellow academics and said that Walker’s statements aligned with current research and best practices, some students and parents, along with others from outside the Old Dominion campus community, accused Walker of taking a weak stance against pedophilia or even endorsing it. In other words, it’s not who we’re attracted to that is either OK or not OK, it’s our behaviors in responding to that attraction that is either OK or not OK.”
“From my perspective, there is no morality or immorality attached to attraction to anyone, because no one can control who they’re attracted to at all. “Having an attraction to minors, as long as it isn’t acted on, doesn’t mean that the person who has those attractions is doing something wrong,” Walker told Prostasia. The foundation describes itself as a “child protection organization combining an evidence-based approach to child sexual abuse prevention with its commitment to human rights and sex positivity.”ĭuring the interview, Walker said, “A lot of people, when they hear the term ‘pedophile,’ they automatically assume that means a sex offender, and that isn’t true, and that can lead to a lot of misconceptions about attractions toward minors.” Walker recommended that affirming therapies-as opposed to “conversion” therapies-become more widely available, to help nonoffending “minor-attracted persons” navigate their attractions in moral and legal ways. Walker’s research attracted attention, much of it negative, after they granted an interview with an advocacy group called the Prostasia Foundation. More time, grants for COVID-19-impacted Stanford professors.Judge mostly sides with Florida professors in speech case.I am particularly grateful for the outpouring of support from many among the ODU community, as well as others in my research fields who have publicly affirmed the value of my work in advancing child safety.” Walker thanked Old Dominion “for giving me the opportunity to teach and to conduct my research, and the ODU Department of Public Safety for monitoring the threats against me and the community. As a result, multiple threats were made against me and the campus community generally.” Walker said their scholarship aims to prevent child sexual abuse, but that this work “was mischaracterized by some in the media and online, partly on the basis of my trans identity. As we move forward, I encourage all members of the Monarch family to continue our efforts toward healing and civil discourse.” “We hope today’s action helps bring closure for our Monarch family. “We have concluded that this outcome is the best way to move forward,” President Brian O. Author explains book on the success of religious students.Florida State professors say their building is killing them.