CHLOE KOWALYK
Editor in Chief
It has been nearly 500 days since SUNY Fredonia Professor Stephen Kershnar was removed from campus after a video surfaced of him discussing morality issues regarding adult-child sex on X (formerly Twitter).
Now, Kershnar is suing Fredonia President Stephen Kolison and Executive Vice President and Provost David Starrett in their individual and official capacities. This means that Kershnar is suing Kolison and Starrett personally and as executives of SUNY Fredonia.
The situation is laid out in a 46-page court case.
Simply put, the case is a matter of free speech versus campus safety.
Kershnar, the plaintiff, and his legal team assert that his morality arguments are protected by the First Amendment and fall under academic freedom.
Kolison and Starrett, the defendants, and their legal team argue that if Kershnar were to return to campus, there would be threats to both the professor’s safety and the safety of the campus as a whole.
According to page 3 of the case, the approximately over 500-day-long investigation into the Kershnar situation “has now outlasted the Warren Commission’s investigation into the assassination of JFK, the U.S. Senate inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic, the Iran hostage crisis and the federal government’s investigation into the Challenger disaster.”
The investigation into Kershnar is apparently still ongoing.
Kershnar’s work at SUNY Fredonia and individually
According to the case, Kershnar began working at SUNY Fredonia in 1998, and he was awarded tenure in 2002.
Previously, the university tried to prevent him from being promoted to full professor from associate. However, the college ended up promoting him anyway.
Kershnar’s work in the classroom earned him the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was also appointed as a distinguished teaching professor, which is SUNY’s highest academic rank. In addition, he served as the philosophy department chair.
Before Kerhsnar’s podcast clip trended on Twitter, according to the case, SUNY Fredonia showed pride towards having Kershnar on their academic team.
The case directly quotes a press release from the college released in 2014 that states, “Dr. Kershnar is renowned on campus for his unique and effective style of teaching that combines the Socratic method of questioning employed by law school professors with a philosophical technique of vigorously defending conflicting conclusions.”
This method of teaching does fall within SUNY’s policy, which supports the right of professors to, “maintain and encourage full freedom, within the law, of inquiry, teaching and research,” including the right of faculty to, “without limitation, discuss their own subject in the classroom.”
Outside of his campus work, Kershnar has written several books, articles and blogs, including:
- “For Torture: A Rights-Based Defense”
- “Pedophilia and Adult-Child Sex: A Philosophical Analysis”
- “The Moral Status of Harmless Adult-Child Sex”
Many of Kershnar’s works were written after his tenure, and were listed on the college’s website.
It is important to remember that neither Fredonia or SUNY require professors to speak in off-campus events and they do not facilitate those who choose to do so.
According to the case, Kershnar never distributed links to his appearances on podcasts or other speaking engagements.
Our question as students for Fredonia is, if Kershnar’s works always contained controversial content, why wasn’t action taken before it blew up on social media?
SUNY Fredonia removes Kershnar from campus
Once Kershnar’s controversial views were shown on social media, the college took action to remove him from campus.
On the evening of Feb. 1, 2022, the night that the podcast on X (formerly Twitter) was posted by @libsoftiktok, a University Police officer spoke to former Chief of University Police Brent Isaacson and told two members of the public that the university’s police were aware of the video and were conducting an investigation.
On the morning of Feb. 3, 2022, Kershnar spoke to Isaacson over the phone. Isaacson told Kershnar not to return to campus, explaining that he was concerned about campus safety.
Kershnar says he asked Chief Isaacson for specific information about any threats concerning Kershnar or his students, but Isaacson did not provide information on these threats, and told Kerhsnar not to come to campus.
According to the case, on the same day, his office and desktop computer were searched by University Police under the direction of Kolison and the campus police.
The case also states that on Feb. 3, 2022, Kershnar received a letter from SUNY Fredonia’s Director of Human Resources, Maria Carroll. This letter stated, “[e]ffective immediately and until further notice, pursuant to Article 19.11(c) of [the university’s collective bargaining agreement],” Kershnar was “to perform an alternate work assignment from an alternate location.”
Article 19.11 grants Kolison the right to reassign faculty duties.
Kershnar was not allowed to have any contact with the campus community without Carroll’s permission, meaning he was unable to be interviewed by The Leader.
Kershnar’s court papers say that SUNY Fredonia did not allow Kershnar to teach online.
Kershnar remains unable to return to campus.
The case states that Kershnar, “Periodically receives an email from Starrett barring him from campus and teaching ‘due to ongoing concerns regarding your safety and the safety of others on campus should you return to campus.’”
SUNY Fredonia has not yet stated what the threats to Kershnar were, and the college’s online police blotter does not show any threats made to Kershnar.
However, the defendants, Kolison and Starrett, have listed several instances of threats made towards Kershnar on their exhibit list. These alleged threats were made through phone calls, emails and voicemails.
Kershnar and his legal team plan to call forward a witness who is an expert in security. This witness will attempt to mitigate any concerns regarding public safety.
Kershnar’s team also plans to call forward an expert in academic freedom, who can attest to Kershnar’s freedom of speech within the university.
What has become of Kershnar’s classes?
During the Fall 2022 semester, Kershnar was to teach three classes at SUNY Fredonia: Introduction to Philosophy (PHIL-115), Crime and Punishment (PHIL-303) and Metaphysics (PHIL-351).
Two days after the first day of classes, on Aug. 24, 2022, Kershnar received a letter from Starrett stating that his removal from campus was due to ongoing concerns regarding campus safety.
Many students showed up to Kershnar’s class on the first day, only to find a sign on the door stating that the class had been canceled.
Two days later, on Aug. 26, 2022, students received an email from administration stating that Kershnar’s classes had been canceled for the semester.
On Nov. 1, 2022, Kershnar received an email from Starrett, which stated that he would not be teaching for the Spring 2023 semester.
Instead of teaching, Kershnar was instructed to complete research on what types of philosophy classes should be taught at SUNY Fredonia.
Kershnar’s classes are currently being taught by Dr. Christopher Pacyga and Richard Friemann. Pacyga is teaching six philosophy courses, which is twice as much as many tenured professors teach.
On the campus website, Pacyga is listed as an adjunct lecturer.
Kershnar’s causes of action against SUNY Fredonia
Kershnar’s case lists four “causes of action,” depicting a violation of the First Amendment.
They are as follows (excuse the legalese):
- First Amendment violation: (Injunctive and Declaratory Relief) Freedom of Speech — Content and Viewpoint Discrimination
- This cause of action is against Kolison and Starrett in their official capacities. The case states that Kershnar’s removal from campus is due to viewpoint discrimination, in that Kolison does not agree with Kershnar’s stance on controversial issues.
- First Amendment violation: (Injunctive and Declaratory Relief) Freedom of Speech — Retaliation
- This cause of action is also against Kolison and Starrett in their official capacities. This means that under the First Amendment, Kershnar is protected from retaliation for his freedom of speech under the First Amendment. Put simply, Kolison and Starrett cannot retaliate against Kershnar with negative employment action as a result of Kershnar’s protected speech.
- The case states that Kolison and Starrett did do this, by removing him from campus, not allowing him to communicate with the campus community and searching his office and desktop computer.
- First Amendment violation (Injunctive and Declaratory Relief) Freedom of Speech — Prior Restraint
- This cause of action is against Kolison and Starrett in their individual capacities.
- This complaint is a result of Kolison and Starrett’s banning of Kershnar to respond to inquiries from The Leader and Kershnar’s inability to respond to the criticism he faced as a result of the situation.
- First Amendment violation (damages) Direct and Retaliatory Infringements of Freedom of Speech
- This cause of action is also against Kolison and Starrett in their individual capacities.
- The case states that Kershnar, “is entitled to compensatory and nominal damages against President Kolison in his individual capacity for violating Kershnar’s clearly established First Amendment right.”
Kershnar seeks a jury trial and relief
As a result of the alleged infringements on his First Amendment rights, Kershnar is seeking several forms of relief, including “nominal, compensatory and punitive damages against Kolison in his individual capacity” and his attorney fees.
Kershnar attorney Barry Covert did not respond to requests for comment for this story. The Leader will be reaching out to administration attorneys for comment in future issues.
CORRECTION: This article has been corrected from the print version in which the first line incorrectly identifies Stephen Kolison as the professor being removed from campus, rather than Stephen Kershnar.