Old Dominion University in Virginia announced that they placed a professor on leave after a video of him went viral. In the video, the professor can be seen arguing that pedophiles should be labeled as ‘minor-attracted persons’ to remove the negative stigma.
This whole concept gives me the creeps—But first let’s address the 800-pound elephant; what the heck is going on in Virginia? Is it just me or does it not seem like the State keeps hitting the news because of these radically-left views?
“Old Dominion University has placed Dr. Allyn Walker on administrative leave, effective immediately, from their position as assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice,” Amber Kennedy, a spokesperson for the university, said in a statement on Tuesday evening.
“Reactions to Dr. Walker’s research and book have led to concerns for their safety and that of the campus,” Kennedy added. “Furthermore, the controversy over Dr. Walker’s research has disrupted the campus and community environment and is interfering with the institution’s mission of teaching and learning.”
In an interview with the Prostasia Foundation, professor Dr. Allyn Walker argues for the use of the term “minor-attracted people” — or MAPs — to describe people attracted to children.
Walker explained that people can be attracted to children without acting on it.
“It’s less stigmatizing than other terms like pedophile,” Walker said in the interview with the Prostasia Foundation. “A lot of people when they hear the term pedophile, they automatically assume that it means a sex offender. And that isn’t true. And it leads to a lot of misconceptions about attractions toward minors.”
Just Watch
🚨🚨🚨This non-binary assistant professor at Old Dominion University is trying to normalize the term MAP (Minor Attracted Persons) pic.twitter.com/riD6TdIt8k
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 12, 2021
First, the school published the teacher’s explanation in response to the public’s outrage: “I want to be clear: child sexual abuse is an inexcusable crime. As an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice, the goal of my research is to prevent crime. My work is informed by my past experience and advocacy as a social worker counseling victims. I embarked on this research in hopes of gaining understanding of a group that, previously, has not been studied in order to identify ways to protect children,” Walker said.
After the controversy erupted, the university announced Walker had been placed on administrative leave and shared a statement from ODU’s President.
Andrew Lambakis, the president of the ODU College Republicans said, “I was very surprised and shocked. I actually didn’t believe it until I saw it on Twitter,” Lambakis said. “I’m actually thinking about planning a peaceful protest against Allyn Walker.”
“I want to state in the strongest terms possible that child sexual abuse is morally wrong and has no place in our society,” said ODU President Brian O. Hemphill, Ph.D. “This is a challenging time for our University, but I am confident that we will come together and move forward as a Monarch family.”
The fate of the teacher has not been announced but students say they are preparing a peaceful protest against professor Walker’s return. In a sane world, I would expect that the professor would be fired, but we haven’t lived in what I would call a ‘sane’ world for some time so we will have to wait and see.
Erica Carlin is an independent journalist, opinion writer and contributor to several news and opinion sources. She is based in Georgia.
