Professor Thomas Hubbard of the University of Texas at Austin has come under fire from members of the community for his scholarly writing on the relationship between men and teenage boys. Some members of the community have even begun calling for Hubbard’s termination.

According to a report by The College Fix, UT Austin Professor Thomas Hubbard has come under fire for a series of scholarly pieces that have defended relationships between older men and teenage boys.

In December, the Dallas Morning News published an editorial entitled “A UT professor ‘researches’ pederasty. Why are we paying for it?” which focused on Hubbard’s research. “Pederasty” refers to sexual relationships between adult men and pubescent or adolescent boys. Such relationships are considered child sexual abuse or statutory rape in most of the modern world.

In one passage from Hubbard’s published research, the classics professor went as far as to argue that pederastic relationships were beneficial to young men in Ancient Greece.

In Ancient Greece, “where age-discrepant relationships are commonplace and positively reinforced, they cause little or no long-term harm to the younger partner and often confer great benefit,” Hubbard wrote.

Hubbard claims that he does not hold a radical position on age of consent laws. In an interview, he claimed that he has advocated for a softening of America’s age of consent laws, but only to match those of most European states.

“I have never said anything more radical than that we should consider moving in the direction of what most European states do, which is to maintain an age of consent of 14 or 15 with special protections against prostitution of those under 18 or involvement with an adult who is in a position of trust (family members, teachers, therapists, clergy),” Hubbard told The College Fix.