The Times- We’re being hunted, say Edinburgh University lecturers
We’re being hunted, say Edinburgh University lecturers
Contributors from Edinburgh to a new internet forum have complained of bullying and repeated personal attacks on social media if they are open about their opinions while others fear students are being indoctrinated “with fixed mindsets on gender identity”.
One academic wrote: “I don’t know if senior management have any idea of the scale of censorship feminists are subject to on a daily basis at this university. It is suffocating. There are vague statements about supporting academic freedom, but nothing is done to prevent the bullying of women.”
The founders of the GC Academia Network website say: “We are concerned about the ongoing erosion of women’s sex-based rights in law, policy and practice, and the treatment of those — mainly women — who speak out. We are concerned that a ‘no debate’ culture on this issue is harmful to academic freedom and is preventing an open and critical engagement with theories of sex and gender.”
Particular concerns have been raised about the university’s Staff Pride Network, which supports LGBT employees and students.
The controversy follows a demand that Edinburgh’s principal, Professor Peter Mathieson, should step down for allegedly allowing an “intolerant and illiberal” culture to take root.
The university made headlines last year when it stripped the name of the Enlightenment philosopher David Hume from a tower block after campaigners highlighted a racist footnote in his essay Of National Characters. Last month it began an investigation into the conduct of Dr Neil Thin, a senior lecturer and opponent of the Hume decision, after students accused him of being racist, sexist and “problematic”.
Scores of academics, many claiming to be from the Russell Group of leading universities, shared their anonymised experiences on GC Academia. One part-time lecturer at Edinburgh said a sense of intellectual freedom had been supplanted by a culture of fear.
The lecturer wrote: “It is as though academic colleagues believe there are some trans/trans ally students who are monstrous toddlers, ready to throw a strop if they should hear anything that invalidates their ‘true self’ and report the offending tutor. The effect is that the extreme version of gender identity theory has to be taught as though it’s an unchallengeable orthodoxy.”
Another Edinburgh staff member said that mention of biological sex was deemed “bad” and “certain people will actively hunt down and harass those who [mention it]”. One critic of the university wrote scathingly of the “authoritarian bullies of the Staff Pride Network,” adding: “The postmodern thought and language police are very active in my subject area.”
They added: “Their latest is an instruction to check our course materials for ‘cis-normative’ [a gender identity which matches their biological sex] assumptions and monitor ourselves, our students and each other for ‘micro-invalidations’.”
This was a reference to guidance published by the university to help staff recognise and counteract “microaggressions against trans and/or nonbinary people”.
It urges staff to refrain from using phrases such as “all women hate their periods” and “all people think about being the opposite gender sometimes”.
Critics of the university are outraged by the document, which compares “transphobic campaigners” to Islamophobes and antisemites.
A spokesman for Edinburgh University said it was “a safe place for difficult conversations,” adding: “We are committed to defending freedom of speech and expression, as long as it is carried out within the law and in a respectful manner.
“Given the size of our community, it is inevitable that the ideas of different members will often, and quite naturally, conflict. We encourage members of our community to use their judgment and openly contest ideas that they oppose, and to feel protected in doing so.”
The spokesman said the microaggressions document was “designed as a resource to support staff, inform discussion, and help promote a respectful, diverse and inclusive community”.
He added: “We are currently reviewing the document in the light of a range of feedback.”
The Staff Pride Network said in a statement: “We support our colleagues and students on an inclusive, intersectional basis working in collaboration with university management, other staff networks, student societies as well as external organisations who support LGBT+ equality.”
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