The Times- James Treadwell: Professor fears for his job after tweets on gender
MENU
James Treadwell: Professor fears for his job after tweets on gender
A lecturer has said that he is the latest academic victim of “cancel culture” after his university began investigating his tweets for transphobia without giving him details about the allegation.
James Treadwell, a professor of criminology at Staffordshire University, was told by his employer that “formal and official” complaints had been made about his comments on Twitter.
“I am being investigated for transphobia,” he tweeted. “Read my tweets. Go figure,” he added, joking: “It’s a good job cancel culture is just a myth though, right.” The university confirmed that it had received a complaint about “the views expressed” by the professor on Twitter but refused to identify the messages when asked to by The Times.
James Treadwell: Professor fears for his job after tweets on gender
A lecturer has said that he is the latest academic victim of “cancel culture” after his university began investigating his tweets for transphobia without giving him details about the allegation.
James Treadwell, a professor of criminology at Staffordshire University, was told by his employer that “formal and official” complaints had been made about his comments on Twitter.
“I am being investigated for transphobia,” he tweeted. “Read my tweets. Go figure,” he added, joking: “It’s a good job cancel culture is just a myth though, right.” The university confirmed that it had received a complaint about “the views expressed” by the professor on Twitter but refused to identify the messages when asked to by The Times.
Treadwell, who has lectured there for five years, said he was “angry and upset” by the review of his online activity, which he fears could cost him his job.
He said: “I have no details of what it is alleged. I honestly have tried to be balanced and reasonable and promote fair debate. Let me be clear again, trans people like all people deserve dignity and respect. Academics giving their personal views do too.”
Treadwell has used Twitter to share his thoughts on topics including Black Lives Matter and racism in football. He has argued in favour of “protecting women’s spaces” and posted about clashes between trans activists and feminists. In 2018 he said “criminologists are finding the voice to say men should not be put in women’s prisons” after Karen White, a transgender prisoner who had been convicted of sex offences and went on to sexually assault two inmates at a women’s jail, was given a life sentence. Treadwell wrote: “It is a shame it took more victims to get that, but I’m sure the previous reluctance to speak was a result of how allegations of bigotry can be used to silence.”
In October Kathleen Stock, a philosophy professor, left her job at Sussex University after she was targeted by students accusing her of transphobia. That month Professor Jo Phoenix, a criminologist at the Open University, said she had been harassed and branded a “racist uncle at a Christmas dinner table” after arguing that academics were being silenced on transgender matters. She has left and is taking the institution to an employment tribunal.
Treadwell added that previous complaints made against him for “denying the reality of satanic ritual abuse” had a “huge impact on family life and stress on those around me”. He said: “ I can be brusque, opinionated and stubborn. But I respect anyone’s right to disagree and hold a different view. Oddly literally nobody has approached me directly to debate my stance or views. They have clearly however gone to my employer wanting me sanctioned or sacked.”
Staffordshire University said his case was “being reviewed in accordance with the university’s procedures. As a university we are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion to ensure we promote a positive culture where everyone is able to be themselves. We are equally committed to academic freedom and lawful freedom of speech.”
Comments
Post a Comment