Update from James Caspian on his case against Bath Spa University to be allowed to research detransitioners

[Betti935]

Dear Supporters,

As you may have seen from my page update, the university has concluded its complaints procedure and is sticking to its guns, saying that the only mistake it has made is to have passed my initial research proposal in the first place. (If you remember, it did this before rejecting my amended proposal). The defence given is that the ethics committee's decision was an academic decision, which one may not challenge. I and my lawyers maintain that, as the definition of an academic decision is that it is one that can only be made by an academic, that it did not require an academic to make a decision based on fear of criticism on social media, and therefore the decision to reject my research proposal was not an academic decision at all. The university has also said that it is for a court to decide what is an academic decision.

This means that I now need to raise in the region of £40,000, or preferably more, to take the university to court for a Judicial Review. The deadline for applying for JudiciaI Review is 8th March 2018, that is, three months after the university concluded the complaints procedure. I need to have enough money to cover the possibility of losing, otherwise I cannot risk going ahead. I believe that it is more important than ever that we take this chance of having a legal precedent set that will prevent universities from stopping research on spurious grounds. This is because, since I started this campaign, I have discovered that it is an endemic problem in universities. See here for my interview and other academics' experiences on this subject in a recent edition of the Sunday Telegraph

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/23/academics-say-research-hindered-universities-fear-online-backlash/

Please can you share this link on Facebook; pledge again if you are able; email five friends asking them to pledge and publicise my case as widely as you can! This is the beginning of the big push! Let's not let the university get away with it!

I wish you all a happy and healthy new Year!
Very best wishes,

James Caspian.

[Betti935]

This is the fundraising page:

www.crowdjustice.com/case/uphold-freedom-of-speech-in-our-universities/

[CaptainWarbeck]

Good for him. He's got £6k already of his needed £18k.

[PricklyBall]

Bump.

Good luck to him.

[LassWiTheDelicateAir]

Good luck

[ALittleBitOfButter]

Why hasn't another university offered him a place? I eould have though they would, just for the publicity, given there's clearly support from the mainstream press.

[SophoclesTheFox]

Have donated. Good luck James!

[furcoatnaeknickers]

Donated. Very important that research like this is not blocked

[Whatnextxx]

This is a much needed area of research and it is a disgrace that the University seeks to stifle appropriate and relevant research to pander to a minority who seem to be setting the agenda

[JustGiveMeTwoMinutes]

Will be donating once I get paid

[loveyouradvice]

This is SO important

[BatShite]

Am totally skint, like..I have 30 quid to last til next Tuesday but will see if I can donate then

[32bakedbeans]

Donated.

Well done James & thank you.

Such an important issue.

If academic institutions are unable to think critically & in an unbiased fashion, then I despair.

[terfing]

If he needs 40k, then why is he only asking for 15k?

[Hellothereitsme]

Donated.

[Xenophile]

I think he's prepared to put his own money into the pot, terfing.

[Imalldonethanks]

It's lunacy not to allow research like this.
Will donate in the morning and share.

[AugustIsACruelMonth]

Donated.

[peanut2017]

Will donate in the morning as I'm in bed and don't have my details to hand. Doesn't seem to let you pay by PayPal

Very important piece of work here that needs to be carried out

[ThatFuckingVase]

This is such an important thing and it needs research.

We're allowing (encouraging?) pre-teens and teenagers to believe that feelings matter more than biological facts and then not allowing them psychological support, only drugs and being put on the path towards surgery.

The impact of this is being felt NOW by those who are de-transitioning, and lessons can be learned ... if people would just listen to what those people are saying!

[BeyondWitchbitchterf]

Bump.

A few women I know have been looking into getting this "out there" a bit more on Twitter.

Suggested/existing hashtags at the moment are
#DetransitionersAreValid
#FreeSpeech
#AcademicFreedom
#CriticalThinking

Just gonna check I haven't missed anything...

[SecretHandshake]

Is he on twitter?

[BeyondWitchbitchterf]

@jamesfreespeech

[SecretHandshake]

Thanks Beyond! I found him and will start tweeting

[goodyzoe]

His fund says it runs out in 2 days. He's got £13,000, but it's now a stretch target of £50,000.

What does that mean?

If he fails to get it, does he fail to get the money? I think you do have to meet the target on Crowd Justice, does anyone know?

Also if it's a stretch target, does that mean he just needs to reach his first target? Was it £15K?

Does he know it'll run out in 2 days and he might lose the money if so? Does anyone know how to contact him?

[Whyiseverynameinuse]

Donated, tiny amount for now. Thank you for posting.