Glasgow Conservatoire accused of ableism and transphobia

I read that article and thought that the journalist's specific intention was to portray the students as a bunch of whining clueless snowflakes. But there are at least hints that one or more lecturers may be abusive or a bigot. Grabbing people by the neck isn't terribly good pedagogic practice, is it? Making constant little digs at specific individuals because of their ethnic background/nationality/religion/gender isn't great when you are the teacher and supposedly in a position of authority over your students.

Arnold yes that one - I watched a program on it in utter disbelief, The current climate is stifling academic thought, freedom and rigour. I hope we aren’t heading the same way.

"mandatory anti-oppression training"

Lesson 1: How Not To Be Compelled To Participate In Mandatory Training.

Lesson 2: How Not To ........ oh, everyone seems to have walked out....

Are you thinking of the Evergreen College case and Bret Wernstein, ImGenderfree?

I would be interested to hear the lecturer’s version of this. The student was planning to hold a piece of ice to demonstrate her loss due to an abortion. The lecturer may just have been discussing how to show this best especially if as a pp suggested the block of ice thing has been done so many times. If so the lecturer is justified in putting alternative view points - the student is using her experience and can expect comment to be passed from a performance perspective. If it is too painful to discuss don’t do it. If true, the puppy comment isn’t on though.

Does this remind anyone of the protest in an American college where they tried (and succeeded) to have a lecturer removed and it led to sit ins, strikes and the lecturer being told campus security weren’t able to protect him. Can’t remember the name of the college.

Worst performance art piece ever!

The woman in question is a real character, she is very strict and does push you as a student.
She says things that are close to the bone and she definitely made me cry a few times.
The comment about getting a puppy I can 100% imagine her saying, but only because she doesn't have children and instead has dogs and she would have meant it as an genuine piece of advice.

They don't pull any punches when critiquing your work (which was incredibly personal so felt like a personal attack), there was a running joke that it wasn't a working day until you'd had a cry in the toilets.
But honestly; it's one of the best courses in the world. The work made there is good. The graduates have one of the highest employment rates of any uni in the the country. They don't let you be substandard and as an arts student you should be able to take criticism. You learn not to take it personally, and let it make your work better.
I no longer make art but I use what I was taught there every single day.

On the very first day we were told 'no one wants to see your art, in fact the world would prefer it if you didn't. if you want to make it you're going to have to learn to fight for it and only make something you truly love'

I remember thinking that was the most awful thing I'd ever heard, but but the time I graduated I realised what amazing advice it is.
They don't let you just coast.

Academic settings always have an us vs them feeling in any case, don't they? Students have always resented the academics, right?

Not my experience of university, no, but I did a science degree that involved a lot of field work.

These students sound incredibly tiresome and I'm willing to bet not a one of them pronounces Glesga properly so fuck their whining.

Good grief!

I do wonder how much truth there is in any of it.
A great way to seek attention though.

I went to a conservatoire although not Glasgow, everyone was alternative. I consider myself a bit off but my god it was off the scale oddness for everyone. Anyone wanting to be anyone was accepted by all. I cannot even begin to understand these weird scenes occurring in them now.
It's because everyone has to be special. Back when I went many moons ago it was completely acceptable to be whoever you wanted to be, you could rock up as a guy in a dress and no one would have bat an eyelid so why all the fuss now who knows?! Teachers and staff were pretty much previous students of one conservatoire or another as well so all a bit bohemian.

wont she get frostbite

Nah.
Holding ice as a metaphor for a burden you carry is a pretty overdone and standard performance art trope.

Wouldn’t she get frostbite?

What a bunch of entitled attention seekers; I’m aghast at the person planning to depict her abortion with a melting block of ice, it’s all about me, me, me.
I’m afraid if a man who looks like a man presented himself in front of me I’d say ‘he’, how are these people going to manage being refracted at auditions?

I can't find this open letter though

The people complaining here are really biting the hand that feeds them. The CPP programme was at the forefront of 'exploring identity' and is truly one of a kind.
You get funding, institutional support and the time and space to basically explore your own identity for four years.
It's an incredible achievement from the lecturers that they have managed to keep it running all these years, and they have fought tooth and nail for it. The idea that the staff are transphobic is utterly ludicrous.

Once it goes it's gone and that'll be all the fault of some spoilt brats who aren't able to see the worth and hard work of the Middle Aged women who have laid done the foundations for their blue hair shenanigans.

I am a graduate from this course.

The place is bonkers.

Wonderful, an incredible educational experience that enriched my life in every way but fucking off the map bonkers.

I wonder why the Times have turned comments off for this article.....the mind boggles

I doubt it as well Kat. I’ve been in a situation where I’ve been accused of saying something to a student which I absolutely didn’t say. What happened was that her mental health condition meant that she heard something that corresponded with her own perceptions and fears. Some of my colleagues have been in similar situations.

The abortion remarks seem awful, but in the context of someone who wanted to make a performing arts piece about her abortion?

I suspect the comments were intended as artistic critique / provocation, a suggestion that shocking the audience would be more interesting than demanding pity. But no matter how it was intended, it was a favour to her. She would have had a nervous breakdown at the public reaction to that piece. If you're going to talk about abortion in public, you're going to have to argue with dickheads!

Aside: how will people this fragile possibly survive in the performing arts world? I knew a rather talented actress who gave up the career early on because she knew she wasn't thick-skinned and pushy enough to survive the endless auditioning. I thought that was very wise of her.

"A non-passing trans woman — a biological male with traditionally male characteristics who identifies as a female — said the lecturer persistently referred to her as a man."

OMG the hurt, the distress, how will this person cope in the real world?

When Alan Turing was first put on banknotes someone tweeted about another 'white, cis gender hetrosexual' beiing honoured. I now assume they have made assumptions whenever I see that phrase or similar.

If you follow it down the rabbit hole, how dare the students assume that their lecturers are all able bodied and cis-gendered.

There could be lecturers with invisible disabilities or who identify as non-binary, or indeed are passing transpeople.

You can’t complain that a body of people are cis-gendered without assuming their gender, and therefore being transphobic.

Do you really think the lecturer in a right on arty place would have said that about abortion, especially to an actually grieving person? Personally I doubt it.

The whole thing stinks of entitled arseholes, who really, really, need to grow up and get a job.

Arghggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I'm torn over the comment the tutor made about the student's abortion. On one hand, that would be a terrible thing to say to a grieving mother. On the other hand, the suggested change in approach makes more logical sense in terms of depicting the direct action taken to end the pregnancy. So I don't know what to think of that one.

As for the alienation... I think that's really hard to avoid in a situation where the tutors are mostly older, white and able-bodied and the students are not always so, and I feel that that sentiment would be driven by the students rather than the tutors. Academic settings always have an us vs them feeling in any case, don't they? Students have always resented the academics, right? It's a thing. Racial discrimination is obviously a different thing and should be stamped on though.

"a mispronounced Cantonese greeting as a serious issue."

I'd like to hear what actually happened, especially in this case. It could have been an inability to pronounce it properly which is obvs no big deal, but it could have been deliberate in order to taunt him. My husband is east Asian and one of my colleagues thought it was appropriate to mispronounce his name (something like "ling" but not) as "ching chong".

So without the actual examples it's impossible to say what really happened and whether it was a problem or not.

What a joke these people are. Sad that such a tremendous place is being infected by this sort of utter shite! I wish the article had a comment section.

Agree the comments by the lecturer about the student’s abortion sound complaint-worthy, but the rest sounds like deliberately disruptive group hysteria and a targeted attack.

Maybe it's a full performance arts piece, the complaint etc. Otherwise it's really ridiculous and shows a lack of awareness of the world. I hope their parents sue them for unpaid emotional labour because they are acting like toddlers.