Page 4 | Should I email my Uni Lecturer about this?

Magpiemavis · 2021-02-02T14:14:53+00:00

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster! I’m in my first year of a uni degree, and was just listening to one of my online uni lectures. I was quite stunned to hear the lecturer brand JK Rowling a transphobe. Having actually read JK Rowling’s open letter, would it be reasonable of me to email the lecturer and ask why they thought this was a reasonable thing to do? Would really appreciate some outside views on this!

senua · 02/02/2021 23:01

@Magpiemavis

Have had a very long email back, and a recommendation to read something out out by mermaids. Think I’ll be swerving that one oddly enough.

So they have compounded the error? That's not good. Do you feel up to escalating it to management?

GCAcademic · 02/02/2021 23:01

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with her any more. But I would make a complaint to the department or the regular lecturer. As JoodyBlue points out, a humanities degree should foster critical thinking, not act as an opportunity for an activist to proselytise, citing dubious sources, while you get charged £9k for the privilege.

JoodyBlue · 02/02/2021 23:00

I might take a look at Counterweight which is Helen Pluckrose's organisation set up to support GC and others challenging workplace indoctrination. They might be able to offer support or advice. HP is an academic.

DeaconBoo · 02/02/2021 22:58

If you do respond, I'd wait a bit at least before doing so.

Original poster

Magpiemavis · 02/02/2021 22:43

I have no idea whether or not to respond to her, even if it is literally just to point out I don’t share her opinion. The response was a long list of reasons why JK Rowling was a transphobe, with the overarching tone being that of course I would agree with her on this.

OP posts:

GCAcademic · 02/02/2021 22:42

Actually, I think I would complain to the department. They are pushing propaganda, and operating well beyond their professional remit.

GCAcademic · 02/02/2021 22:40

@Magpiemavis

Have had a very long email back, and a recommendation to read something out out by mermaids. Think I’ll be swerving that one oddly enough.

Ask them for an academic, peer-reviewed source.

Just as they would expect your to provide in your essay.

JoodyBlue · 02/02/2021 22:29

I really really can't bear it. Can someone tell me what is the point of a humanities degree if it doesn't teach critical thinking? Seriously what is the point?

Original poster

Magpiemavis · 02/02/2021 22:21

Have had a very long email back, and a recommendation to read something out out by mermaids. Think I’ll be swerving that one oddly enough.

OP posts:

Daca · 02/02/2021 21:59

GC is right, there are some junior academics (and some who have never grown up) who think it’s ok to mark according to ‘correct’ political opinion. That’s not OK, I’d always raise this as an issue. As a student, you are more powerful than you think, especially if you voice your concerns carefully and politely.

GCAcademic · 02/02/2021 21:50

I hope you don't have any fall out from this. Grading is supposed to be anonymous but in reality it is fairy easy to look up whose assignment you are marking if you are so inclined. Though it sounds like this person is temporary cover and may well not be marking anyway.

You should absolutely, though, make sure that the module evaluation you complete at the end of the term mentions this lecture. That should be anonymous. Mentioning this to the regular lecturer would also be a good idea. I have had to speak to a junior member of staff in the past about the fact that he was forcing his political views on students and broaching no dissent - and that this wasn't appreciated by the class. It seemed to come as a bit of a shock to him that there wasn't a homogenous view on such issues in the group.

dumpling23 · 02/02/2021 21:43

@Frouby - oh yes, some of your lecturers most certainly will be GC. The threat of intimidation is very real - it really works to keep them quiet. And it's so much harder to identify your allies without face to face interactions.

@Magpiemavis - I'm so pleased you sent the email! As a temporary fill-in for your lecturer, I think it's really unlikely they'll be able to influence your marks or your time at uni. It's not on you of course - but as a few have said - your original lecturer or head of department may view an email from you as an opportunity to open a discussion inside the department they think needs having. Of course, there's a risk they may be fully blown trans allies, so no need to take the risk - just something to bear in mind.

Daca · 02/02/2021 21:24

Any students on this thread, please do not forget: student fees are the main income for most universities. Your fees not only pay for libraries and lecturer salaries but also for diversity and inclusion certification schemes, initiatives and events. If these are obviously biased towards one constituency and actually work in a way that is exclusionary and interferes with student learning (for example by keeping students from querying claims made by their tutors), then you are entitled to complain.

Many academics despise the hyperbolic claims and smears of this political movement. An email from a concerned student can serve as ammunition in management meetings and rejig the balance.

KatySun · 02/02/2021 21:03

Magpiemavis all the grading of your assignments should be fully anonymous and either moderated or second marked. There really should not be any fall out for raising a question, and if there is, it would be highly unprofessional of your tutor.

PlanDeRaccordement · 02/02/2021 20:56

@Magpiemavis
I hope not for your sake. Xx

Trivium4all · 02/02/2021 20:55

Alas. I'd pop an email to the regular lecturer too. This might give her a heads-up on cleanup she'll have to do when she gets back from research leave! You can word it perfectly naïvely if you like, along the lines of you were told this claim by the substitute, but you've read the blog posts and you simply don't understand where this argument is coming from; could the line of argument be clarified for you, please? Asking for definitions and evidence and clarification of logic should be welcomed in a humanities degree...I find it disappointing, but not unsurprising, that a recent graduate might make an unsubstantiated claim like that in a lecture. We all shoot off the cuff at times, but if challenged, we should be ready to step up with evidence, or gracefully concede. The latter doesn't seem to be encouraged.

lanadelgrey · 02/02/2021 20:45

Thank god you emailed. Friend who is junior lecturer has appended ‘controversial’ to subject of gender as covert signal in hope that her students won’t go for woke as likely to find that kind of thinking on the particular subject she gave the lecture on if they read only a couple of the most recent articles.
There are gc students around ... should there be a secret handshake

Original poster

Magpiemavis · 02/02/2021 20:26

@GCAcademic and @PlanDeRaccordement,

I think you’ve both got it right, although I’ve decided to send the email anyway. From a quick google and check of Twitter, I think I know exactly what response I’ll be getting - and it won’t be an open minded debate. “Lecturer” however is probably a bit strong - they’re a recent phd grad, covering a class. So fingers crossed I’m not going to face any fall out.

OP posts:

Rumblebuffin · 02/02/2021 20:18

Unfortunately I think GCAcademic is right

PartyofPun · 02/02/2021 20:13

[quote PlanDeRaccordement]@GCAcademic
I'm afraid I wouldn't trust someone this unprofessional, OP, to engage with your concerns in a positive way. Those lecturers in this thread who are saying they are happy to be challenged are probably not the sort of people who would be denouncing wrong-thinkers in their lectures in the first place.

Exactly. You wrote it more eloquently than I have. My opinion is that OP shouldn’t engage on defending JK Rowling, she has enough defenders such that OP doesn’t need to fall on her sword and sacrifice her uni career prospects over this. This professor doesn’t sound reasonable minded at all, and probably deliberately said that as a way to fish for “transphobes” to hate on.[/quote]
But sadly also this. There’s no shame in picking your battles

PartyofPun · 02/02/2021 20:10

Could you ask them clearly what they mean by transphobic?

Ie world rugby has completed an enquiry into the safety of all competitors if males can compete in women’s rugby. Completing this safety report has been labelled transphobic. Is this what they mean?

Males are identifying as women and joining lesbian groups and dating websites. Some lesbians have been labelled transphobic for raising concerns. Is this what they mean?

98% of convicted sex offenders are male. Women who have raised concern about women’s prisons (rather than specific transgender units) have been labelled transphobic. Is this what they mean?

Swimming pool changing rooms contain naked 14 yr old girls. Some people who have raised concerns about Males having access to these spaces on the basis of identity have been labelled transphobic. Is this what they mean?

Face to face might be better.

PlanDeRaccordement · 02/02/2021 20:07

@GCAcademic
I'm afraid I wouldn't trust someone this unprofessional, OP, to engage with your concerns in a positive way. Those lecturers in this thread who are saying they are happy to be challenged are probably not the sort of people who would be denouncing wrong-thinkers in their lectures in the first place.

Exactly. You wrote it more eloquently than I have. My opinion is that OP shouldn’t engage on defending JK Rowling, she has enough defenders such that OP doesn’t need to fall on her sword and sacrifice her uni career prospects over this. This professor doesn’t sound reasonable minded at all, and probably deliberately said that as a way to fish for “transphobes” to hate on.

Frouby · 02/02/2021 20:01

@dumpling23

We're cheering you on *@Magpiemavis* !!

As a lecturer I can also say, although you may feel alone - you really are not. At least in my classes, which also have a gender, humanities tilt there are plenty of women students who are really interested in women's issues and who simply aren't interested or actively opposed to gender identity. Obviously, we don't sit around articulating these thoughts in the classroom, but there certainly are other students that feel like you - or at least there are in my uni (though I think it helps that we're not an elite institution and the students have bigger things on their plate than their gendered identity, like having got up at silly-o'clock to get an early shift in at wherever they work before getting to campus ...)

@frouby - the tongue-biting is very real. I teach a class where we look at Victorian medicine and at how ideas about women and madness (rooting mental illness in the disordered female body, especially reproductive system) led to actual surgeries on female bodies - to remove ovaries, clitoris and uterus etc. I've always taught this as the ideas come first (women's bodies are dominated by their reproductive system which is a cause of sickness and ill health); then come the actions... Obviously, the students are all pretty appalled and think this was bad medicine.

The parallel with today's situations is so striking. First the ideas about male/female brains, being born 'in the wrong body', the 'trans child' etc - then actual surgeries to slice off various female reproductive parts. It's eerily similar, but of course - I don't make this comparison to the students.

The tongue biting is painful sometimes. Especially I think this year because so much interaction has been online in chat rooms and WhatsApp groups or facebook, I have to be very careful what I say because once it's out there it's out there. I'm pretty sure at least one of my lecturers has similar views to me and she teaches a similar module to what you do by the sounds of it. But I am a bit disappointed with the student response if trans issues are raised and was disappointed by the candidates personal statements when the elections for SU were held. The womens officer candidates were particularly disappointing as were the LGBT candidates.

I'm doing a dual hons degree, lit with philosophy and very much looking forward to the debates on the feminism/sex modules. I'm hopeful that there will be real debate not woke virtue signalling.

GCAcademic · 02/02/2021 19:56

@thinkingaboutLangCleg

Magpie, bear in mind that your lecturer is probably terrified of the trans lobby, who have even more power in universities than outside. They rule student unions and have lost dissident staff and researchers their jobs.

If you're terrified of the trans lobby, you can simply keep your mouth shut. You don't have to take the opportunity to denounce people in your lectures. It is very easy to avoid calling JK Rowling a transphobe in a English literature lecture.

I'm afraid I wouldn't trust someone this unprofessional, OP, to engage with your concerns in a positive way. Those lecturers in this thread who are saying they are happy to be challenged are probably not the sort of people who would be denouncing wrong-thinkers in their lectures in the first place.

PlanDeRaccordement · 02/02/2021 19:47

But it the grand scheme of things it does matter that I feel I am being forced to keep my mouth clamped shut on something that I have a view on.

It’s good practice for the outside corporate world. You will one day have a bad line manager/upper management/HQs staff. Knowing when to pick your battles is a vital skill. I wouldn’t pick this one.