Rosa Freedman told to 'Choose your words carefully'

You would be better off asking the University direct. Professor Freedman has herself said they have supported her well. She has no complaints of them. This is not Leeds or Bristol.

My own experience of working at Reading some years ago is that they take discipline seriously and they are fair. They expelled one student and banned another from campus when I worked for them and they were not afraid to take action when necessary. They also supported a member of staff beyond what I would expect of an employer.
I don’t think it’s fair to expect them to prevent a student from writing to a professor; I do expect and trust them to deal with the incident now that they are aware of it.

Is there any evidence that the University has taken any steps to prevent this sort of thing from happening to Rosa Freedman? Are there well publicised policies in place? Have meetings been happening? Has word spread around the university that threatening emails will be swiftly dealt with.

Are steps being taken to stop people feeling emboldened to do this.

Because a lot of people are saying it should be happening, but is there any evidence that it actually is?

[quote yeahbutnaw]Do you think she deleted her account because people criticised her for doxxing and endangering a student?

Or was it because "gender critical" people assumed she was trans and criticised her appearance? twitter.com/Henriettaspoon/status/1410350303552094221?s=20[/quote]
That didn't happen. What happened is that someone appeared underneath many comments and kept claiming that the student who wrote the letter is female but identifies as a man. A quick look at that person's account shows you that they are definitely not gender critical.

One man in the comments still visible commented on looks, it's not clear if he meant Rosa, but let's say he did. That was one man. Who is a free speecher and not a gender critical feminist.

One account (now suspended) commented negatively on Rosa's looks and called her a man. That account belongs to a gay dude who lives in the US, who also has a NSFW account on Twitter. Again, not a gender critical feminist. But certainly a gay man who has serious issues with the doctrine of gender identity and its political implications.

MsGrumpytrousers was motivated by those two tweets to post a tweet criticising people commenting on the looks of others. She certainly didn't claim those comments came from feminists, but Twitter user Hetty Spoon, who is known as a trans rights activist, jumped on that and blew it completely out of proportion. As have you yeahbutnaw.

As someone who believes Rosa should have redacted the name and email address from that arrogant student's message before publishing - I am still fucking furious for her. I hope the police get this bastard.

My thoughts exactly @NellWilsonsWhiteHair.

I also hope that universities - OK, university managers - would get their finger out, cut the virtue-signalling and do something about what's happening in their institutions. I think Rosa should have redacted the name on the email she shared, but I can understand why she didn't. It must be infuriating to keep reporting these little idiots to university authorities, only to have nothing done about them and then be bound by confidentiality while they keep getting away with harassment. The climate for gender-critical academics sounds close to intolerable.

Clearly, I need to choose my words more carefully...
I always thought a deleted message must mean you'd said something unprintable, so I'm surprised that "Grow up!" is considered so abusive. Whoever reported that had better steer clear of AIBU - they'll eat you alive!

Anyway, I'll say, again, that I agree with NellWilsonsWhiteHair and LooksGood. And I'll add that I agree with ArabellaScott's post at 18.48 while I'm about it.

Sorry, Arabella just made the same point with far more elegance and verve. Cross-posted. 👏

These people seem more and more like freelance misogynists latching onto a cause. Transactivism seems to be just a vehicle for their violent urges.

I hope Thames Valley police pursue this little shit with the zeal of the Scottish police when they arrested Marion Millar.

Guess what. The people wishing torture and death are not on the right side of history.

The people telling lesbians they are 'abnormal' are not on the right side of history.

The people making signs telling JK Rowling to 'rot in hell' are not on the right side of history.

The people taking pictures of themselves posing with guns to threaten women are not on the right side of history.

The people who celebrated the death of a young woman who died tragically young are not on the right side of history.

The people making videos of their bomb-making and smashing up effigies of Germain Greer, hanging effigies of women in trees, wearing balaclavas, setting off smoke bombs, making anonymous threats, attacking buildings full of women trying to meet to discuss feminism, pissing on women's doors, attacking women in broad daylight, delighting in smashing women's skulls, or monitoring Mumsnet to sneer, attack, insult or impugn women are not 'on the right side of history'.

This isn't righteous rage. It isn't 'smashing the state' to threaten feminists. It's just very average and predictable women hatred - inadequate, narcissistic people making banal, boring, vicious grim threats, and noise, and attacks, because they are incapable of doing anything constructive or useful. Common or garden misogyny. Trying to destroy women to escape their own inadequacies.

So both sides, eh? This is vile I hope Rosa has reported to the police

She says she has. Hope they can find out who it is. Sick of them getting away with this shit time and time again.

As someone who believes Rosa should have redacted the name and email address from that arrogant student's message before publishing - I am still fucking furious for her. I hope the police get this bastard.

[quote EmbarrassingAdmissions]And Rosa Freedman is back on Twitter:

I deactivated my account because of messages like this to my work email. Because cut me and I bleed. Because academics' places of work are visible to anyone who has Google. I hope people take this stuff seriously before someone is [physically] attacked or worse in their workplaces.

twitter.com/GoonerProf/status/1410989097666162698[/quote]
Awww. I'm sure an apologist will be along shortly to say that that tweet is really harmless and open to interpretation and there's no real threat behind it; the account holder is just a kid etc etc.

So both sides, eh? This is vile I hope Rosa has reported to the police

I've archived Prof. Freedman's latest in case she's #BeKinded off Twitter again:

archive.is/WkQT5

(I'm also learning from this to archive any threads of hers that I've merely bookmarked.)

Rosa has reopened her account to share this delight from the right side of history

twitter.com/goonerprof/status/1410989097666162698?s=21

“I hope that someone kidnaps and fucking tortures you for several days killing you in the most painful & brutal way possible”

And that’s where beeeeee kind ends up

And Rosa Freedman is back on Twitter:

I deactivated my account because of messages like this to my work email. Because cut me and I bleed. Because academics' places of work are visible to anyone who has Google. I hope people take this stuff seriously before someone is [physically] attacked or worse in their workplaces.

twitter.com/GoonerProf/status/1410989097666162698

Fortunesfavour Let’s hope that Reading University agrees with you.

I don’t agree with you and Looksgood has said exactly my opinion about it.

Twitter etc has allowed hatred because of concealment

but also because it is a device for naming, shaming, and piling on. Calling out a public institution as Jess de Wahls did - no problem. Responding to a published comment or opinion - okay. Inviting others to criticise a named and identifiable individual who hasn't spoken out in public? That's a tactic I can't get behind if I oppose hatred on twitter. And there was a professional relationship to consider here too.

It really is time these nasty pieces of work were named and shamed. Twitter etc has allowed hatred because of concealment. This student never thought he would be publicly outed for the nasty little creep he is. His e-mail will be changed but personally I hope he is sent down as a lesson to students displaying this sort of behaviour.

It's all very well pontificating about this but Rosa has had years of incessant bullying - straw and camels back springs to mind.

a) the student was wrong and behaved badly
b) Professor Freedman is rightly alarmed and angry
and c) no Reading University employee should not have published an email from a student online in a bid to "name and shame" him

It's not victim blaming to say that being a victim of bullying and harassment does not give you carte blanche to extract justice by whatever means you choose.

I think Freedman's on the side of the angels, but she may well have contravened Reading's codes of conduct here and this treatment of a student is outside professional norms. She's said very clearly that she is feeling vulnerable and I can see why, and I hope Reading is looking after her - but I would also have expected them to ask her to take down the tweet / account while any enquiry is underway.

Really Tanith? Maybe read back over your posts. Plenty of criticism from you of the professor for making the email address public. After she had received veiled threats from this charmer. Oh, and you also do a good line in “poor child, it’s not right that he was doxxed, she is in the wrong here”

I beg to differ. This is an adult male making barely disguised threats. I don’t think his email address deserves protection if he feels at complete liberty to use it in this manner and threaten women, then you claim he deserves anonymity. Looks a lot like victim blaming to me.

Where has it been said that Professor Freedman has published his threats in order to discipline him?