Academic Freedom, Harassment and GC academics - ask me any questions

Welcome! It’s brutal out there on campus these days!

Hello Jo and FWR women. I was unable to go to university due to troubled teens & rebellion issues, so your world is not familiar to me, however whatever you/we can do together is so important. Onwards!

@Elephantsparade I find there is often a lazy assumption about a political monoculture in uk academia -- eg that's it's fine to make in jokes even in formal / public contexts which assume that everyone has the same political and cultural views. I have complained about this several times as I think it is sloppy and alienating. We shouldn't make any assumptions about our students' or colleagues' political beliefs any more than we do about their religious beliefs or cultural background. There is a mania with being "right on" and "inclusive" about eg race and sexuality but a blanket intolerance of difference in other respects.

Hi, I'm an academic in biological sciences & I am quietly GC, along with several colleagues (some more open than others). I don't know anyone within my scientific domain who believes in gender.

Thank you for all you are doing and good luck!
I am not in academia - but am horrified at what is going on and chip in to support whenever/however I can.
You are the canaries in the mines. The rest of us are just next in line.

Academia is very far removed from my life experience. Are there any other issues that result in the same type of treatment if talked about?

Hello I am an academic too and am fairly open about my beliefs on this issue. I inhabit a relatively conservative corner of academia though so have got away with it without too much hassle so far. I am also fairly religious and as far as I'm concerned gender nonsense is incompatible with any decent theology and I have no problem saying so. What has been happening re the treatment of children is a scandal in the full sense. Freedom of conscience is rightly protected and many of our students come from observant backgrounds of various faiths. Despite all the hysteria I think many of them appreciate being taught by people with a range of views and backgrounds. I'm on leave this year and am living abroad -- have to say I am glad for the break from UK academia which has become increasingly depressing. My institution has a strong (albeit partially secret!) GC network though which is encouraging.

Adding my support and thanks for coming on this forum.

Personally I think the issue of validation is significant.

Just as men want to validated by women I think some academics feel the need to be validated (and "liked") by their students.

The fact that they are not there to provide intellectual "safe spaces" (in fact the reverse to enable critical thinking and development/access to a variety of views/doctrines/methods/theories) seems to be lost in the desire to seen to be inclusive and politically correct.

I'm so frustrated by the idea that it's acceptable to campaign for intellectual "safe spaces" by means of threatening the physical safety of someone who holds different views and has expressed those appropriately and respectfully.

Just wanted to add my voice in support of you. Will be waiting for Sunday.

You have my support. I am a senior University academic (gender not my field but accurate data, especially on sex, really matters to my research). I also have 2 daughters near the top of primary school the oldest of which genuinely believed that girls can change into girls.

You have my support too (not an academic - uni Professional Services, wondering which union to join when I leave UCU...).
Do you have any hope the Free Speech bill will make a difference?

Hi Jo! Thank you for coming on here, thank you for voicing what you are voicing.

I have been quiet for a long time and I'm just starting to poke my head above the parapet.

In all honesty I am terrified but I am more terrified of a future where critical thinking and academic rigour are non-existent.

I also have a daughter in primary who has started to come home from school using words such as gender from science lessons and I have looked on her schools policies and have found some very fudged and confusing equal opportunities and sex education guidelines.

This is infiltrating everywhere and I feel in a complete panic about it all.

So even though it is scary and even though people are getting hassled I know that we are on the right side of history and we need to rein this in and subject it all to critical debate and not just let things slide through. It all seems like such a slippery slope at the moment.

So thank you!!

Hello Jo. Good luck in your ongoing struggles and thank you for raising you head above the parapet. A friend of mine worked at the Uni of Essex and wasn't a fan of some of the academic staff - up themselves may have been the term she used.

Incidentally, I have surname envy.

Hi jo

Welcome here. ❤️❤️❤️

Not academic at all. But support the women and men who are getting shafted by this crap

If it results in an internet pile on (which it will) we will all patiently put our points back that we believe in both trans and women’s rights and that the earth is not flat.

Are there more people who are now daring to do academic research on various issues related to the current trans movement?

Hi Jo, I’m not an academic but just wanted to say thank you for what you’re doing and I will support you and your GC colleagues in any way I can. Good luck for the announcement on Sunday - if it results on an internet pile on you can come back here for a more supportive reaction!

BINGO! I couldn't answer better myself

Thanks, Jo. That actually means a lot to me because I am so isolated that I sometimes feel I am going mad.

Thing is, I am a bit of a dinosaur. I pre-date postmodernism and did my early study at a time when evidence matters and when 'objectivity' was emphasised. I fully understand the politics of evidence and of objectivity and that intellectual pursuit not a clean science as it were, but the rush to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say neither matters really concerns me. I'm unpopular because I tend to hold these views universally and don't just hold those I disagree with to account.

Can't wait for Sunday! All power to you Jo

Hi Jo and welcome.

Academia is well outside of my experience bar being an undergrad in the 90s but like others I'm horrified at what is happening to academic staff, mostly women.

You all have my support.

Great to see you here Jo. What is happening to women (and some men) in academia has been appalling. Good to hear that there's something in the pipeline as the current situation is completely unsustainable.

Hello, I just wanted to say that you have my support and thank you for having the courage to stand up for women. I am now planning to buy the Sunday Times!

Hello there, thank you Professor. It has been a funny few days years.
Looking forward to seeing what unfolds on Sunday.

I've come across a lot of academics who seem to suffer from cognitive dissonance on this matter.

Describing them as having cognitive dissonance would imply that they have some awareness of (and hence discomfort about) the contradictory nature of their beliefs. My impression is that many of them are completely blind to the fact that they are inconsistent in their approach depending on whether they are for or against a particular cause.