Hard-left academics ‘plotted gender ID witch-hunt’ on colleagues

Unfortunately this does not surprise me. I work at a Russel Group university that (thankfully) left the stonewall scheme last year and the EDI group at my institute are still outraged by this and spend most of the meetings discussing trans and non binary issues, with no real interest in any of the actual protected characteristics. The group is a echo chamber populated by zealots whose chair openly rolls her eyes at the mention of GC beliefs so confident is she on the full support of the group for her fanaticism.

A friend told me recently that she was bullied into approving an ethics application for a student who wants to do trans identity research with primary school children with no parental consent involved…

This is appalling. Where was this?

Have you or her passed that on to anyone? This is unethical and a horrific safeguarding failure.

I hope schools refuse to work with them.

Well I think the idea that university students should be protected from any books is horrific and puke-worthy. And it's not rare, it's all over the place I am sorry to say. Many students don't read, and worse, younger academics don't read much either.

Some of Britain’s most influential authors — including William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie — are among those whose works have been deemed concerning enough to require warnings.

Jane Austen needs a trigger warning? FFS!

Well, occasionally they do show an ankle or address the opposite sex by their first name! 😱

Our 21yos need a safe space from such scandalous behaviour. Smelling salts, anyone?

Me too

I think you might be onto something there leah

The article reveals numerous gobsmacking aspects to the current situation, but this paragraph stopped me in my tracks:

Grady, 38, a senior lecturer in employment relations at the University of Sheffield, was elected as the UCU’s general secretary in 2019.

You’d think she’d understand the purpose of a union with her professional background. Astonishing.

Higher education sounds like an awful place to work.

Ms Kennedy, who describes herself on Facebook as a “stroppy, bolshie transgirl with attitude who hates the Tories with a passion”,

A 50 year old 'girl' by the look of the photo

I've just been to have a look - 1K comments - loads of DARVO and blaming The Times 😬 Some people are riled.

I thought the Times article about reading lists was a bit thin, tbh. Of course universities review their reading lists every year, and texts come and go. Trigger warnings are silly, but we've known about them for ages and I thought yesterday's article didn't add much.

Today's, though, is different. A union turning on its own members and driving them out because it doesn't like their politics is a disgrace to the trade union movement. I've seen references on twitter to women leaving UCU because of bullying and failure to stand up for women, but this (Shereen Benjamin's account) is the first actual blow-by-blow evidence I've come across and it's horrifying. Good for the Times for covering it.

Shereen Benjamin is a left wing academic with years of research and teaching behind her. They are reporting using her words and her story. She spoke incredibly eloquently recently in Edinburgh after years of the, trying to silence her. She deserves to be heard.

As it happens, I would take the word of the Times on this one, because I've seen first hand the correspondence churned out by our so-called 'union'.

National UCU are grotesque. They are also grossly incompetent. Neither of these points comes as any great surprise with the present General Secretary in situ.

This isn't "hard left" but progressive left i.e an impoet from America where their left wing politics is so empty it amounts to promoting ideas of freedom through identity.

it really is 'are you now or have you ever been...' isn't it

I’d rather kick horns with the rightest of the right than a flipping hard on Leftie. At least the rightie looks you in the eye and says what they think.

What The Times said on universities and books was that:

Two universities, Essex and Sussex, admitted to removing books from study lists for this reason, the first time this is thought to have happened at British universities.

Eight others, including Russell Group members Warwick, Exeter and Glasgow, have made texts optional to protect students’ welfare.

Academics have previously been criticised for providing trigger warnings for students reading mainstream literature. The Times investigation found 1,081 examples across undergraduate courses.

Some of Britain’s most influential authors — including William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie — are among those whose works have been deemed concerning enough to require warnings.

Jane Austen needs a trigger warning? FFS!

I'd be interested in your thoughts as to why the story on the reading lists is ridiculous and malevolent too @canellini

What are we meant to do just pretend everything's a ok in our universities?

Me? I've been on mn since 2008. I'll get off this board now though. Clearly it can only be an echo chamber. Oddly, universities continue to do an outstanding job teaching and supporting many of your kids.

Because this is the latest TRA sock account?

Well that's absolutely terrifying and yet I'm not surprised.

Yep. But they get hounded, harrassed and are left little doubt that the loud voices in the student and academic bodies are out to get rid of them.

Strongly recommend The Coddling of the American Mind on this, which now applies to UK setting too.

This article lists 11 instances.

I have been on these boards long enough to know that we haven't got to this place without some shady shit having happened behind closed doors.

But, when you see the words written down in black and white, and they are coming from the very places that are supposed to guard academic freedom and train young people to develop critical thinking skills, it is fucking terrifying.

We are definitely in agreement. It’s not ok.