Times article on academia

Thank you!!💜

Gosh I'm behind the curve🤣 I left the thread open and it's moved on quite a bit.

It was Dr Laura Favalo's data used to write this piece I believe. She's crowdfunding at the moment as yet another academic who is being silenced.

Hi Laura,

<fist bump>

I'll tell my friends and selected family members. Good luck!

Happy to send references!

Hi everyone, thank you for sharing my work and your interest. Please please do tell your networks about my crowdfund if you don’t mind 🙏

Anyone should look at the ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ policy of universities they are thinking of helping their DC pay for, or take out a loan for; and/or check to see if it is a Stonewall champion.

If you see a supposedly educated, literate body has written “Assigned at birth”; or if you see the university is a SW Champion, think carefully about whether it is intellectually rigorous enough, or has enough integrity, to be worth attending and spending £60,000 on ( and if that is debt it will far more owing to the interest payments).

For som degrees like medicine it is not always easy to choose, but for others it may be possible.

Very interesting slides from longer talk. Would love to have all the references.

So we can now add "intellectual rigour" to the list of things that are "literal violence".

I think that Laura Favaro is exceptionally brave, given the current climate; I wondered who would be the first to stick their head above the parapet and now we know.

I don't discuss anything about this in the family, not since my sister in law had an extended fit of rage, looming over me and screaming into a face about what a bigot and a "homophobe" I am.

I can barely imagine what it's like to be out in the world with it, students and lecturers to harangue her in person, the likes of the Guardian doing character assassination pieces and of course, the ubiquitous Twitter mob, with their rape and death threats.

I'm full of admiration for her, I really hope that her career doesn't grind to a halt and more so, that she remains safe.

Yes!

Last year I wrote a letter to the president of the university I attended, saying this about searching for truth being undermined by too much of a political/activist approach. This was after the umpteenth idiotic email they'd sent out about activist issues that actually had no relation to university life.

He replied to me and basically said what you've both described here - that people in these communities had said they find it so important what the university is doing and that he thinks this is the purpose of the university.

I have told my child who is applying to universities this year that I do not recommend she attend there.

They're absolutely terrified of being identified as collaborators, so they have to claim they were tricked into participating.

Sickening bunch of cowards.

One of the conclusions that I draw from the article is that there's a gap in the academic gender studies market for a gender critical journal. Since none of the existing journals accept GC papers?

Exactly.

and I’m sure you are all set for explaining why any competing theories/perspectives/approaches are problematic/just plain wrong. At any moment. 🤣

Seriously. This is like telling the world you live and breathe baking, going on bake off and complaining they asked you to make cakes because Paul Hollywood said your sponge was a bit claggy.

Yes, yes! @SudocremOnEverything shall I tell you all about what I'm writing right now ... You've all got a spare couple of hours, haven't you?

No?

<flounces off>

Actually not just ready. Eager to tell everyone and anyone about their research.

As a former humanities academic, I don’t think I’ve ever met an academic who want ready to debate their field of interest at any moment. No prep or notice required!

Or, in many cases, to debate, pretty much anything. Whether they had anything useful to add or not! 🤣

😂

It's like infant school children.

"Look, look, I can jump this high, I can, watch, watch, watch"
<does pathetic jump and falls over>
"I WASN'T READY!!"
<tantrum ensues>

I just don’t buy any of this crap about deception and trauma. They’re using concepts of victimhood to prevent anyone looking at all critically at their activities. It’s sinister. These are not vulnerable research participants being asked about sensitive topics. They are academics - many of them very senior and experienced - being interviewed about their work.

I completely agree.

I mean, I love that ' I wasn't prepared for a debate' comment in that sulky exchange between the two interviewees.

You are an academic, debating, exploring and defending your ideas should be your bread and butter. Whether 'prepared' or not, you should be able to cope with that, both emotionally and intellectually.

But look at that tacit admission that you failed at this. And instead of reflecting on what that says about the robustness and thoroughness of your ideas, or reflecting that perhaps only talking to people who agree with you, and publishing in journals that are only read by people who agree with you, has perhaps not exposed you to the challenge that your work requires to grow and develop, you instead react like a sulky child and attack the person whose questions exposed the weakness of your ideas and ability as an academic.

Pathetic.