Biggus Titus of Oxford University

For the record, if any student comes to me and tells me that a tutor is making them feel uncomfortable, I will absolutely pursue the matter. As will my colleagues. I'm not afraid to whistleblow; I've done it before. There are still many instances of abuse of power in academia, and it needs to stop.

Complaints about a tutor from people who have never even met said tutor are a completely different story.

I am going to give every colleague (and every student) the benefit of the doubt until there is evidence to the contrary.

Vilifying someone with no evidence = witch hunt.

A year ago, Matt bemoaned the lack of engagement and interactivity from students on his Linked In. I wonder if he's ever reflected on why that might be? Supportive comments from his associates don't point out the obvious reason - that his students are intimidated and keeping their heads down.

His seminars might be different - he is criticising the lecture format rather than blaming Gen Z students. But I wonder if he's picking up on the wariness and psychological distancing of his students and copes with it by framing it as a problem with the medium.

I still remember, word for word, observations by some of my lecturers decades later. That's the impact a great lecturer can have, Matt.

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"Today was my last "lecture" of the academic year - not actually a lecture according to the title, but a "surgery" - more like a Q&A... with slides... to the whole cohort... with me at the front doing all the talking while students sit there and "absorb" it... "if it walks like a duck," etc etc 🤔 I try and make the best of it and impart as much wisdom as I can in an hour, but the distinct lack of interactivity (even with questions being submitted by students for me to answer) means it feels like a lot of that just won't stick. The recording will be handy for them to re-watch perhaps and they do get some notes out of it - I had a good turnout too, so they must see some value in showing up for it live. But to be honest, I almost wanted to apologise to them - in their shoes I'd feel a bit hard done by, being dragged into the department for this! The romantic notion of the "wise sage regaling eager students" still hangs around - and I do get why. That's the uni experience right, and especially somewhere like Oxford, that's how we've done things for literally a thousand years, so that's how we shall continue. But it's well-established that lectures are less effective at building knowledge & skills than more active learning approaches. I worry that I'm burning my students' time, and in particular their brainpower, at the sharp end of the year when they're busy revising for exams coming up. They don't have the capacity at the moment for things that aren't helping them effectively, and it's at best indulgent of me to spend that limited capacity on a session like this. The real question then is, what to do about it 🤔 I might need to see what leeway I have to try some other things out! Any wisdom from anyone on here about how to make lectures as useful as possible, or, should we just bin them already?"

Oxford Uni staff are required to complete sexual harassment training every year. Can you find a university or college regulation that is being violated here by what you choose to perceive as a 'fetish'?

This. This this this.

I'd never have felt able to speak up about this - whereas I think I would have done if I'd been subjected to the kind of thing Goldhill was doing.

But note the "think". Even for actual abuse. Back then, it would have been somewhat out of character and taken immense courage.

And then, @oxfordfeminist, think again about why posters here are worried about his students, and the ethical arguments for being able to discuss this issue freely as well as those against (which, yes, do exist too - private individual and all that).

The simplicity and tropey single-mindedness of Oxford's posts in this context would leave me unconvinced they're any kind of academic... but for the level of capture we've seen in our unis.

The common theme is a lowering of standards all round, isn't it, really. 😔

Just seen this.

Good to know you would take it seriously if a student said they felt uncomfortable.

Presumably though, most females who feel uncomfortable at being in the presence of large rubber boobs on show from a tutor will assume that they had better keep quiet or they'll get in trouble. The fact that it's a staff member creates an impression that it's all approved by the university, so it'd be foolish to question it.

Besides. There's only me posting here, I've got a lot of socks. As we are all so often told.

They can't be the same, can they? I don't know about anyone else, but I can't name-change within a single thread.

They can't be the same, can they? I don't know about anyone else, but I can't name-change within a single thread.

You're a gullible enabler, basically, displaying precisely the kind of woolly-minded handwavery that abusers, fetishists and others who seek to push others' personal boundaries deiberately seek out. It's not very intelligent behaviour at all. So I'd drop the faux intellectual snobbery if I were you. Your lack of awareness is embarrassingly naïve, not a sign of intellectual superiority.

I just thought I'd repost this as it needs saying over and over. (sorry I didn't copy the posters handle)

I'm wondering if the OxfordFeminist was a Lady in another post, they both posted the same sort of drivel, and the OF is a good example of the many (but not all) dim witted scholars that academia can boast of now, no wonder the uni's are churning out so many zombies for the cause.

In fact, in past centuries, one can find far more flexible notions of gender identity and sexual identity than are evident on an MN thread like this one.

Oh, that old chestnut- straight out of the playbook, number 25, I think?

Yes, well I'm convinced now that you are neither an academic at Oxford, nor are you a feminist (nor do you have marking to do). You are an apologist for a woman-parodying man.

With all due respect, this thread sounds a lot like a witch hunt.

Matt Rattley isn't doing anything wrong. To compare them to a tutor like Simon Goldhill, who has been in the media recently for actually harassing his students, is ridiculous. I can't see how anything Rattley has done violates university or college regulations in any way.

I googled their name and a student pops up on an Oxford Uni reddit thread saying what a helpful tutor they are, and recommending them to another student. Their videos also seem to indicate that they are strongly committed to good pedagogical practice.

Incidentally, as a non-stipendiary lecturer, their contract will be solely with the college where they are teaching, not with the university. Non-stipendiary lecturers are notoriously poorly paid (the pay is by the hour, and it's low given the preparation and effort required).

Those of us who teach at Oxford focus on the quality of people's academic scholarship, not on how they choose to dress or which pronouns they prefer to use. Maybe that is too traditional or disinterested an approach for some people who have a political axe to grind, but that's how we do it. Teaching and research come first.

I don't know Matt, but if I ever run into them in a college SCR, I'll be happy to chat with them over coffee as I would any other colleague, regardless of what they happen to wear on the day.

Casting academic tutors as sexual predators on the basis of zero evidence is pretty despicable if you ask me.

Sigh. I know what abuse of power looks like. (FWIW I was a student of Simon Goldhill many years ago... I won't say more, but it was uncomfortable.)

Being a trans or queer academic does not in itself constitute abusive behaviour. It's amazing that I even have to say this in the 21st century.

In fact, in past centuries, one can find far more flexible notions of gender identity and sexual identity than are evident on an MN thread like this one.

It's a game. They have made a game out of abuse and they are thoroughly enjoying themselves. How those men must snigger at the naive 'feminists' enabling this.

And when I say "covert" I suppose... well, giant fake boobs aren't very covert are they, but it's the dynamics involved, the blind eyes, the control of people's reactions so they are not clearly seeing to what is actually glaringly obviously there. The hiding in plain sight tactic. "Little old me?" (clutches fake enormous heaving cleavage in mock-horror). "But however COULD you think such a thing?"

I think it's about understanding that it's about covert behaviour like this as well as overt behaviour like Simon Goldhill's. Both are as bad as each other and involve manipulation of others and power for sexual purposes.

Covert, however, tends to be enabled more than others.

I've been struggling with how to put this, and I'm going to offend someone whoever way I do, but at least there was a level of honesty to Simon Goldhill's appalling behaviour, and I say that as an ex student of his, whereas with this man, it feels worse somehow.

I've been struggling with how to put this, and I'm going to offend someone whoever way I do, but at least there was a level of honesty to Simon Goldhill's appalling behaviour, and I say that as an ex student of his, whereas with this man, it feels worse somehow.