Michael Foran has had to cancel the remaining lectures on Sex, GI and the law.....

Guilt by association often serves as a fallback to avoid addressing the issue at hand, but it really lacks both rigorous and principle.

I agree with the first part of that. As a unviersity lecturer I teach students what I know; we do introduce some ethical principles but beyond that it's for the students to decide what they do with that knowledge. They'll use it according to their own ethics and politics which may or may not tbe the same as mine and that's fine.

I don't think the second part is necessarily true. Attempts to silence dissent and misrepresent the law have worked very well for trans activists for more than a decade now. Women had to face the law as it stands and use the law as it stands. It's not stupid for trans activists to want to keep going when the twin shortcuts of misrepresenting the law and silencing dissent have worked so well up til now.

As far as I'm concerned students are welcome to stage a die-in as long as they do it quietly so the lecturer can keep talking and the other students and guests can keep listening while they do it. Maybe while they're all lying in the floor playing dead they'll learn something useful.

(edited for misplaced negative!)

Good point. Im now tempted to make an excuse to visit Oxford 🤣

If they had any sense they would have genderist law students in the class, beavering away to understand MF's lectures so that they can use that knowledge to fight to undermine women' rights, when they grow up.
I guess they just don't have any students intelligent enough, so plan B is 'shut him up'.

Maybe at best the Proctor, who was in the audience, felt the protestors were acting within the guidelines of permitted protest. It’s telling if someone even in that position felt threatened and that was the reason for not intervening.

Edited to add: someone reported that the Proctor was going to allow a die-in for a future talk though… so even more disruption. I’m struggling to believe an Oxford Proctor felt intimidated into allowing that but it’s possible.

Yes, that is a fair point. I think older academic types will have a thicker skin and not be bothered by protestors in the way younger students will. But yes, the solution is to make the environment more tolerant and accepting for students to attend, not to have to garner support from elsewhere.

It reminds me of the situation with my WRN group. The women who are retired are happy to go along and do stalls and chat to the public. Younger members and those who are working are much more reluctant to do that. I work for an organisation that has some pretty vocal TRAs who would think nothing of trying to destroy someone's career. It's depressing, but this is why TRA tactics are effective at silencing people.

It's also disrepectful and it's divisive. There's a difference between dissent and insult and I think that there's too much latitude given for disrespecting the teachers and speakers inside the lecture theatre.

I don't especially want Richard Dawkins to turn up, it's making the wrong point. Michael Foran isn't there to promote a specific agenda and even if he was it wouldn't make any difference. He's a human rights lawyer explaining very clearly how the law stands. If students want to use the law or change the law they need to understand what the law says and why. And if the students or the other legal experts in the university think he's misrepresented or misinterpreted the law then he'd be the first to want to hear how and why.

Students who didn't listen to what he said forfeit the ability to disagree because they're not informed.

I hope so. Maybe Richard Dawkins will turn up. He lives in Oxford. I still think there will be a fear factor with students who don't want to be doxxed and called bigots though.

I am sure this has been said but, this must be a perfect Streisand effect, the lectures will now happen and have thousands of people going to them

I don't think it's to do with public opinion about the issue. It's to do with what's an acceptable form of protest in an academic setting.

The Evergreen "anything goes as long as it's not outright physical damage and it's a popular cause with the students" isn't a good model for the UK universities.

I think you're spot-on there, Knotty!

Oh I assumed that they were individuals at the sharp end of this problem and subject to lobbying, threats and harassment themselves. Remember that for years disruption hadnt been challenged. Both protestors and proctors seem to have been caught out here by the swinging back of public opinion. The no debate era is suddenly over

You’d have to imagine that the proctor responsible was a pontificating genderist, secretly pleased to disrupt the talks. What other conclusion could be drawn?

New article in the Times

https://www.thetimes.com/article/7e9ee529-bedd-4137-ac9d-08bf92c38d36?shareToken=73691d104ecae7caed87be846d137caa

That is, it's a contronym. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contronym

It has suddenly occurred to me what a funny old word "sanctioned" is: in one sense, it means officially approved, in another it means deplored or even forbidden.

Not even slightly relevant to anything much, just that it struck me all of a sudden.

Ah the politician - of course these debates should go ahead....

But he does slip up when talking about how many events happen with respectful disagreement. Her refers to "we still have these unfortunate events" from time to time or similar... and to me it seemed clear he was referring to the TRAs and the methods they had employed/calls for cancellation. He explicity refers to the Act of parliament regarding freedom of speech.

Hague is not daft. He knows that he has a couple of dangers to dodge:
a) letting Foran cancel the lectures and not proactively getting them back on and sanctioned by the uni will leave them open to being the next humiliating case on the ET circuit
b) the uni regulator is keen to show its regulatory teeth after Sussex slipped off the hook

If I were those 2 TRAs (plus their Sesame Street bin mate) I would be getting worried right now - ETA - that I would be made into an example - when I apparently thought I was on the RSOH and untouchable. oh dear

And fascinatingly - little known fact - have cube shaped poo

I want to wave a big banner that says "Sit Down and LISTEN!"

The Yorke Prize is prestigious. It was endowed in 1873 and is awarded annually by Cambridge University Faculty of Law for a doctoral thesis of “exceptional quality… which make[s] a substantial contribution to a field of legal knowledge”.

Michael Foran is only in his early 30s.

Take a look at his background, we were told a few posts earlier. It works the same as "educate yourself'.

MF looks pretty brilliant from here.

My apologies to Dr Foran on his nationality! Here's his Keble College Biography:

'Michael Foran is Associate Professor of Law and a Fellow of Keble College where he teaches public law and jurisprudence. He is an expert in equality and anti-discrimination law whose work has been cited by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He does regular media appearances to explain the law for a public audience and has provided consultation to charities, civil servants, public bodies, and the United Nations.

'Michael writes extensively on all aspects of Public and Equality Law. His work concentrates on constitutional law and philosophy of law, with a particular emphasis on equality before the law, discrimination, and the rule of law. His research also focuses on anti-positivist jurisprudence, including questions relating to the relationship between fundamental rights and the rule of law.

'Michael holds an LLB from Trinity College, Dublin where he was awarded the Julian Prize, an MSc in Law and Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a PhD in Law from the University of Cambridge where his doctoral thesis was awarded the Yorke Prize.'

Two protesters, and a lot more than two people shouting at them to shut up and clear off.

It says so directly on his Substack page, but fair point, those aren't paid subscriptions. Which is a pity - I was pleased that someone with expertise was doing well for themselves, instead of just people with strong opinions.

@TransParentlyAnnoyed There were barely more attendees than protesters

In which case it's a spectacular own goal for those who don't want MF's work to be widely known. Look at all the press and attention their action has generated. The Streisand effect in action.

Lol, just to head off anyone wondering why MF isn't funding the gender critical cause more, something has gone wrong with the arithmetic there, even if that number (where are you getting it btw?) is the number of paid subscribers, which seems unlikely.