Update from James Caspian on his case against Bath Spa University to be allowed to research detransitioners

[Betti935]

Dear Supporters,

As you may have seen from my page update, the university has concluded its complaints procedure and is sticking to its guns, saying that the only mistake it has made is to have passed my initial research proposal in the first place. (If you remember, it did this before rejecting my amended proposal). The defence given is that the ethics committee's decision was an academic decision, which one may not challenge. I and my lawyers maintain that, as the definition of an academic decision is that it is one that can only be made by an academic, that it did not require an academic to make a decision based on fear of criticism on social media, and therefore the decision to reject my research proposal was not an academic decision at all. The university has also said that it is for a court to decide what is an academic decision.

This means that I now need to raise in the region of £40,000, or preferably more, to take the university to court for a Judicial Review. The deadline for applying for JudiciaI Review is 8th March 2018, that is, three months after the university concluded the complaints procedure. I need to have enough money to cover the possibility of losing, otherwise I cannot risk going ahead. I believe that it is more important than ever that we take this chance of having a legal precedent set that will prevent universities from stopping research on spurious grounds. This is because, since I started this campaign, I have discovered that it is an endemic problem in universities. See here for my interview and other academics' experiences on this subject in a recent edition of the Sunday Telegraph

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/23/academics-say-research-hindered-universities-fear-online-backlash/

Please can you share this link on Facebook; pledge again if you are able; email five friends asking them to pledge and publicise my case as widely as you can! This is the beginning of the big push! Let's not let the university get away with it!

I wish you all a happy and healthy new Year!
Very best wishes,

James Caspian.

Here is his background:

humanumreview.com/articles/a-gender-therapist-asks-questions

There are extra hoops to jump through if you want to interview children or other vulnerable groups, and it is very hard to get ethics approval in these areas for very good reason. It’s not about being trans - he’d have just as much trouble accessing children with kidney disease or cancer.

And then there is the likelihood of him recruiting sufficient children for his study. De-transitioning children are not easy to find, unless you plan to use confidential medical records (which he obviously can’t). How is he planning on obtaining their parents’ contact details to seek consent? He can’t ethically contact the children directly.

Beg to differ on a number of points. Once upon a while, I was that random PhD student looking for access to a severely ill, highly limited pool of children for a research project. My stack of ethics board approval applications measured four feet tall in the end. It was laborious, completely necessary, and fully approved. Not impossible by any means.

With parental and physician approval, it was possible to access medical records, sometimes in lieu of interviews if the child and/or parents were too ill or declined to speak to me. And as for getting enough data, I worked across a number of centres around the UK because psychiatry professionals referred cases to us. We also looked at retrospective cases where possible. I'm afraid all your objections here do have precedent and can be solved - particularly by someone with the pedigree of this researcher (who I'm quite sure would find all the negotiation and travelling far less challenging than I did!)

Done

In view of the times article today about silencing of academics this case takes on even greater significance. I’ve donated already and would urge others to do the same you can afford to spare a few pounds.

De-transitioning children are not easy to find

Well no, because transitioning children is not legal, despite what Suzie Green did. Did you mean 'desisting children'? I believe the vast majority do desist, if not given puberty blockers.

I have no doubt that if someone of James' calibre plus relevant experience decided to research desisting children, there would be a LOT of parents who would be happy to work with them. Many of these parents have probably already donated to this crowdfunder.

I very much hope that desistence is looked at as part of the Government Equalities Office's URGENT investigation into ROGD - so urgent they launched it half way through the GRA consultation.

Incidentally, does anyone know why I can only find that one DM article about the GEO investigation when I google? I'm sure at the time it had a fair bit of publicity.

Oh I’m not saying it can’t be done - just that it is far outside the scope of the vast majority of masters projects (they are supposed to be short 12 week summer projects), and way beyond most masters students’ research experience (for the vast majority of masters students this will be their first involvement in research). PhDs are a totally different kettle of fish, but even then I would be looking for departmental experience to support the PhD student.

I see that he did indeed have difficulty with recruitment, and that was why he had to expand his inclusion criteria. So the project was not going well, and the clock will have been ticking on his deadline to submit.

Like I say, I do think that this area should be researched. But I’m not surprised that the REC thought that this was unsuitable as a masters project, and on that basis I don’t think he is likely to win his appeal. If people are giving him cash, I think they should be aware of the other reasons for the project to have been turned down.

Without wanting to derail and nitpick, it sounds like you're thinking of an MSc, which yes, unless things have significantly changed since mine, is a shorter project within a taught course. MRes or MPhil can easily be a couple of years, though, particularly if tackled part-time. Given this candidate's experience and access to a potential subject pool, he may be able to overcome many of the problems an average young student would face and not have to take as much time. Given roughly 80% of children desist, I imagine a fair number would be available to take part through the Tavistock alone.

This is getting well off the point, though, and without the full judgement to hand, mere speculation. The work needs to be done.

they are supposed to be short 12 week summer projects

Eh? I got the choice of doing mine over one or two years.

I see that he did indeed have difficulty with recruitment, and that was why he had to expand his inclusion criteria. So the project was not going well, and the clock will have been ticking on his deadline to submit

He had difficulty with recruitment because he was initially only including people who had reversed their surgery. Turns out most detransitioners don't, quite understandably. That is valuable knowledge and a good reason to expand the subject group.

But I’m not surprised that the REC thought that this was unsuitable as a masters project,

That wasn't their objection though, was it? Their objection was that it would look bad on social media.

You seem determined to pick holes in this man's work.

The work needs to be done

Yes. Pleased to see this thread getting lots of bumps

Sashkin has persuaded me to donate again.

And thanks for to Stealth for sharing the link.

Eh? I got the choice of doing mine over one or two years

Yes same here. It was still supposed to be the equivalent of 12 weeks full time work, and several people in my tutor group were told that their projects were overambitious or unachievable and needed revision/scrapping.

I have no issue with him whatsoever - he sounds like he has a lot of clinical experience. But it doesn’t surprise me that this was turned down, based on my experience of other masters projects going through REC.

One of my ITU colleagues had her project based in the ITU turned down because the patients could not consent. She has ten years of experience as an ITU nurse, and has been involved in clinical trials in the ITU. It was annoying for her, but RECs are really strict about what they let masters students loose on. Not everything is a trans conspiracy.

Donated

Why do so many trans activists try to block research?
If children are going to have life changing surgery and hormones don't we want lots of good research

You seem to be unaware of the background to this, Sashkin. The university initially approved the research, then rejected it.

“The fundamental reason given was that it might cause criticism of the research on social media, and criticism of the research would be criticism of the university. They also added it’s better not to offend people,”

According to Caspian, the university said: “Engaging in a potentially politically incorrect piece of research carries a risk to the university. Attacks on social media may not be confined to the researcher, but may involve the university.

www.theguardian.com/education/2017/sep/25/bath-spa-university-transgender-gender-reassignment-reversal-research

Have a read of that, because it does seem as though you don't really know what was going on.

Donated - thanks for sharing

Well done, Sashkin: another £25 from me.

How stupid do you think we are?

Donated and not for the first time. All good luck to James Caspian

Update on Free Speech Matters

Dear Friends and Supporters,

First of all thank you for your invaluable support, without which it would not have been possible to pursue this case. I don't know most of you personally, but I know that you share my concern about suppression of free thought and discussion within academia about controversial subjects and in particular, although not limited to, the transgender field.

My lawyers have reactivated the application for permission to hold a Judicial Review against both the university and the Office for the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education. (After our initial application earlier this year against the Adjudicator, made because it had refused to hear my complaint, it decided then that it would look at it after all).

On 25th September 2018 the OIAHE issued its decision about my complaint against Bath Spa University, and found the complaint to be partially justified, because it said that the university had dealt with it inadequately. However, most crucially, it failed to address the central issue - that the fundamental reason the university gave for declining my research proposal was that it might attract criticism on social media which would in turn, be criticism of the university - instead saying that the research was ethically complex and that the university simply failed to explain that adequately.

The university, at the OIAHE's recommendation, offered me £2,500 compensation and some of my fees back for inconvenience and distress, in order to close down the matter. While I could have accepted this, and walked away, it would have meant colluding with the Adjudicator's opinion that the university prevented the research simply because of ethics, and its dismissal of the core issue. I am unable to do this as a matter of conscience, as I know it is not true. I believe that this case sits at the heart of the problem we are facing about free speech and academic freedom to carry out research.

The case is increasingly relevant today - see this recent letter to the Guardian signed by fifty-four academics:

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/16/academics-are-being-harassed-over-their-research-into-transgender-issues

I am now raising funds to continue the case and will need to raise upwards of £35,000. Please help me to achieve this by pledging, tweeting and sharing on Facebook. Here is the link

www.crowdjustice.com/case/free-speech-matters-round2/

Can you send it to three friends and /or contacts please, and if you are able to, pledge again?

A big thank you to all of you.

 Best wishes,

      James.

I was new to the Trans Debate last time around and I didn’t support you financially James, but I shall now. Please keep going with this case, it is so important.

If James "wins", will he get his full costs back?

This is important - I'll donate shortly.

Since when were masters projects 12 week things?

Donated. How utterly insane to block academic research.

It’s almost like they’re hiding something...

I've contributed and shared the link on twitter and Facebook.