Times/Telegraph on Oxford Uni, Selina Todd and free speech

[RadFemsUnite]

No share token, but Times Education Editor Sian Griffiths is tweeting about the story this morning,. It seems the Oxford college where Selina Todd was no-platformed is reviewing its policies. Someone on Twitter says it is also in Telegraph.

link to the Sunday Times article (without a sharetoken, apologies)

'Oxford University warned over free‑speech failures
Exeter College failed to protect a professor’s rights when she was silenced under pressure from trans activists'

An Oxford University college has been told to overhaul its rules to protect free speech after a history professor was banned from speaking at a conference she helped to organise after pressure from trans activists.

Selina Todd, professor of modern history at the university, was invited to give a speech at the Women’s Liberation 50th Anniversary Celebration, organised by the Oxford International Women’s Festival and held at Exeter College this year. Shortly before she was due to speak, her invitation was withdrawn and the event went ahead without her.

Todd’s links to Woman’s Place UK, which campaigns for separate spaces and services for women, were said to be behind the decision. Trans activists have criticised the organisation." (continues)

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/oxford-university-warned-over-free-speech-failures-ct0q7x5km

Share token: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dda8aa7a-7b1a-11ea-850e-8afb79ccdc9a?shareToken=e6ce7adacb5d62aa1da08585f5c41285

Archive: archive.vn/JchsQ

from the article,
"Michael Biggs, associate professor of sociology at Oxford, said: “What you see with Selina is the tip of the iceberg . . . There is a real fear hanging over people with dissident opinions that they may not get jobs. Colleges need to promote academic freedom.”

Michael Biggs wrote after the heavily protested first WPUK meeting in Oxford 2018:

"Free speech at Oxford: Do women have the right to meet to discuss legislation?"

users.ox.ac.uk/~sfos0060/FreeSpeechOxford.pdf

"A meeting was held on 25 April 2018 to discuss proposed changes to the law on gender recognition. The proposed legislation will eliminate sex-segregated spaces and activities, from women’s refuges to competitive sports. In a democracy, people have the right to meet to discuss—and indeed oppose—legislative changes. This should be incontrovertible. I am appalled that a small number of students at Oxford used extreme measures to stop this meeting from being held....
(concludes)
I have entered this debate not because I am a feminist but because freedom of speech is one of the highest values of a democratic society, and the basic foundation of university life.
Transgender activism poses a grave threat to freedom of speech. I think of the young MPhil student who had to disguise herself to attend this meeting because she feared the reaction of fellow students. This is the generation that we have educated."

thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3257819-Michael-Biggs-Sociology-Dept-Oxford-Free-speech-at-Oxford-Do-women-have-the-right-to-meet-to-discuss-legislation

Who has told Oxford Uni to step up? That isn't clear?

There's pressure from a number of directions.

"Last week a complaint panel told Exeter that Todd’s right to free speech had been infringed and that the college must review its free-speech rules to avoid any repeat of such an incident."

"The universities minister Michelle Donelan has warned that the government is prepared to change the law to compel universities and colleges to guarantee free speech. Individual colleges at Oxford and Cambridge are exempt from provisions in the 1986 Education Act requiring universities to protect free speech."

Its unclear the role that Toby Young's 'Free Speech Union' is playing.

It looks as if they are talking about this www.exeter.ox.ac.uk/outcome-of-complaint-procedure/ which seems to be a complaint that started from Toby Young.

It's come to something when a Tory minister has to tell universities to stop breaching their employees' human rights.

My understanding is that Selina was no platformed by the organisers after pressure from some of the other invited speakers eg Lola Olufemi and Laura Schwartz who made statements attacking Selina which were read out. In the event Ms Olufemi did not take part despite Selina being excluded

My understanding is that Selina was no platformed by the organisers after pressure from some of the other invited speakers eg Lola Olufemi and Laura Schwartz who made statements attacking Selina which were read out. In the event Ms Olufemi did not take part despite Selina being excluded

Yes. That was my understanding.
Although Lola Olufemi did not attend her statement was read out at the conference.
twitter.com/selina_todd/status/1233773796877905922

Selina Todd's planned speech was not of course. See FiLIA article:
filia.org.uk/news/2020/2/29/womens-liberation-at-50-the-talk-that-should-have-been-by-selina-todd

press statement by Selina Todd

"I am shocked to have been no-platformed by this event, organised by Oxford International Women's Festival and hosted at Exeter College. I was asked to participate in October 2019, and I explained to the organisers that some trans activists may object to my being there. I was then told that trans activists had already expressed hostility towards the event because they claimed second-wave feminism is inherently trans-exclusionary. However, the organisers decided that because I am a historian of feminism and working-class women, they would like to invite me, and were open to many different points of view being expressed at their event. I was delighted. I am deeply interested in the history of the WLM - my first academic article focused on it - and my parents met at Ruskin shortly before the first conference was held there. Participating had personal and scholarly significance.

Between October 2019 and February 2020 I helped the organisers to get support from Oxford History Faculty – in the form of student helpers, facilitators and some funding - and to find media contacts. I was stunned to receive a phone call at 6pm on the evening before the conference telling me that I had been no-platformed. The organisers say this is because of pressure from trans activists and Feminist Fightback. I refute the allegation that I am transphobic, and I am disappointed that the organisers have refused to uphold our right to discuss women’s rights - one that the original organisers had to fight hard for."

Prof. Selina Todd #ExpelMe Rally, London, 9 Mar 2020

Selina Todd describes the events around her 'no platforming' from the conference.

Excellent video of how it all unravelled and the fantastic support for Selina by women attending the meeting!

"Women's Liberation at 50 deplatforms Selina Todd"