Cambridge academics reject trans ‘thought control’

[Igneococcus]

Not sure if this has been shared yet, I'm only catching up after a week away. Pleased to see some academics are refusing to go along wiht Athena Swan's trans guidance:

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ffd41746-ee87-11ec-b47a-cf598c451bbb?shareToken=dedcd29ac02a30773f76d8e7d24ed58a

Thanks for this. Leeds Beckett has a teacher training dept that's been particularly awful at spewing out tra crap. I'm not surprised to see that there.

Cambridge - that nest of vipers. 😂 Good for them.

"The universities that adopted the guidance were Warwick, Exeter, York, Imperial, Liverpool John Moores, The Open University, Gloucestershire, Lincoln, Northumbria, Huddersfield, Leeds Beckett, St Andrews and Heriot Watt."

Not surprised to see some of those names there. In particular the OU which a few years ago (maybe even last year?) had students complaining in an online chat that trans issues were being shoe-horned in their maths and engineering modules. They weren't being discriminatory, they simply found it unrelated to what they were studying.

It’s outrageous that young people just seeking an education or set of qualifications have to sit silently through indoctrination while they pay through the nose for the privilege. Michelle Donelan says all the right things but they need to legislate on this.

👏👏 Very good news. A money racket peddling nonsense that has no place in HE.

For students it must be like turning up for a lecture on data analysis and being being asked to praise Jesus.

It really is time for more senior academics to stand their ground on the creep of ideology and belief into the teaching of their subjects, and state clearly how inappropriate it is.

‘For students it must be like turning up for a lecture on data analysis and being being asked to praise Jesus.’

Ironic, because it’s exactly what pre-Enlightenment/pluralist academia must have been like.

I’m so pleased to read this and will be taking note of the places that have signed up to ensure my own DC won’t be entering a place of HE that endorses brainwashing.

Thank God the adults are returning to the room. Michelle sounds like a breath of fresh air. Athena Swan has an income of £15 mill??? There’s cash to be made in jumping on the bandwagon of trans ideology.

Thank you for sharing this.

Yes, absolutely. It reminds me of a thread on here recently about a Maths GCSE paper this summer that included questions which buggered around with pronouns. Totally pointless, and no doubt confusing and most certainly putting students with EAL or learning difficulties at a huge disadvantage.

A decade or more ago when I had a lowly admin job in a university I was aware of Athena Swan as a scheme to try to get universities to tackle under-representation of women in academic and research posts (I think). What happened? Is there no sex discrimination in universities now so they had to find a new mission?

<irony font OFF>

I understood Athena Swan was a programme to encourage more women into STEM subjects and to tackle the sexism prevalent in those departments which put women off applying and completing their studies. It was then extended to include removing barriers to study for women in all subjects, then extended again to include all women in universities, including 'lowly' admin staff.

Then it got expanded to include trans people and now is focusing on those trans people - yet again women have lost a support system then had to the trans lobby. Make it stop!

*they had

That is a staggering amount of money. So much better spent in other ways, for example helping students from working class backgrounds to attend and afford university.

£170,000 wage!!!!

Its disgusting

Just had a look at their updated 'Guidance on the collection of diversity monitoring data'. They do advise always collecting 'sex' with an added question about gender identity but I thought this phase was interesting and not one I'd come across before... 'Trans History'

'The term ‘trans history’ can refer to people who no longer identify as trans, but were registered the opposite sex at birth (ie they have transitioned).'

OK, it's quite early and the caffeine hasn't kicked in yet.

'The term ‘trans history’ can refer to people who no longer identify as trans, but were registered the opposite sex at birth (ie they have transitioned).'

What does this mean? Something like this? A is registered male at birth, later identifies as a woman, and after some years no longer feels any connection with that original male identity, so rejects the trans label - A is a woman now, as far as A is concerned.

Or are we talking about detransitioners?

I think it's as stated in your first paragraph (unfortunately) @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

It’s both. People who think they ‘have transitioned’ and are (therefore) no longer trans, and people who would reject the trans label even though they previously believed it applied to them, and (often) don’t want to be identified as having any sort of ‘trans history’ because they know they can’t change their sex.

I've read at least one person describe themselves as 'a woman with a trans history'. A male person in other words. But yes it could be used by a detransitioned woman. Anything to shift mental goalposts.

Casmbridge academics thinking for themselves! Whatever next.

These people must be unbearably tedious and exhausting to deal with.

Well, quite…

Do we know who the academics are? I would love to drop some of them a personal note.

“pre-enlightenment education”

Much later than that.

You had to sign up to the 39 Articles of Religion of the Church of England in order to enter the universities of Oxford or Cambridge until 1854 for Oxford (not sure for Cambridge).

"Susan Lapworth, interim chief executive of the Office for Students, said: “It is for vice-chancellors to decide whether to sign up to equality schemes. In making those decisions they should ensure that membership, and any actions they take as a result, does not undermine their free speech obligations.

“The law rightly provides protection against harassment and discrimination but universities must ensure they are not curtailing lawful speech because of a misreading of equality law.”"