Hard-left academics ‘plotted gender ID witch-hunt’ on colleagues

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Hard-left academics ‘plotted gender ID witch-hunt’ on colleagues

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0ef73904-18ab-11ed-b4a0-f11f082a3a3c?shareToken=9086841b1851a93726804639c7ced9f1

I think you might be onto something there leah

Me too

Some of Britain’s most influential authors — including William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens and Agatha Christie — are among those whose works have been deemed concerning enough to require warnings.

Jane Austen needs a trigger warning? FFS!

Well, occasionally they do show an ankle or address the opposite sex by their first name! 😱

Our 21yos need a safe space from such scandalous behaviour. Smelling salts, anyone?

Well I think the idea that university students should be protected from any books is horrific and puke-worthy. And it's not rare, it's all over the place I am sorry to say. Many students don't read, and worse, younger academics don't read much either.

A friend told me recently that she was bullied into approving an ethics application for a student who wants to do trans identity research with primary school children with no parental consent involved…

This is appalling. Where was this?

Have you or her passed that on to anyone? This is unethical and a horrific safeguarding failure.

I hope schools refuse to work with them.

Unfortunately this does not surprise me. I work at a Russel Group university that (thankfully) left the stonewall scheme last year and the EDI group at my institute are still outraged by this and spend most of the meetings discussing trans and non binary issues, with no real interest in any of the actual protected characteristics. The group is a echo chamber populated by zealots whose chair openly rolls her eyes at the mention of GC beliefs so confident is she on the full support of the group for her fanaticism.

So when asked a question about your opinion, you resort to ad hominem ('echo chamber') and essentially 'cancel' Mumsnet? That's exactly what the current student body do, so I guess you fit right in!

Sadly, I’d be concerned with getting my friend in to trouble by naming the university. The university management is awful (at all levels) and UCU are worse than useless too.

This is the problem. She’s tried to challenge it and made her position clear. But there’s nothing she can do and causing too much trouble puts her job at risk.

She said she’s just waiting for the parents (who aren’t even being given the opportunity for assent!) to hear about it via the children and complain. It’s absolutely unacceptable but they’ll find HTs who’ll allow this. Even though it’s shockingly unacceptable.

I think, in general, we all read differently now. Everyone is more selective and exposure to things you don’t agree with it which might challenge your thinking is more limited. Even when you do come across these things, it’s usually in a context that can structure your engagement with it so as to facilitate dismissal rather than any possibility of new thinking.

There’s so much material. So much specialism - even early on. So many groups. People just don’t have to sit and genuinely consider the merits of fields or arguments they don’t want to.

@SudocremOnEverything I fully appreciate that. Extremely difficult situation.

I wonder if either of you could disclose this anonymously to an org such as safe schools alliance U.K. or sex matters?

She could also whistle blow to the school (or whistle blow about the school?) who tbh shouldn't be allowing research without consent.

I’ll have a think about that.

It’s just terrible. The idea that a school can decide to enlist your child in any research project without additional consent is deeply problematic. That’s the case whatever the research is about. But it’s even more important when it’s about the teaching or exploration of highly contested social and personal issues.

The lack of sctutiny for research involving children in any area that touches trans is deeply worrying.

I think they’re going to try to pull that education system sleight of hand whereby they claim no consent beyond the HT is required because it’s ‘just PSHE’. 😩

This shit is chilling. I don’t understand what the end game is. Does anyone know?

I don’t think there is an end game or a plan at all. It’s more like religious zeal and an evangelical mission. With exactly the levels of critical thought and moral certainty that implies.

THen the friend in question needs to make a disclosure to a relevant ethics board to alert them to this.

Sadly, the ethics board at the university is useless. She was one of the reviewers. The bullying was the process of ensuring that this research gets to go ahead without asking for parental consent.

She’s raised her objections. But there’s only so far you can rock this particular institutional boat without finding yourself bullied out.

This is the trump approach. Any fact I don’t like is a lie.

As per PPs, I don't understand why your friend can't alert Safe Schools or similar. There must be access to the protocol and the catchment area.

If the friend is waiting for the parents to find out and protest, the friend will attract opprobrium anyway.

£140000 a year for leadership of this organisation apparently.
wow.

If the school permits it you can complain to the department for education. Copy to the Secretary of State.

Because whistleblowers are not treated well. She was the one who raised objections within the ethics process. If she takes this outside the institution, the people who are able to bully her out of her job - and the sector! - will know it was her and she’ll be increasingly vulnerable. She (and I) know what happens to people who try to object to anything in this university.

She’s not a Professor with an international reputation to rebuild a career upon. She is the main earner for her family. The personal stakes matter here. It really isn’t that simple.

It sounds to me like universities need to maintain independent whistleblower functions, as US companies and their subsids subject to SOX have to do.
all matters raised to be investigated by independent lawyers/auditors.

Exactly - it's not as easy as people think. The whole university sector is totally captured, and I think it will take the cases of DocStock and Jo Phoenix to start the change. I'm the main earner in my family so I can't be openly GC at work. I've spoken to Senior Leadership several times in confidence about the worse situations (people being blacklisted due to their GC views) and it's gone nowhere so I don't have faith they would protect me or my job

Is there no independent ethics or whistleblowers hotline you can take concerns to at all?