Frozen out for speaking up at work (academia)

[NineteenSeventySix]

I've lurked here for a while and am seeking some advice...
I work in a large department at a RG university where GC views are openly ridiculed and dismissed by staff and students (with nothing but the usual rhetoric to back this up). This term I decided I’d had enough of feeling silenced so I started to challenge a few of these comments when they came up - always calmly and in the spirit of respectful debate. Since then I’ve been blanked by colleagues, had emails ignored and been left out of a meeting about a new project I was supposed to be working on. I’m 100% certain this is not in my head as I’ve previously only ever been on very good terms with colleagues. I suspect my line manager is sympathetic to my views but is unwilling to admit it, so I don’t feel I can speak to him about it, and there’s no-one else I feel safe talking to at work: HR and senior management are utterly captured and my union is.... well, UCU. I need the job and I've worked hard to get it, but I have no idea how to continue to work in such an isolating and intimidating environment. Any advice on how to deal with this would be gratefully received!

I work in senior management in a RG Uni and we are not "utterly captured". The senior HR colleagues I have discussed this with don't take a side and are open minded. The senior academic leaders know that students are highly emotional about this and they humour that, it's not many of them and after all mostly they are gone in three years.

The general behaviour of academics to each other is very childish. I don't know what causes this other than that the vast majority have never left "school" and behave accordingly. In the main academics stay in their jobs for decades too so the prevailing culture is of people who dislike each other for years and years.

Not in academia but you need to speak to both your manager and HR.

GC is a belief and so protected by the equalities act.

If your employers don't get their act together begin a grievance.

That is good to know, @Anklespraying . Perhaps I'm dismissing them too quickly, but that's been the impression I've received from the Q&A-type sessions I've watched with senior members of my dept/university, and from the general stance they seem to take (eg endless transgender policies but comparatively little on women, disability, etc. And the fact I can find no recorded talks, podcasts by GC speakers on their website but there are several very biased, pro-TRA ones. Ditto the near-total absence of GC literature in the library).

I agree the behaviour can be very childish indeed. Most of my younger (under 40-ish) colleagues are, like me, on short-term contracts so I don't know if it's down to length of time in post, but there's certainly an atmosphere of oneupmanship and a real fear of going against the party line. It's really unpleasant.

@Balaya you're right, I just feel a bit exhausted at the thought of going through all that tbh! I'm going to have a think over the holidays about how to raise this with my manager in the first instance.

University culture is far left. You are only going to find material with a far left bias as conservative staff and students don't speak up, the far left culture is too agressively dominant to permit this.

Transgender is a current left obsession. I'm sure they will move on soon.

If your loony Left colleagues are ignoring you I would take that as a positive benefit.

Not so much a benefit when it potentially affects my livelihood, which is already precarious enough. I very much hope you're right about this authoritarian faction of the left moving on to something new before long though (god only knows what that will be!)

There's hardly any transgender people in universities apart from the enbys. It's been massive fuss about very little.

What is clear is that the focus is shifting to genuine financial hardship and the mental health impact, far bigger and far more important than hair style led identities.

Change the subject and see what happens.

Could you get it on the record that you feel you are being discriminated against due to your protected belief? It might offer you some protection at a later date. Also perhaps approach Free Speech Union or Sex Matters for advice. I recently read that FSU deal with many many cases of discrimination against GC feminists.

@Signalbox yes, I think I need to get something on record now in case things get worse - it feels like I'm being bullied but in ways I can't quite point to and say "X did this to me" as it's been several relatively minor things from various people. Will look into FSU & SM - thank you.

Here's a podcast interview with Jo Phoenix, who has been in your position. Jo's case comes to court next year and after that your position should be more secure.

lgballiancecymru.wales/roll-up-roll-up-for-podcasts-here/

Jo talks about what's going on as painful healing. It's just sad that it's so bloody painful for people like you and her. Who'd have thought that here in the 'free' UK people would feel they were living with the Stazi looking over their shoulder?

Brilliant, thank you @pattihews - I will listen to this tonight. Yes, "painful healing" is a good way of putting it! Here's hoping for a good outcome for her...

If you are being frozen out or blanked that is bullying. It's hard to put your finger on it because it is passive aggressive. GC women are vulnerable to being discriminated against because Stonewall et al have done such a fantastic job of demonising people who are resistant to gender ideology. Good luck I hope you can get find some support. You were very brave to put your head above the parapet!

Thank you @Signalbox. Stonewall et al really do seem to have accomplished what they set out to achieve, terrifyingly. I knew things were bad in my line of work but actually being on the receiving end of it has been a real shock.

I am so sorry you are going through this. Far to many women are being silenced or even losing their jobs because they cant say what they believe and know, that they are a biological woman (in fact I posted a link to an online zoom meeting about 2 women in the USA going through exactly this)

Generally in cases like this it is good as others have said to start keeping a record eg when you didn't get the invite to the meeting, but also make sure you send a polite email to whoever was organising it to say you were sad to miss it as it is important to you / your job, and could they just check that you are on the mailing list so that it doesn't happen again. And the same with similar instances so there is more than just you record, but the fact that you tried to deal with it. And if it continues approach your line manager. Are you in a union?

Not that this directly applies to you, but this news report shows how far trans ideology has permeated universities. So its no surprise you feel you are being targetted.

uk.news.yahoo.com/lecturers-face-backlash-report-could-175231577.html

@Anklespraying I work in senior management in a RG Uni and we are not "utterly captured". The senior HR colleagues I have discussed this with don't take a side and are open minded

Hmm. Interesting. I work in an ancient university (not RG for what that’s worth). HR people where I work very much have pronouns in their email sigs etc. Weekly staff newsletter emails give prominence to every single “trans day of remembrance” etc etc over the course of a calendar year and very little to other potentially significant things. Our EDI monitoring during recruitment and subsequently is full of “gender” rather than the actual EA2010 protected characteristics.

So I’m not convinced by “open minded” claims.

The senior academic leaders know that students are highly emotional about this and they humour that, it's not many of them and after all mostly they are gone in three years

This I do recognise. And the senior academic colleagues should bloody well grow up. Apart from the inherent misogyny and homophobia they’re nodding along with, the sort of attitude you note is also massively patronising to the paying customers students they’re “humouring”.

I work for a RG Uni that is utterly captured. Pronoun badges, stating pronouns in meetings as we introduce ourselves, added to email signatures etc etc. etc. There’s even an anonymous reporting system.

As a current UCU member I’ve thought of cancelling but fear close colleagues will ask / guess why. I tentatively tried to open discussion with some friends, saw the way this topic is viewed and quickly shut up.

Funny how quick the ‘I’m not feeling safe’ mantra can be turned against the non believers who become genuinely not safe. I self censor myself all the time now.

So I’m not convinced by “open minded” claims.

That's fine, if it means we don't get dragged into your childish squabbling over the latest looney left fad, that's much less work for the leadership.

Er, what? Was that directed at me? I’d be genuinely interested to know in what capacity you work in “senior management in an RG uni”, but if you’re saying that being concerned about the implications of gender ideology is childish and “lefty” (?) you don’t really seem to have much about you!

For what it’s worth, I am not in UCU because of the idiocy of its actions and the public pronouncements of its Gen Sec. As a result, I did not go on strike recently, because of the ill-thought out nature of the dispute.

Left and right have so little meaning nowadays, largely because the self-identifying left are so intolerant of anyone else that they resemble the “right” that they so despise.

Anyway, possibly that sort of discussion goes over your head, who knows? But if you’re seriously taking a “both sides” approach regarding women’s rights I’m glad I don’t work in your university!

but if you’re saying that being concerned about the implications of gender ideology is childish and “lefty” (?) you don’t really seem to have much about you!

That's not what I said though is it?

University culture is far left. Gender identity has flourished in this far left culture. Combine that flourishing with the childish behaviour of academics to each other as evidenced by the OP and you have a lot of unnecessary squabbles.

You are squabbling with me and have immediately made it personal. Just like the academic colleagues OP is complaining about. Thanks for making my point.

The typical lefty academic is anti management for idealistic reasons and so is cornered now by their own prejudice and can't do anything about the open nastiness.

How is that "both sides". I've said it's not as bad as OP thinks and you don't want to believe it. That's your prejudice.

That's good advice about keeping a written record and sending a follow-up email @MidsomerMurmurs - thank you. I am currently in UCU but for a few reasons (their stance on gender being the main one, but the words piss-up and brewery also spring to mind) I am very close to leaving, so I definitely need to look at alternatives.

Totally agree with your point about left and right becoming fairly meaningless, and the lack of tolerance on the so-called left. There's a lot of finger-pointing and name-calling on both "sides" but as someone who's centre-left on most issues, I've never felt as aggressively silenced by anyone with views to the right of mine than I have by these supposedly progressive colleagues.

There’s even an anonymous reporting system.

@DrBlackbird that is properly chilling!

How is that "both sides". I've said it's not as bad as OP thinks and you don't want to believe it. That's your prejudice

I think OP might have come on here for support rather than to be told her situation isn’t as bad as she thinks by some random person on the internet. If OP is being discriminated against that’s pretty bad isn’t it?

I've said that my university leadership are not "utterly captured" and therefore that's not likely as bad as she thinks. The purpose of saying that was to offer confidence she will get a fair hearing. Other posters find this hard to believe and that I must "not have much about me" and "that sort of discussion goes over your head".

Academics are fond of the spiteful insults!

University leadership are well aware of the hostility colleagues treat each other with, we talk about it every day as we have to deal with it every day. And on here too.

Posters here seem attached to the idea that they can't possibly get a fair hearing and are hostile to that idea. I'm fine for them to have that attitude as there is no shortage of conflict already.

OP - if you have a report and support system, report it so it is on record. If not email HR with your concerns with a link to the Maya's judgement (www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jul/06/maya-forstater-was-discriminated-against-over-gender-critical-beliefs-tribunal-rules) and Bailey judgement (www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/allison-bailey-stonewall-gender-critical-b2104939.html) and copy in your legal department.

Keep a log of every meeting/snub you receive. Leave UCU and join Affinity workaffinity.co.uk or the Free Speech Union freespeechunion.org.

Remember that gender critical views are protected by law.

Good luck.